Mohun Bagan Super Giant finished the 2024-25 Indian Super League with 52 goals to their credit. They conceded just 19. What is the identity of this Bagan side that did the double at Salt Lake Stadium on Saturday? Are they an attacking behemoth, or a solid defensive unit where the centre-halves axis of Tom Aldred and Alberto Roriguez formed the bedrock?
How can a side have a clear identity that doesn’t follow a specific tactical pattern? Throughout the league, they remained fluid, even formation-wise. In the final against Bengaluru FC, coach Jose Molina started with 4-2-3-1. But he has used a back-three and sometimes 4-4-2 during this ISL.
Under Molina, Bagan weren’t not a prisoner of a regimented system and the results have been spectacular. They played 27 games, including the playoffs and the final, and lost only three. Incredible.
This takes us to a question, is this the best Bagan side at least over the past 50 years? The treble-winning team of 1977 has every right to say ‘hello’.
Rewind to a time when Sholay was the flavour of Indian cinema. Football was the No. 1 sport in Calcutta – Sourav Ganguly happened two decades later – by a country mile. Football players plying their trades for Bagan and East Bengal used to be cult heroes in this part of the world. And Bagan had a star-studded side under PK Banerjee.
But East Bengal trumped them in the Calcutta league and pressure mounted. Bagan responded by winning the IFA Shield, Durand Cup and Rovers Cup to secure the treble. Before that, there was the small matter of playing a game against Pele’s New York Cosmos and earning a very creditable 2-2 draw.
How about comparing that side to the current squad in terms of achievements? “There’s no comparison,” Subrata Bhattacharya, the captain of the treble-winning side, told RevSportz. “My team didn’t have a foreigner. Sons of the soil formed the core of the team. The emotions were different. The connection with the fans was at a different level.”
It’s pretty normal that things have changed now. Jamie Maclaren, an Australian, scored the winner for Bagan in the ISL final. Before that, Jason Cummings, his compatriot, netted the equaliser from the spot. A turnout of 60,000 wildly celebrated.
Mohun Bagan’s historic double belongs to the fans just as much as it does to the club. @snehasis_95 has more on the passionate supporters who thronged the stadium to watch their beloved club lift the ISL Cup.@mohunbagansg #MBSGBFC #MBSG #ISLFinal https://t.co/muXgIHD6JT
— RevSportz Global (@RevSportzGlobal) April 13, 2025
Debashis Dutta, Mohun Bagan Club secretary, put things in perspective. “I will not compare,” he told this website. “That Mohun Bagan side was the best team in India in that decade. Football has changed now – style and technique. So, you can’t compare.”
The team of 1977 played in a completely amateur set-up. Bhasiya Mali used to be the go-to man for footballers to put on ice after an injury. The current squad operates in a completely professional environment, with a host of support staff assisting the players and coaches.
In the moment of glory, though, sweet nostalgia evokes a feeling of longing from the past. In 1977, Bagan won the treble. In 2025, they can match it if they annex the Super Cup.
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