NorthEast United FC vs East Bengal highlights, NEUFC 3-2 EBFC, ISL 2023-24: Juric stars with brace as Highlanders win five-goal thriller

NorthEast United FC holds on to clinch a 3-2 win against East Bengal in a thrilling contest. 

It is literally end-to-end play at the moment - attack vs attack. NorthEast is defending in numbers and attacking on the counter,. 

NEUFC sub: IN- Bora OUT- Tlang

Eight minutes added at the end of the second-half!

EBFC sub: IN- Suhair OUT- Lalchungnunga 

East Bengal goes short with its freekick. Vazquez drives in a cross from the middle of the park, hoping to find Forbes. But Michu comes off his line to collect the ball. 

NEUFC booking: Regragui gets a yellow card for his challenge on Vazquez

NEUFC sub: IN- Romain, Parthib, Gani OUT- Juric, Subran, Nickson

Cleiton Silva gets the ball inside the box and goes for a shot with his weaker left foot. The shot is blocked but Highlanders cannot clear their lines. The ball falls kindly to Forbes, who pokes the ball inside the net from point-blank range. 

Redeem Tlang has taken a knock and is down on the ground. He is getting medical attention. 

EBFC sub: IN- Vazquez OUT- Chhetri 

Juric slips a good pass inside the box for Regragui but he is challenged before he could get a shot. Jithin gets the ball and he shoots high from close distance and misses the target - not by much though. 

NEUFC sub: IN- Regragui OUT- Nestor 

It looks difficult for East Bengal now. 70 minutes in, Cuadrat’s side has never looked on top throughout the match. 

Juric gets the ball at the edge of the box, He does well to shield the ball and then goes for a curler from the edge of the box. He catches it very well and the shot beats Gill comprehensively to rattle the net. It is an excellent finish.

Jithin earns the applause of the home crowd after lifting the ball over Hijazi and making a run down the right flank. He is finally stopped with sliding challenge but looks like he has pulled a hamstring. 

Mahesh gets the ball inside the box and goes for the shot but itis blocked by Akhtar. 

EBFC booking: Lalchungnunga gets a yellow card for his challenge on Nickson

EBFC sub: IN- Felicio OUT- Sayan

The Costa Rican makes his debut for the Red and Gold. 

Juric with the chance to score his second. Tlang shows brilliant vision to find Juric with a through ball. With only Gill to beat, Juric goes for precision instead of power and his shot goes straight to Gill. 

East Bengal loses the ball sloppily as Juric gets the ball. He splits open the East Bengal defence with a slide rule pass to Tlang. Tlang get inside the box and has enough time and space to find Nestor in the middle but his cross is intercepted by Hijazi. 

Ajay Chhetri fouls Juric and NorthEast has a freekick in a good position. Juric looks favourite to take it and go for goal. 

It is a wasteful freekick in the end as the delivery inside the box falls in no man’s land and the ball goes out of play. 

Cleiton Silva slips a pass to Nandha, who makes a clever run inside the box. Nanadha, with ample time, goes for a first-time shot as the ball hits Mirshad and ends up inside the net. A bit of luck with that one but East Bengal will take it. 

Jithin looks for Juric with a pass from the outside of his boot. But Gill intercepts the danger and comes out to collect the ball. 

A cross comes in from the right from Tlang and Jithin goes for a header from a tight angle. The ball goes out of play. Juric was there at the six-yard box but Jithin could not control his header and send the ball across the face of the goal. 

EBFC sub: IN- Mandar Rao, Vishnu OUT- Nishu, Pardo

NorthEast United FC leads 2-0 against East Bengal as second-half gets underway at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati. 

Goals from Juric and Nestor keeps NorthEast United in a comfortable 2-0 lead against East Bengal at the break. 

Cleiton Silva gets the ball near the NorthEast box. He chests the ball and goes for a shot . on the volley. The effort is not on target. Cleiton had more time than he realized. 

Sayan gets the ball on the left side of the box. He cuts in and squares it to Mahesh, who in turn, tries to find Nandha on the right. But the weight of Mahesh’s pass is too much and the ball rolls out of play. 

Three minutes added at the end of the first-half!

Jithin uses raw pace to burst past Rakip on the left flank and makes his way inside the box. He goes for the cutback, trying to find Redeem, who is the only man in the box. But Maher intercepts the cross and clears the ball. 

East Bengals works out a short corner but NorthEast clears the ball starts a counter. But Jithin loses the ball and Noarem Mahesh gets the ball. Nandha makes a run inside the box but Mahesh’s inswinger goes straight to Mirshad. 

Lalchungnunga combines well with Cleiton and tries to pierce open the NorthEast defence but Benali’s men stand strong and clears the ball. East Bengal has not been able to create anything from the middle. Cleiton has remained pretty isolated up front so far. 

Sayan cuts in and goes for a curler from the edge of the NorthEast box. The shot, however, is comfortable for Michu to deal with. 

