ISL: Advantage Bengaluru FC in semis after first-leg win over FC Goa

A strike by Edgar Mendez and an owngoal by Sandesh Jhingan helped Bengaluru FC defeat FC Goa 20 in the first leg of their semifinal tie of the Indian Super League ISL 202425 season at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium on Wednesday nightThe Blues will thus head into the second game of this fixture with a 20 aggregate in their favour as they marshalled proceedings in this match with five ontarget shots despite holding just only 42237 of the ball possessionOdei Onaindia brought down a free kick deep inside the Bengaluru FC box and delivered a headed pass in the path of Udanta Singh on the right to produce the first reasonable attacking move of the match in the 27th minute The attacker unleashed a dinked shot that was blocked near the goal thoughAlso ReadInter and Milan draw 11 in first leg of Italian Cup semifinalsJust after the halfhour mark Bengaluru FCrsquos Ryan Williams responded with a similar effort from the exact angle albeit at the opposite end of the field Williams had the chance to go for a cross from the wider position but in the absence of a figure at the centre he went for an ambitious dipping effort that was unable to find its way to the back of the netThe Blues bagged the breakthrough in the 42nd minute with Edgar Mendez leading the charge for them through his consistent lateral deliveries One such incisive cross directed for the onrushing Williams at the center was instead met and hammered in by FC Goa defender Sandesh Jhingan resulting in an own goal adjudged to his nameWilliams returned the favour in the 51st minute as he added dynamism to a Bengaluru FC offensive move through a slick pass that pierced the Gaursrsquo backline in one go and landed at the feet of Namgyal Bhutia The latter squared in a low cross for Mendez and the attacker made light work of that with a straightforward tapin to the bottom right corner resulting in the home side doubling their leadFC Goa had their chances in the final quarter of the game as Aakash Sangwan curled in a perfectly weighted cross for Onaindia in the 76th minute which the defender headed way high above the target despite being positioned inside the sixyard boxBoris Singh compelled Gurpreet Singh Sandhu to make an outstretched save seven minutes later as the Indian attacker received a pass from Iker Guarrotxena at the edge of the box and immediately targeted the top right corner Sandhu was quick to spot the attacking sequence and made a timely effort to keep the Gaurs at bayFC Goa and Bengaluru FC will face each other in the second leg of this semifinal tie at the home of the former on April 6This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever