Panagiotis Dilmperis punches the air and celebrates like he has won the Durand Cup itself. He might as well have, and Antonio Lopez Habas may as well have lost the trophy as well looking at his crestfallen reaction. The Kolkata Derby is always bigger than the tournament it is being played in, there is never a dead rubber or pre-season friendly between these two teams and how Dilmperis would love the fact that he has started his tenure off with a win over East Bengal. Habas has some friendly arguments with his opposite number when they come together to shake hands.

87th min: Vishnu whips in a cross from the left side of the box, Dani Ramirez gets to it at the near post, manages to get a feather touch on the ball, it hits the outside of the post and goes out play. That is the closest East Bengal have come to scoring all day long.

Habas barked some big words at his players during the 2nd half drinks break and that seems to have done some work here. Lalchungnunga makes his way into the box, not really challenged as the defenders look like they weren't expecting him to take a shot. Can't blame them since he had to negotiate a very unrealistic angle from the inside edge of the box on the right but Chungunga takes it anyhow. The keeper saves it, ball pops up in the air but Bagan deal with it before any more trouble.

East Bengal have more of the ball now and Bagan might be wary of letting them have too much possession, considering there is still more than 20 minutes to go in the match. Jeakson tries to find Vishnu with a ball over the top from his own half. But it goes out for a throw-in.

59th min: The two Rohits, Kumar and Danu are replaced by PV Vishnu and Rashid.

East Bengal tried to bounce back right after conceding, with David Hmar getting into the box from the left after skipping past a defender. That defender was Tekcham, who does well to recover and sends the ball out for a corner... which comes to nothing.

All right then, lets hope to see some goals in this half at last. Here we go!

42nd min: Liston with a cross from the right, Manvir reaches it but his header, instead of going goalwards, goes the other way from inside the box. Thapa tries to get to it, ends up fouling Edmund and East Bengal are away.

The possession is now nearly 50-50 now and Bagan have had two shots while East Bengal have had one, all off target.

28th min: It's Indians all the way for both sides and the teething issue of lack of teeth in the final third that has plagued the country's football has been on full display thus far. Apuia with a lofted ball into the box, Liston is not under too much pressure, he could've chested it down and attempted a shot with his legs. Instead, he goes for a header from an improbable place and it had no direction or venom. The ball feebly goes out of play for a goal kick.

And shortly after that, we have our first drinks break. Not the 3-minute long hydration breaks we saw in the World Cup. Just a few seconds with no adverts for the players to catch their breath in the punishing humidity of Kolkata.

And no goals to report. Bagan have nearly 70 percent possession thus far but neither side have managed to trouble the opposition goalkeeper two much. Bipin seemed to have been released on the right wing with a long ball but Mehtab manages to get to it and clear the danger.

14th min: Liston Colaco has been a handful down the left-hand flank as Bagan slowly seem to be starting to take control of this match. As stated earlier, the fingerprints of the two coaches is starting to be seen already in the two sides. East Bengal looking somewhat comfortable at the moment in a low block, Bagan also not looking too lost in possession. An interesting stalemate.

The red-and-golds get an early free kick on the right but it comes to nothing with Bipi kicking it out of play. This is an interesting clash of coaching philosophies -- Habas's teams tend to like defending and springing on the counter while Dilmperis's Punjab FC preferred to have more possession and play more expansively last season.

... we were all reminded of what Indian football could be. Mohun Bagan SG and East Bengal were locked 0-0 until the 85th minute.

From there until the end of the match 13 minutes later, there was a goal for East Bengal (and a celebration like they had won the league) an equaliser for Bagan, Bipin Singh made a mess of a goalscoring chance for the umpteenth time, his goalkeeper Prabhsukhan Gill made an astonishing save with his left foot and East Bengal scorer Edmund Lalrindika received a red card. All in front of a Salt Lake Stadium packed to the rafters and feeling every second of the game. One would be forgiven for thinking that Indian football and the Indian Super League (ISL) was thriving if this match on Sunday was their introduction to this world. READ MORE.

First held all the way back in 1888, the Durand Cup is the oldest existing tournament in Asia and the fifth oldest national football competition in the world. It is organised by the Indian Armed Forces and marks the start of the football season in the country. This year, there are 24 teams including clubs from the Indian Super League, I-League, I-League 2, the Armed Forces and Sri Lankan side Defenders FC.

The 2026 Durand Cup, one of the oldest football tournaments in the world, kicks off with a match between East Bengal and Mohun Bagan Super Giant, one of the oldest, and biggest, derbies in the world. It couldn't be a more fitting occassion. Stay tuned for more updates!