Oscar Bruzon angry at refereeing standards after Jeakson Singh red card & Madih Talal injury in ISL

Oscar Bruzon’s East Bengal fought till the end of the game against Odisha FC.

Oscar Bruzon’s East Bengal suffered their second loss to Odisha FC in the 2024-25 Indian Super League (ISL) at the Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata on 12 December.

Despite leading through Lalchungnunga early in the second half, the 10-men Red & Gold Brigade went down as the visitors took home three points thanks to goals from Jerry Mawihmingthanga and Hugo Boumous.

However, the match was controversial because of the way Jeakson Singh was sent off late in the first half. He was shown a second yellow card after a duel with Diego Mauricio, with East Bengal fans raging that Jeakson’s challenge wasn’t intentional and it wasn’t a red card at all.

Oscar Bruzon was angry at the way the red card happened and how it impacted the result, as he stated after the game: “Let’s talk about the sending off of Jeakson. The same thing happened two games back, the reality is that they are treating East Bengal like a small team.

“We are a home team and what has to happen for that action is a warning to the player. I’ve not been working here for the last few years, but if you see some players when they receive a foul and try to trigger things, the referee must have more knowledge on what players do on the pitch. For me, it’s not a red card.

“This happened two games back with Nandha, and this is the second time when a player in possession protecting the ball. Football is a game of contact, but it’s like they don’t want our contact and it’s like it’s very easy to send off our players.

“It’s very easy to call penalties against us. I don’t know if we are being unfortunate or having problems with referees. I won’t blame Diego Mauricio as he did everything for his team. The referees have to ensure not to spoil the game and not to treat East Bengal as a small team,” Oscar Bruzon also added.

The Spaniard also blames Odisha FC’s incessant fouling for Madih Talal picking up a knee injury, as Oscar Bruzon stated: “Madih is struggling with a knee injury. He suffered from a bad tackle. Count the number of fouls from Odisha and East Bengal.

“They made 19 fouls and we did eight fouls. I’m shocked that, for example, the full-backs of Odisha – especially the right-back (Rahim Ali) – made six/seven fouls but didn’t even get a caution. We cannot be happy with what happened on the pitch. The action of Talal’s injury is a foul that wasn’t even given,” he also claimed.

East Bengal are back in ISL action on Tuesday (17 December) when they face off against a dangerous Punjab FC side at the Salt Lake Stadium.

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