NEUFC booking: Dinesh gets a yellow card for a reckless challenge from behind on Sayan Banerjee. 

Juric gets the ball at the edge of the box. He shows good skill in lifting the ball over Pardo and go for a shot at goal on the volley. However, the effort is not on target. 

EBFC booking: Captain Cleiton Silva gets a yellow for dissent and he will miss the next match. 

A first-time cross comes in from NorthEast inside the East Bengal box but Hijazi heads it to safety. 

All the football is happening inside the East Bengal half at the moment. The Red and Gold just cannot get out of the relentless pressure. 

NorthEast has blown away East Bengal early in the first-half. East Bengal’s defence looks shaky and the Highlanders are combining well. 

Jithin does well to thread the ball to Redeem Tlang who makes a darting run down the right flank. He spots Nestor’s inside the box and finds him with a brilliant through ball. Nestor, under pressure, goes for a first-time shot and manages to roll the ball past Gill. 

East Bengal is enjoying the lion’s share of the possession but NorthEast’s defence has remained in sync till now. The Red and Gold have not been able to create anything. 

Juric gets the ball near the East Bengal box and goes for a shot from distance. The effort is not on target but the confidence is clear in Juric after bagging the goal. 

Nestor is down on the ground after a clash of bodies with Hijazi as both went for the ball. NorthEast gets the foul but no caution for Hijazi. Nothing malicious in that, 

East Bengal loses the ball after trying to play out from the back. Jithin carries the ball and spreads it to Nestor who had made the overlap. Nestro spots Juric inside the box and squares the ball to him and the latter makes no mistake in tapping the ball inside the net from close distance. 

East Bengal starts positively and Pardo tries to lay down the marker early with a shot from distance. But the effort is miles off target. 

The ISL 2023-24 match between NorthEast United FC and East Bengal is underway at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati. 

NorthEast United FC head coach Juan Pedro Benali: “We had problems in scoring in only two games in the ISL so far, which was against EBFC away from home and against Mohun Bagan in Guwahati. We keep ourselves stronger defensively and have always scored, and we will be trying to do that more than the other team tomorrow.”

East Bengal head coach Carles Cuadrat: “We are trying to have a team that can fight for being in the higher statures of the ISL. We’ve been in two finals until now and shown against the champions of the last season, like Mohun Bagan Super Giant, Mumbai City and Odisha that we can win games against them and put them in trouble.”

Matches played – 7

NorthEast United FC Wins – 3

East Bengal Wins – 2

Draws – 2

NorthEast United FC: Mirshad Michu (GK), Dinesh Singh, Hamza Regragui, Miguel Zobaco, Tondonba Singh, Ali Bemammer, Phalguni Singh, Gani Nigam, Jithin MS, Romain Phillippoteaux (C), Nestor Albiach

East Bengal: Prabhsukhan Gill (GK), Mohammad Rakip, Lalchungnunga, Hijazi Maher, Mandar Rao Dessai, Saul Crespo, Jose Pardo, Nandhakumar Sekar, Naorem Mahesh Singh, PV Vishnu, Cleiton Silva

East Bengal FC looks to build on the momentum and NorthEast United FC would be desperate to put a dent in that momentum when the two sides meet in the Indian Super League (ISL) at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati on Saturday.

Juan Pedro Benali & Co. resumed their campaign after the mid-season break with a hard-fought 1-1 draw with Jamshedpur FC, as a late equaliser by Mohammed Ali Bemammer helped them secure a point from the contest.

NorthEast United FC is one of the many competitors for the sixth playoff spot, just a point behind Bengaluru FC (14), which has also played a game more (14) than the Highlanders (13). 

East Bengal FC secured its biggest-ever ISL win when it beat NEUFC by 5-0 at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan Stadium in the earlier fixture between these sides in this league. It is likely that its current run of impressive form kicked off from then and continued impeccably to result in them winning the Kalinga Super Cup last month.

The Highlanders kicked off the season positively, but their form slightly fizzled out before getting on a good run in December. Benali has had reasonable time to work with the squad, and his efforts have also been recognised by the management, who handed him a contract extension till 2025. 

The journey of the coming nine games is going to be pretty challenging straight up, but a possible qualification could help them script a remarkable comeback after the 2022-23 season when they could win only one of the 20 league matches.

When and where is the NorthEast United FC vs East Bengal ISL 2023-24 match kicking-off?

The NorthEast United FC vs East Bengal ISL 2023-24 match will kick-off at 5 PM IST on Saturday, February 9 at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati. 

How can you watch the NorthEast United FC vs East Bengal ISL 2023-24 match?

The NorthEast United FC vs East Bengal ISL 2023-24 match will be live telecasted on the Sports18 1 Channel (TV). The game can also be live streamed on the JioCinema app and website (online). 

The game will be livestreamed on OneFootball for those watching from outside India