The Indian Super League (ISL) 2023-24 season ended with a game between Mohun Bagan SG and Mumbai City FC. The league campaign too ended with the same fixture which decided the destiny of the League Shield. 

The 2024-25 season will also begin with Mohun Bagan Super Giant taking on Mumbai City FC at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan in Kolkata on Friday. 

This is no coincidence as it has become the ISL’s big-ticket fixture with the two teams winning the majority of the silverware on offer in the last four seasons. Mumbai City FC won the League Shield and Cup double in 2020-21 beating Mohun Bagan SG to both titles. In 2022-23, the Islanders won the Shield again but it was the Mariners who triumphed in the ISL Playoffs. The two teams swapped trophies last season once again beating each other to it. 

So these recent duels, usually for the biggest honours has given way to a rivalry that is about to come to the boil. As they kick off the 2024-25 season, these two teams are expected to compete for top honours once again. 

Mumbai City FC have dominated this duel winning seven out of the ten matches between these two teams, but the Mariners recorded their first victory in this fixture in a game that gave the League Shield. The Kolkata giants also knocked Mumbai City FC out of the 2023 Durand Cup en-route winning the trophy last season. 

The Players

Bipin Singh has been a thorn in Mohun Bagan SG’s flesh having scored the winner when the two sides met in the ISL 2020-21 Cup final. He also scored when the Islanders beat the Mariners in the Cup final last season while also finding the back of the net in the league game in Mumbai when the two sides met. He has four goals and two assists to his name while playing against the Kolkata side and the Mohun Bagan Sg faithful won’t be too happy with the sight of him on Friday. 

Similarly, Jason Cummings has scored in each of his three ISL appearances against Mumbai City FC last season and will once again be keen to torment the Islanders’ new-look back line. Dimitri Petratos assisted both goals when Mohun Bagan SG beat Mumbai City FC in the Shield decider last season and has three assists to his name in this fixture. 

Added spice

The already heightened rivalry between the two teams will be further spiced up with two former Mumbai City FC players, Apuia and Greg Stewart lining up for the Mariners on Friday. The duo joined Jose Molina’s team in the summer having spent a highly successful stint with Mumbai City FC. 

Apuia and Stewart were key figures in the Mumbai City FC setup and it will be interesting to see if the Islanders are weaker without the two operating in their midfield, while also facing them on the other side. 

India’s best on show

The fixture will also pit some of India’s best players against each other to create a spectacle for the Indian football fans. 

Chhangte, Vikram Partap Singh, Mehtab Singh, Brandon Fernandes and recently even Phurba Lachenpa have been regulars in the national team setup with the Mariners boasting the likes of Sahal Abdul Samad, Anirudh Thapa, Liston Colaco, Subhasish Bose, Apuia and Vishal Kaith. 

The two teams will for a change not be fighting to win a trophy at the end of the ninety minutes but such has been the strength of these two teams that points obtained in these games could well decide the outcome of the League Shield. 

A virtual final to kick off the league? Only time will tell.