Bengaluru FC and Hyderabad FC clash as Durand Cup final beckons

Kolkata: Talismanic Sunil Chhetri-led Bengaluru FC will look to qualify for their maiden final of the Durand Cup football tournament as they face Indian Super League champions Hyderabad FC in the second semifinals here on Thursday.

The Blues will seek to erase memories of their last year's semi-final defeat when they had suffered a 6-7 defeat to eventual champions FC Goa in sudden-death here.

There is little to choose between the two teams but a battle of strikers is on the cards in the marquee clash.

Hyderabad did look flawless till Army Red beat them in an inconsequential final group league match and then Rajasthan United FC also gave them a stiff challenge in the quarterfinals, before succumbing to their overall quality.

BFC too have had stops and starts in their campaign and scraped through a 10-man Odisha FC in the quarterfinals, with a last touch winner from Roy Krishna following a monumental blunder by the Juggernauts keeper in the dying seconds.

Both teams have also scored an identical 11-goals in the five games so far with HFC conceding three, while BFC have let in five.

What gives HFC the slight edge is that they have had seven scorers so far with Bart Ogbeche leading the lines with five strikes.

The Blues, on the other hand, have majorly relied on their striking trio of talisman Chhetri (3), Krishna (3) and the pair's understudy Siva Sakthi (4) for their goals.