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Bangladesh Premier League Champions Basundhara Kings ended their 2020-21 season campaign with a 1-1 draw against Dhaka Abahani on Monday at the Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka.
Kings, who had secured the title with four matches in hand, ended the campaign with 65 points from 24 games, 13 points ahead of the second-placed Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club. Abahani, the most successful club in Bangladesh, ended up as third with 47 points.
Kings’ Brazilian playmaker Robson Robinho ended as the league’s top-scorer with 21 goals. Sheikh Jamal’s Pa Omar Kobe was at second with 19 goals whilst Dhaka Abahani’s Jewel Rana finished as the highest-scoring Bangladesh player with ten goals.
Kings midfielder Jonathan Fernandes provided 15 assists, the most in the league, with Robson providing 10.
Goalkeeper Anisur Rahman Zico, who conceded only 10 goals in the season while playing for the champion side won the award for the best Bangladeshi player.
Kings skipper Topu Barman was at the centre of all attention in the match as both goals came from him. The first, an own goal, saw Abahani take the lead, but the second ensured that his team was back level.
The match started slowly, but Abahani got the lead in the 28th minute, courtesy of an own goal from Topu. He tried to clear a Raphael Silva cross from the right wing, but a miscued clearance meant Kings goalkeeper Zico was helpless as the ball entered the net.
But the Kings skipper did not take long to redeem his mistake as he scored at the other end 10 minutes later. The centre-back’s powerful header from a sublime Robson free-kick left Abahani goalkeeper Shahidul Islam with no chance as the league Champions drew level.
After the match, Topu said that it was special to win the league as the skipper, and he hoped to play better football in the future.
“This season was special for me as we won both the Federation Cup and the league. In future, this will inspire me, and I hope that this will help me play better football in the future,” he said.
Topu added that he wanted to score a goal after the own goal, and that effort worked.
“I felt bad that I scored an own goal, but it’s part of football. It can happen to anybody. After the own goal, I decided that I would try to score from a set-piece, and that effort led to me scoring the equalizer,” he added.
Kings head coach Oscar Bruzon, recently appointed as the Bangladesh head coach for the upcoming SAFF Championship, denied commenting on the national team and said it was the time to celebrate the trophy they had been fighting for.
“Let me lift the trophy of the BPL, which is what I have been fighting for together with our management and the boys. Let me completely enjoy this trophy. There has been a lot of sacrifice for this, so now, it’s time for me to be with my group. I will talk about the national team tomorrow (Tuesday),” the Spaniard said.
The Kings coach added that despite winning the league by a 13-point margin, it was not easy.
“I have said before that BPL for me is one of the toughest competitions in South Asia. The point table might show that Kings had an easy league. But Sheikh Jamal, Abahani, Saif are very, very strong rivals. We played very good games, we did not allow other teams to win except for one accident,” he said.
Robson, the highest scorer in the league, said he was very happy for winning the trophy, and now it’s time to go home after a long season.
“I am very happy to win the league and be the highest scorer in the league. This is my first season in Bangladesh, winning the (Federation) Cup and the league. It has been a long season of 13 months. Now it’s time to relax and go to my family in Brazil,” the playmaker said.
