Durand Cup: Blasters eye semi-berth in derby clash with Bengaluru FC

KOLKATA: Aiming for the Durand Cup semis, Kerala Blasters will face arch-rivals Bengaluru FC on Friday. The match will begin at Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata from 7 PM tonight. Under the tutelage of new coach Michael Stahre, the Blasters look revamped and are cruising into the quarters after an excellent group stage performance. Blasters scored 16 goals in the group stage and are now riding on high hopes to reach the Durand semis.

Blasters have adopted an aggressive gameplay format with the arrival of Moroccan player Noah Sadoui. Noah scored two hat-tricks in the group stage. Captain Adrian Luna and Freddy Lallawmawma played well in the midfield. Blasters have reached the quarters as group champions with 2 wins and 1 draw from 3 matches played in Group C.

On the other hand, Bengaluru have reached the quarters as champions of Group B after winning all three matches they played. Former India captain Sunil Chhetri, ex-Blasters players Jorge Perera Diaz and Rahul Bheke are all in fine form which is a positive factor for Bengaluru.

The game will be shown live on SonyLiv channels.