Suman Chakravorty: The epic Kolkata derby back in 1997 Federation Cup between East Bengal and Mohun Bagan at the Salt Lake Stadium has been said to be the greatest football match ever in the history of Indian club football. The rivalry saw an astonishing one lakh thirty one thousand spectators where the Red and Gold Brigade won the game by 4-1 with Indian football legend Bhaichung Bhutia scoring that ineffable hat-trick. The match took place on 13th July, exactly 22 years back on this day. Today, xtratime.in spoke to the heroes of that game and now takes you back to the down memory lane to recall the memories of the game which is also called as the “Diamond match” for the famous tactical brilliance of the then Mohun Bagan Coach late Amal Dutta.
Bhaichung Bhutia (East Bengal): From last night I started receiving so many texts on WhatsApp and Messenger. One of the most unforgettable days in Indian football to me. A game witnessed by more than one lakh thirty thousand fans in the stadium is simply incredible. I scored a memorable hat-trick but Mohun Bagan was clearly the better side in the first half. We also played according to our plan. The match specially got a hype because of the duel between the two coaches PK Banerjee and Amal Dutta. The ambiance of the stadium was enough to get us charged up. This could only happen in Kolkata. East Bengal and Mohun Bagan are the heart of Indian football, such passion they have. I was happy to be a part of it.
Chima Okorie (Mohun Bagan): That game was a humiliation for me. But that was undoubtedly the best game to me in Kolkata football since started playing there. Yes I scored a goal, but Bhaichung too scored three outstanding goals. But we totally dominated that game. The ball possession was almost 80%-20% in our favour. If you go back and look at that season, we had only gone strength to strength from there on. Mohun Bagan was a team to beat in that season.
Soso (East Bengal): How can I forget that game? I assisted in all the goals we scored. A special game filled with an unbelievable atmosphere. Before that match day, Mohun Bagan gaffer Amal Dutta spoke insulting words about us in the press conference. He termed us by the name of ‘Shosha’, ‘Chung Chung’ and ‘Omlette’. That charged us up. The long I will stay alive, the memories will remain fresh to me. The biggest game I have played in my life.
Basudeb Mondal (Mohun Bagan): Well, I have different memories about that game. Usually, I have always maintained a disciplined life. On that match-day, I was somehow a bit late and the bus left the club without me. When I reached the stadium on a private cab, I got enthralled by such massive attendance. I had never seen something like that before. Yes we lost the game but we left the ground with our head high. Even the East Bengal fans applauded our brand of football.
Noushad Moosa (East Bengal): The finest game of my career. During those days, the East Bengal dressing rooms always used to be different. The likes of PK Banerjee, Swapan Bal, Babu da and Paltu da used to put the dressing rooms on fire. Our performances too used to get motivated by that. In that famous match, our back-line was of me, Sammy Omollo, Dulal Biswas and Amitava Chanda. My role was was to mark the dangerous Chima. Yes he scored once in that game. But I hardly allowed him to do anything apart from that. Every time, when I was going for my throw ins, the Red and Gold fans were chanting “Moosa!!…Moosa!!”. On the flip side, there was pin drop silence in the Mohun Bagan stand. One lakh thirty one thousand crowd in an Indian football game speaks volume about the game.
Debjit Ghosh (Mohun Bagan): That was a tragedy in my life. Since then, whenever I played, I just prayed that day not to come back again. Three reasons why I feel we lost the game – 1) We were complacent. We thought we would be winning it easily. 2) In the 3-5-2 diamond combination we played, there was a player named Odumbe, who played in our defence. I felt there should have been Ranjan Dey at our defence. 3) After we were down to 0-2, Chima reduced the margin for us, but we conceded almost immediately again. It was tough to make a comeback from there on.
Satyajit Chatterjee (Mohun Bagan): That game was the biggest achievement in Amal Dutta’s coaching career. Yes we lost, but the brand of football we played, was simply magnificent. Had Lolendra Singh’s attempt not brilliantly cut off by Sammy Omollo when we were 1-2 down, it could have been a different result. They scored the first couple of goals through set pieces against the run of play. Yes, they had a win by a big margin but all the fans applauded our game. That was possibly the highest attendance in a football game. Except that game, we had played some scintillating football throughout. We had scored 4-5 goals regularly with Amal Dutta’s Diamond System.