Seven red cards in one match — Thala for a reason?
A 2–1 victory for Mumbai City FC against Mohun Bagan SG was overshadowed by a heap of disciplinary issues.
There was one. Then another. Three, four and the game was over. And then there were three more. Bringing the total to a staggering seven red cards in this heated fixture which started as a competitive top-of-the-table encounter in the Indian Super League, but then devolved into a disciplinary meltdown of epic proportions.
Mumbai opened the proceedings, with Akash Mishra seeing the first red card in the 13th minute after a high boot on Manvir Singh. Mohun Bagan subsequently took advantage of the extra man and netted their first goal through Jason Cummings 12 minutes after.
It took 41 more minutes for the next red to be brandished, as on the 54th minute both sides went down to 10-men each. However in the next 36 minutes, there would be 5 more red cards.
First it was Ashis Rai for Mohun Bagan on the 54th minute shown a straight red for a rash tackle on Argentine Jorge Pereyra Díaz. Liston Colaco followed his teammate’s footsteps just three minutes later after being involved in a bizarre altercation with referee, with a lot of finger pointing and shoving leaving the ref no choice but to reach for the evening’s 3rd red card for obvious dissent.
Mumbai, who took the lead through goals in the 44th and 73rd minute, then leveled the playing field once Greg Stewart was sent off in the 88th minute. The controversial call saw him getting a second yellow for diving, even though replays showed the presence of a contact.
Holding onto their slender lead through 8 minutes of injury time, the drama wasn’t over for Mumbai as further chaos descended. Post-final whistle pandemonium saw the ignition of a fierce scuffle between players from both camps. Rahul Bheke of Mumbai City FC and Hector Yuste of Mohun Bagan received straight red cards for their involvement, while Vikram Partap Singh was dealt a second yellow for his role in the altercation.
The final result was not 2–1 for the hosts, but instead 4–3.
