Edmund Lalrindika’s first-half hat-trick sinks Mohun Bagan 4-1 as the Red and Gold Brigade level the all-time Durand Cup record
There are Kolkata derbies, and then there are afternoons like this one. East Bengal FC did not just beat their fiercest rivals in the Durand Cup 2026 final, they dismantled them inside the first half hour, riding a scarcely believable hat-trick from Edmund Lalrindika to a 4-1 victory that ended more than two decades of waiting for the club’s faithful.
Union Minister Rajnath Singh presents the Durand Cup 2026 trophy to East Bengal’s Edmund Lalrindika
A Coach’s Gamble Pays Off Instantly
Head coach Antonio Lopez Habas made a decision before kickoff that would define the entire match. Rather than start with Jesin TK up front as he had through much of the tournament, Habas handed the striker’s role to Lalrindika and pushed Jay Gupta out to the left wing. It was a switch that Mohun Bagan’s midfield, missing the injured Sahal Abdul Samad, simply could not account for. Within minutes, East Bengal were exploiting gaps in transition that the Mariners never managed to close.
Twenty-Two Minutes That Buried the Match
The scoreline tells only part of the story of how quickly this final was decided. Bipin Singh broke the deadlock in the tenth minute, finishing off a move set up by captain Rashid. Two minutes later, Lalrindika doubled the advantage, rounding goalkeeper Kaith after being played through by Daniel Ramirez following a piece of quick thinking from Hardik Bhatt on the left. By the twenty-second minute, Lalrindika had struck again, this time slotting home from close range, and East Bengal found themselves 3-0 up before many in the stands had settled into their seats.
Mohun Bagan did find a route back into the contest through Manvir Singh, who cut inside from the right and fired past the East Bengal goalkeeper in the thirty-third minute to give the Mariners a flicker of hope heading toward the interval.
The Punctuation Mark
Any thoughts of a comeback were extinguished before the halftime whistle. In the forty-fourth minute, Rashid once again turned provider, this time finding Jay Gupta, who squared the ball across the face of goal for Lalrindika to tap in and complete his hat-trick. It was a fitting way to close out a first half that had swung entirely East Bengal’s way, and it left Mohun Bagan needing something extraordinary just to salvage a share of the spoils.
Holding the Fort in the Second Half
With a three-goal cushion in hand, Habas set his side up to absorb pressure rather than chase further glory, and East Bengal’s disciplined low block did exactly what was asked of it. Mohun Bagan pushed forward for long stretches after the break, but East Bengal’s defensive shape held firm, and the Mariners never found the second breakthrough that might have made things interesting again.
A Personal Redemption Story
For Lalrindika, the moment carried extra weight. He had scored in an earlier ISL derby final against the same opponents this year but ended up on the losing side that day. This time, he went two better, walking away with both the match ball and the tournament’s Golden Ball award for his efforts across the competition. It capped what has been a breakout campaign for the forward, one that culminated in the most important match of his career so far.
Where This Leaves the Rivalry
The win puts East Bengal level with Mohun Bagan at seventeen Durand Cup titles each, making them jointly the most successful club in the competition’s long history. More immediately, it ends a trophy drought stretching back to 2004, when East Bengal last lifted the same cup, fittingly, against the very same opponents. Union Minister Rajnath Singh presented the trophy to Lalrindika in front of a packed Salt Lake Stadium, closing the book on a Durand Cup campaign that East Bengal’s supporters will be replaying for years to come.
Individual Honours From a Memorable Tournament
Beyond the final itself, the tournament handed out its share of individual recognition. NorthEast United’s Alaaedine Ajaraie claimed the Golden Boot after a prolific campaign that included two separate hat-tricks, one in a 6-0 rout of Bodoland and another in the quarter-final stage. But it was Lalrindika’s derby-day heroics that will be remembered as the defining image of this year’s Durand Cup, a hat-trick that turned a fierce rivalry into a statement of intent for the East Bengal side heading into the rest of the season.
