ISL
A red card, offside, poor refereeing: Bengaluru FC v/s NorthEast United FC- As it happened
Bengaluru FC defeated NorthEast United FC 1-0. However, fingers were pointed at the linesman for a controversial decision.
NorthEast United FC receiving a red card against Bengaluru FC. (Source: Twitter/ 90ndstoppage)
It was a late 87th minute goal by defender Alan Costa which ensured Bengaluru FC all three points against NorthEast United FC on 8th October at the Sree Kanteerava stadium in Karnataka. However, an even later goal is what will make the newspapers.
Spaniard Jon Gaztanaga scored a brilliant goal in added time but the strike was disallowed by the linesman on the grounds of an offside offense. However, the TV replay clearly showed that the player was in fact not offside.
Nonetheless, the Blues' clash against the Highlanders had a lot of things going on. Let's talk about a few of them:
Should Arindam Bhattacharya been shown a red card?
In the first half, after punching away a ball from Roshan Singh, NorthEast United goalkeeper Arindam Bhattacharya clipped Sivasakthi. Siva went down in the box but the referee didn't call for a foul. However, in the replay a clear elbow to the forward's throat was apparent.
If Video Assistant Referee was available at the Indian Super League, this would have been counted as a red card offence. If Arindam was made to walk then it could have ultimately affected the outcome of the game enormously.
Romain Philippoteaux's flair
Northeast United might have lost the game, but they put up a great fight and one of the best performers tonight was Romain Philippoteaux, the Highlanders' French midfield general.
Romain made a solo move to the box collecting the rebound ball from a corner dribbling past few Bengaluru FC shirts. He managed to dodge one challenge but stumble over another one from Sunil Chhetri almost winning a penalty for his side.
The 34 year old also completed 77% of the attempted passes and completed all the dribbling attempts (5/5). Moreover, he also had a golden chance to balance the scales in the dying embers of the match but one too many touches made him miss an open goal.
A clear goal disallowed
About four minutes were added and no one was writing Marco Balbul's men off. It was defender Gaztanaga who chested the ball down from a corner that rebounded and let one fly from distance.
To the men in white's joy, the net rustled and the score was equalised. However, the linesman put his flag up and rendered the goal null and void on the count of an offside. Amidst all this, coach Balbul was red with anger and ultimately was shown the red card.
In a TV replay, the ball is said to have hit Gurjinder Singh who was supposedly obstructing Gurpreet Singh Sandhu's vision. Even if the referee is given the benefit of the doubt, other NorthEast United players like Romain were were nowhere near the trajectory of the ball and weren't intending to play the ball.
This controversial decision against NEUFC costed them a point, and a much deserved one at that.
