Juan Cruz Mascia
Juan Cruz Mascia celebrating his goal that helped NEUFC won the first leg semifinal against Bengaluru FC. Image - Twitter

NorthEast United FC won the first leg semifinal of the Indian Super League 2018-19 against Bengaluru FC played at Guwahati’s Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium by 2-1.

With Uruguayan Juan Cruz Mascia slamming the ball into the top corner at 93rd minute, NorthEast United FC won the match against Bengaluru FC.

With the help of penalty shootout, Mascia kept NEUFC’s hopes for a berth in the final alive as he sent the ball beyond Gurpreet’s reach and sealed a remarkable win for the team from the Northeast.

The first 45 minutes of the game came to an end with the Highlanders taking the lead with Redeem Tlang from Meghalaya unleashing a beautiful curler past Gurpreet.

It was Xisco Hernandez of Bengaluru FC who scored the equaliser for his team.

It may be mentioned that NorthEast United FC are the only team from the original eight clubs to have never finished in top four, qualified for the play-offs for the first time in the history of Indian Super League.

NEUFC rely heavily on Federico Gallego and Bartholomew Ogbeche, who have been consistently showing good performances throughout the season to help their side make it to the semifinals.

However, Bengaluru FC, who remained unbeaten till January this season, had some tough time towards the end of the season.

After the international break, Bengaluru FC lost four games, thereby denting their confidence.

On Thursday’s match, at 7th minute, Leudo set himself up to fire one towards Gurpreet. But it went wide.

At 11th minute, in a beautiful spell of play, Redeem Tlang picked up the ball on the right hand side and put in a well-drilled cross but Serran cleared the danger.

And at 19th minute, amidst applause from their supporters, Redeem Tlang of NorthEast United FC got his first goal for himself and also for his team in Thursday’s match.

Till half time, the hosts continued to lead Thursday’s semifinal match of the first leg semifinal of the ISL.

On its Twitter handle, NEUFC on its Twitter handle stated: “A brilliant first 45 comes to an end with the Highlanders taking the lead with Redeem unleashing a beautiful curler past Gurpreet! Unfortunate to see Ogbeche limp off but we’re going to give our best for our captain!”