The 2017-18 season of Hero Indian Super League (ISL) saw the addition of two new teams to the existing eight. While Jamshedpur FC were a club built from scratch, Bengaluru FC came into the league with a plethora of trophies, records, achievements and expectations to their name. Established in 2013, the Blues went on to win their debut Hero I-League season in 2014-15, while again attaining it in 2016-17.

Hence, when the first Indian club to play in an AFC Cup final joined Hero ISL, having a team studded with some of the best Indian and foreign players, they were expected to deliver. And it’s safe to say they more than lived up to the billing. Not only did they make it to the top-four at the end of the league phase, but they entered the semis with a massive tally of 40 points to their name - a Hero ISL record in itself. The Blues were the first team this season to book a semi-final spot and were eight points clear of second-placed Chennaiyin FC at the conclusion of the league phase. With a well-balanced side at Albert Roca’s disposal, the Blues are favourites to lift the Hero ISL trophy. Here, we have a look at how the season has progressed for Bengaluru.

A prolific start

Bengaluru started their campaign on a high, comprehensively winning four of their first five encounters. In those five games, the Blues found the back of the net an impressive 13 times while conceding six, with four of them being netted by FC Goa alone. Except for the setback against the Gaurs, who are just as prolific going forward, Bengaluru had asserted its dominance in the first month itself, finishing top of the table in a couple of match weeks.

A comparatively leaner patch followed

The next five matches, however, were a different story as the Blues picked up only six points of the available 15. They lost to Chennaiyin FC, Jamshedpur FC and Delhi Dynamos FC by a single-goal margin and could only find the net five times. They also managed to secure just a single clean sheet in these matches, forcing head coach Roca to go back to the drawing board and try to improve from the mistakes committed.

A dominant and unbeaten finish to the league-phase

Roca must have really done his homework well to ensure that his team never repeated their prior mistakes because, in the last eight matches, the Blues were at their scintillating best. They remained unbeaten with seven wins and one draw to enter the semi-finals with fantastic momentum as league toppers. Bengaluru scored 17 goals during this time while conceding only four times as they stamped their authority on every aspect of the game.

The key records achieved in the league phase

Some of the statistics which separate them from the remaining top four teams are as follows:

• Finished as the club with the maximum number of wins (13) and minimum number of losses (4) in the league
• Miku with 14 goals and Sunil Chhetri with 10 goals find a place in the top five goal-scorers of the season
• Finished as the team with the maximum clean sheets in the league, having conceded the least number of goals throughout (16)
• Their goal difference of 19 is the highest recorded in the league this season
• Sunil Chhetri is the first Indian player to score 10 goals in a single Hero ISL season

Bengaluru FC will face FC Pune City in the semi-final over two legs as they target their first Hero ISL Final. Catch both the teams in action on 7th and 11th March 2018, to find out which club books a final berth.