East Bengal 4-1 Mohun Bagan: Key takeaways from Durand Cup 2026 Final

East Bengal FC lift the Durand Cup 2026 title.

East Bengal were able to win the 2026 Durand Cup final in style with a commanding 4-1 win over rivals Mohun Bagan at the Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata on Sunday (23 August 2026). The Red & Gold Brigade had a ruthless start to the game, scoring three goals in the space of just 22 minutes to stun the Mariners.

Bipin Singh opened the scoring with a cool finish in the 10th minute, before Edmund Lalrindika scored a brace with goals in the 11th and 22nd minute mark to give his side a 3-0 lead. Manvir Singh was able to pull one back for his side in the 33rd minute, before Edmund completed his hat-trick with a clutch finish just before the end of the first half.

This helped East Bengal win their 17th Durand Cup title and for Antonio Habas to get revenge on his former team in style.

The match itself was an entertaining affair where quite a few interesting observations could be made. Here are the talking points from the 2026 Durand Cup final between East Bengal and Mohun Bagan.

Vishal Kaith disappoints in big derby day for Mohun Bagan

Vishal Kaith was the hero of Mohun Bagan in the knockout stages of the 2026 Durand Cup, being a sturdy figure in between their sticks.

He produced a number of crucial performances, including helping his side two penalty shootouts in the quarterfinals and semifinals. However, Vishal seemingly crumbled under pressure when he faced East Bengal in the Durand Cup 2026 final.

Kaith’s positioning and overall reactions to multiple goals scored by the Torchbearers were too slow. He was nutmegged by Bipin for his goal, and could’ve potentially done better for the first two goals scored by Edmund with better positioning too.

Antonio Habas’ tactical tweaks results in big rewards for East Bengal

Antonio Habas realized that it’ll take something surprising from him and his system at East Bengal for them to be at their unpredictable best in the game against Mohun Bagan.

Having already suffered a frustrating loss to the Mariners earlier in the group stages of the tournament, Habas decided to throw a curveball at his former side in the final.

He opted to start Edmund Lalrindika up-front instead of Jesin TK, as well as playing Jay Gupta as his left-winger for this clash.

This tweak to his system and shape caused the Mariners not being able to decide which players to mark, causing all the open space for multiple goals scored by Edmund and Bipin.

The Spanish gaffer was able to shape his side to be a thorn on the transitions, ensuring that his players were proactive in moving the ball forward quickly after regaining possession and not allowing Mohun Bagan to regain their shape well enough – allowing East Bengal to score four goals.

Panagiotis Dilmperis’ midfield experiment fails

Panagiotis Dilmperis surprised many Mohun Bagan fans by opting to bench the in-form Sahal Abdul Samad for the 2026 Durand Cup final, opting to start Anirudh Thapa in his place instead.

Despite Samad being their top-scorer heading into the final, and even having scored the winner against East Bengal in the group stages, Panagiotis opted to play Samir Zeljkovic in the attacking midfield role – despite the Bosnian being more comfortable in a deeper position.

This decision ended up harming the Mariners’ shape, as the East Bengal players were able to easily overrun them in the midfield battle for the majority of the first half.

Mohun Bagan’s centre-backs just weren’t protected sharply enough by their midfielders, allowing the East Bengal attacking players to bypass the defenders to score the goals.

Dilmperis brought on Sahal and Miguel Figueira in the second half, but it was a case of ‘too little, too late’ and that couldn’t stop the Mariners from suffering a damning loss.

Edmund Lalrindika’s heroics fire East Bengal to Durand Cup glory

Edmund Lalrindika was able to fully capitalize on his opportunity to spearhead the frontline for East Bengal in the 2026 Durand Cup final against Mohun Bagan and ended up being a nightmare for the Mariners once again, having also scored against them in their 2025-26 Indian Super League (ISL) clash.

The India international seemingly thrived under the freedom that Antonio Habas granted him in the floating centre-forward role, which allowed him to confuse defenders by often moving into different positions to stretch the Mohun Bagan backline.

Edmund managed to showcase impressive spatial awareness in the clash, as he moved into the empty pockets smartly to latch onto chances for his goal.

His overall finishing and the accuracy of his shots were impressive enough to dupe the normally solid Vishal Kaith, with the hat-trick hero playing a huge role in helping East Bengal win the Durand Cup and also get a huge derby win over their rivals.

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