"Credit for this win goes to players," East Bengal head coach Oscar Bruzon after win against Mumbai City FC

East Bengal staged a comeback against Mumbai.

East Bengal climbed to the top of the Indian Super League (ISL) 2025-26 points table with a second-half comeback win over Mumbai City FC, who go down for the first time at the Mumbai Football Arena this season.

The Moshal Brigade witnessed second-half goals from substitutes Youssef Ezzejjari and Nandhakumar Sekar to emerge 2-1 victors against Mumbai City FC in an important clash of Indian Super League 2025-26, at the Mumbai Football Arena in Mumbai on Tuesday.

After a disastrous first 45 minutes, Bruzon made four changes in the first 15 minutes of the second half, decisions that ended up turning the game.

First, it was Miguel who won his side a penalty, which Ezzejjari converted before Nandhakumar Sekar’s shot took a fortunate deflection before beating Mumbai goalkeeper Phurba Lachenpa.

Meanwhile, the Islanders, failed to recreate their spark from the first half, and captain Chhangte’s misses in the first half ended up proving costly. 

The result leaves the Torchbearers at the top of the standings, level on 21 points with Jamshedpur FC, who have played a game more.

After the win against Mumbai City FC, East Bengal FC head coach Oscar Bruzon addressed the media. Here is a detailed report of the post-match press conference between East Bengal FC and Mumbai City FC.

Takeaways from the win against the Islanders

Oscar Bruzon and his Red and Gold Brigade made a thrilling comeback against the Islanders at the Mumbai Football Arena and grabbed all the three points from an away game.

This win helped East Bengal to climb up at the top spot of the ISL points table and kept them alive in the title winning race this season as well.

Oscar stated: “Good evening, everyone. First of all, I want to thank all the Amago fans who were behind us all the time when we were down with one goal in the first half. I am happy after getting all the three points. I will not say this is one of our best games this season, but we were playing against a strong opponent so happy how we handled the pressure. They were creating a lot of pressure on our defence, constant counterattacks, but we kept our precedence and when we got the chances in the second half, we’re able to convert them into goals.”

“Regarding my announcement in the pre-match press conference, there were a lot of speculations in Kolkata, that whether it was the right time to announce it or not, I think being a professional coach it was absolutely the right time. Because everyone in the team including the players then can decide their future moves as well. Many people in Kolkata are following certain agenda against this decision, but we proved again that we are on the right track and can win the Championship as well.”

“Today we played against a strong side like Mumbai, so in the last few minutes the game could have gone to anyone, but our players showed their character on the pitch and the full credit for this win goes to them. They were determined, focused, so we came back with all the three points today which we were unable to do against Kerala and Jamshedpur.”

“I was not at all happy in the first half, how we had approached the game. We came here in Mumbai to win the game and play attacking football. I don’t like when the opponent creates a lot of chances and goal-scoring opportunities than us. But luckily, we created more chances from the set-piece, Souvik was holding the ball in the midfield really well. Miguel and Nandha showed in the second half why they are important for the team and created those chances. We thought today after the first half that players like Edmund, Anton were not so effective today rather than our last match, so we made those changes of Miguel and Nandha, and it proved to be a positive one for us. Maybe we’re lucky or I was right with those two decisions today and in the second half we dominated the game and the wing play as well,” he added.

Performance evaluation in this season

The Spanish Gaffer said: “See when we are ahead in the break, I talk more about toughness in the dressing room. But when we’re trailing like today, I only told my players to remain calm, positive and be confident so that we can come victorious in the second half.”

“And about the season, I would say it is an amazing season for East Bengal so far. There were a lot of lackings when I came to East Bengal but now, we can say East Bengal is a team which can compete against any team in India. I am not talking about the title now, we have to play three matches next which are similar to finals, so we would like to give our best and bring out more positive results for the club and all the Amago fans. The fans were fantastic throughout the season, so we need to finish well so that we can reach to a better position in the table.”

“In this season we have only lost two games in full 90 minutes, one in the Durand Cup and one against Jamshedpur in the ISL. After losing two finals in penalty- shootouts, the team showed their character and came back strong. We scored a lot of goals this season and conceded less goals. Also, we have the highest goalscorer in our team currently. We are now in a better position, 3-5% ahead than others, so want to finish the season on a high note and make it a memorable one,” he added.

Plan for the Punjab match and message for the Amago fans

The Spaniard stated: “First of all, we would be watching the game of Punjab against Chennaiyin. Punjab is a very good team this year. They have some injury issues as well, but they have fluidity in attack like us. They are also one of the contenders of the title this year so it will be one of the deciders of the league.”

“Regarding Amago fans, I would say they were super throughout so far, would also request them to come in large numbers in the home game against Punjab next and support us like they have done so far. With the support of the fans it will be more easy for us to remain in the title hunt.”

“The defence was fantastic for us against Mumbai, we have only conceded one goal from a throw-in. We maintained a consistent defensive line throughout the game and were able to reduce the threat created from our opponent more in the second half. Also, throughout the season we have maintained a 3-line defence, sometimes we went to a 4-line defence as well, but many of our players had played in different positions than their usual ones so it was an added advantage for us”

Nostalgic on coming back to the City of Dreams

Oscar Bruzon started his ISL journey with the Islanders during the 2015-16 season as the assistant coach, then he came to East Bengal FC in 2024.

Last season he came to Mumbai and was able to take away one point from the game but this time he was successful in winning the match against Mumbai which is also only the third win for East Bengal against Mumbai in head-head record in ISL.

Bruzon stated: “So this was the third time in my tenure when we faced Mumbai, and I played against my former team as well. I was talking to a lot of their officials who were also there during my team. It was a bit nostalgic for me, they recognized me well, and I only wished them luck for the rest of the season,” he finished off with.

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