Kerala Blasters face Bengaluru FC in must-win Southern Derby

KOLKATA: Two crack Indian Super League (ISL) teams — Bengaluru FC and Kerala Blasters FC — face off in a must-win Southern Derby in the 132nd Durand Cup at the Kishore Bharati Krirangan (KBK) here on Friday.

Kerala Blasters will take on defending champions Bengaluru FC in a high-voltage Southern Derby with both teams needing to win Friday’s clash to improve their chances of making it to the next stage.

Bengaluru, the defending champions have drawn their first game while the Kerala Blasters went down in a Kera-la derby clash with Gokulam in their opener. As a result, both need to win their second games to keep hopes of qual-ifying alive.

However, given the champions have fielded a young side, the scales seem to be tipped in favour of the Manjappadas, because of the form both teams have shown in their opening games in the championships.

The Blasters came second-best in a seven-goal slugfest with the 2019 champions Gokulam, but their key players like Urugyuan Adrian Luna, wing-back Prabir Das and midfielder Jeakson Singh looked sharp. Particularly impres-sive was their young attacking winger Mohammed Aimen. IANS

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