ISL: East Bengal rout NorthEast United in jinx-breaking start

KOLKATA: A different looking East Bengal kick-started their Indian Super League campaign with a statement win, demolishing NorthEast United FC 3-0 at the Salt Lake Stadium on Monday.The new recruit Youssef Ezzejjari was the star of the match, scoring a brace (65 and 71 minutes), setting his team on the path to a comfortable win. Miguel Ferreira put the icing on the cake, scoring the third goal in the second minute of injury time as NorthEast United had no answer to the home team’s brand new attacking style. In doing so, East Bengal also broke a jinx, having managed to win in their first match of an ISL season for the first time since the team’s dramatic initiation into the top league in 2020. Bruzon’s team began the new ISL journey with a brand new attacking style. With high-line and high-press football, and newcomer Ezzejjari being at the tip of their attack, they laid siege to the NEUFC box with promise and potency, and in the process of blowing Juan Pedro Benali’s Durand Cup champions to smithereens, East Bengal also looked every inch title aspirants.