Mohun Bagan will face arch rival East Bengal in Kolkata derby at Cuttack on Sunday. File Pic[/caption]Internet Desk: Another Kolkata Derby, another moment when the entire Bengali community will get divided into two halves. It's time for another historic battle as the second semifinal of the ongoing Federation Cup will be a Kolkata derby. Mohun Bagan official Debashish Dutta went to the Puri Temple to pray for his side in the morning.
This was made possible after defending champions Mohun Bagan came from behind to draw 1-1 with Bengaluru FC and top their group on Friday. Bagan's Sony Norde equalized Alwyn George's early goal for BFC, who will now take on I-League champions Aizawl FC in the first semifinal. East Bengal were placed second to Aizawl. Both semifinals will be held on the Super Sunday.
Mohun Bagan had their training session in the morning and the players were understandably tired after the high-voltage match against Bengaluru last night. The training started around am in the morning in a local ground at Cuttack, Odisha. The Bagan gaffer will also had a session for the possible penalty shootouts tomorrow. After the training Mohun Bagan coach Sanjoy Sen denied the fact that Mohun Bagan will start this game as the favourites. Sanjoy said, "Whatever we did against them in the last meeting, is past. I don't live in the past. Tomorrow the team who will play better will win the game. There is no favourites in a derby game."
The Mohun Bagan coach also denied the advantage of having the supremacy of having four foreigners when East Bengal have only three overseas players. He said, "East Bengal struggled against Aizawl despite having three foreigners. Same happened with us when we played against Shillong Lajong with fpur foreigners. The matter is that we have to execute our plans to perfection."
Mohun Bagan gaffer also rejected the personal duel between him and the East Bengal Advisory committee head Manoranjan Bhattacharya as they both were defenders. He said, "Manoranjan Bhattacharya and Subrata Bhattacharya are the legends in Indian football. Please don't embarrass me with such comparisons. Off the fIeld I have huge respect for him, but on the field I'm not concerned about the man on the opposition bench."
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