Mohun Bagan vs East Bengal: Antonio Habas Says 'Not A Penalty!' After Entertaining 2-2 Draw In Kolkata Derby

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Mohun Bagan vs East Bengal: MBSG head coach Antonio Habas vented out his anger on the referee for the Kolkata Derby, Rahul Gupta, for awarding a penalty to East Bengal in the 55th minute, which allowed East Bengal to take a 2-1 lead.

While Mohun Bagan eventually scored a late equaliser to end the match a 2-2 draw, Antonio Habas felt that the referee got many of his decisions wrong, including letting off Nishu Kumar softly for a poor tackle on Brendan Hamill, which forced the player to leave the field early.

"There were bad calls by the referee. That wasn't a penalty, The foul on Hamill deserves a red card too. Referee should have done better tonight," Habas told official broadcasters Sports18 after the Kolkata derby.

The Spanish coach wasn't the only one complaining about the refereeing standards on the night as his counterpart and compatriot Carles Cuadrat had his list of grievances against Rahul Gupta. The East Bengal coach criticised the equaliser by Dimitri Petratos late in the game as he felt his player Nandhakumar Sekar was fouled by Sahal Abdul Samad right before Petratos scored.

Temper expectedly flared throughout the high-octane Mohun Bagan vs East Bengal match as the derby was laden with some high-boot tackles and strong challenges that often called for cards. However, there was no red card shown in the game while the yellow card came out 10 times; each side saw five yellow.

Goals came early in the game with Ajay Chhetri guiding a Nishu Kumar cross into the net from close range in the third minute before Armando Sadikou levelled things up in the 17th minute. It was all Mohun Bagan from that point on until East Bengal came back strong late in the half.

It took the 55th-minute penalty goal by Cleiton Silva to restore the lead for East Bengal and was followed by multiple chances to kill the game but they failed to show accuracy in front of the goal. They eventually paid the price through Petratos's score-levelling goal in the 87th minute