Reigning Indian Super League champions Hyderabad FC face former Champions Bengaluru FC in the second semi-final of the Durand Cup at Kolkata’s Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan on Thursday.
There is little to choose between the two teams on evidence available in this Durand Cup edition and that is what makes picking a winner a tricky proposition.
The ISL champs did look flawless till Army Red beat them in an inconsequential final group league match and then Rajasthan United FC also gave them a stiff challenge in the quarter-finals, before succumbing to their overall quality.
BFC too have had stops and starts in their campaign and scraped through a 10-man Odisha FC in the quarter-finals, with a last touch winner from Roy Krishna following a monumental blunder by the Juggernauts keeper in the dying seconds.
Both teams have also scored an identical 11-goals in the five games so far with HFC conceding three, while BFC have let in five. What also gives HFC the slight edge is that they have had seven scorers so far with Bart Ogbeche leading the lines with five strikes.
The Blues on the other hand have majorly relied on their striking trio of talisman Sunil Chhetri (3), Roy Krishna (3) and the pair’s…
