Nicolas Fedor, commonly known as Miku scored a hattrick for Bengaluru FC in a stunning second-half comeback against rivals Mohun Bagan in the semi-finals of the Hero Super Cup.
After going down in the 42nd from a well-taken opportunity by Mohun Bagan star striker Aser Pierrick Dipanda, Bengaluru FC found themselves in more trouble as left-back Nishu Kumar was sent-off in the 50th minute after fouling Nikhil Kadam who had a clear goal-scoring opportunity in front of him.
Having gone a goal down, and now a man down as well, Bengaluru FC rallied to make one of the more memorable comebacks in their recent history. Miku found himself open in the box after a well-placed pass by Udanta Singh left him one-on-one with the goalkeeper, and he made no mistake to put BFC on level terms in the 62nd minute. He then found himself in the exact same situation two minutes later and put Bengaluru 2-1 ahead.
Miku completed his hattrick after Udanta Singh was fouled in the box in the 87th minute and was given a penalty which the Venezuelan striker converted to put Bengaluru FC in a commanding position.
The action didn’t stop as Bengaluru FC captain Sunil Chhetri scored a certain contender for goal of the tournament in the final minute of regular time when he cut in onto his right from the left corner and curled the ball from the edge-of-the-box over goalkeeper Shilton Paul to put the game out of Mohun Bagan’s reach.
Mohun Bagan did score a consolation goal as Aser Pierrick Depanda bundled in his second goal of the game in the 2nd minute of stoppage time, but it was too little, too late.
This victory means that Bengaluru FC would face East Bengal in the finals on Friday.
With this hattrick, it takes Miku to a total of 19 goals for the season making him Bengaluru FC’s top scorer. Sunil Chhetri follows him closely with 18.
In the head-to-head between the two old rivals, Mohun Bagan has now won 5 games in comparison to Bengaluru FC’s 4 in a total of 14 games played between the two sides.