24 Thursday 2022

NorthEast United FC suffered a heartbreak 1-0 beat against Bengaluru FC in its opening match of the Hero ISL 2022-23. Bengaluru FC hosted the match at Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru on the 8th of October. Though Alan Costa for the Blues with the header scored the winning goal at the 87th minute just 3 minutes before the end of regular time, however, it was debutant Jon Gaztanaga for the Highlanders whose brilliant strike that made the headlines. The Spaniard striker managed a brilliant goal in added time but the equaliser was disallowed by the linesman on the grounds of an offside offense. Nevertheless, the TV replay clearly showed that the player was in fact not offside. Meanwhile, a genuine protest from head coach of NEUFC, Macro Balbul ended with him being shown a red card. It is worth mentioning that the match was iconic as NorthEast United FC with its new strength gave Bengaluru FC a tough fight.