With Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club already assured of title, three teams are in contention for runners-up position in the Bangladesh Premier League that can be decided today.
Sheikh Russell Krira Chakra will be the frontrunner to take the honour when they take on Rahmatganj MFS in today’s first match before the so-called battle royal between two arch-rivals Mohammedan Sporting Club and Abahani Limited.
A win for Russell will be enough for them to finish as the runners-up which will make Mohammedan-Abahani tie only academic. However, if Russell fail to win, it will open an opportunity for the two giants, especially for Mohammedan, who can take the position with three points from Abahani.
It will also give Abahani a glimmer of hope as they have still a mathematical chance left to become runners-up in the league. In that case, Abahani will have to beat Mohammedan and Jamal in their last two matches and wait for the other results to come in their way.
The first match will kick off at 4:15pm while the second match between Abahani and Mohammedan will start at 6:30pm.
Russell have earned 39 points from 19 matches to be placed second while Mohammedan have now 37 points from the same number of outings.
Abahani are now in fifth position in the points table with 34 points from 18 matches.
Runners-up race apart, the Mohammedan-Abahani match is expected to create at least some interest as the game is considered as a battle of pride to the supporters of both the clubs.
In the professional era, both the clubs met 15 times each other with Abahani winning five times and Mohammedan coming victorious on four occasions. The other six matches ended in draws.
A young Mohammedan side, who finished second in the first phase of the league, managed a narrow 1-0 win against Abahani in the first-leg.
‘We are not thinking about the standings,’ Mohammedan coach Joshi told reporters on Saturday.
‘Out main target is to finish the league with a win. It’s always a battle of pride so we will be eagerly looking to repeat the result of the first phase tomorrow.’
Veteran coach Amalesh Sen, who took over the charge of Abahani after their Austrian coach Jeorge Kottan left his job in the middle part of the second phase, was confident to win the traditional battle.
‘It has become only a match of pride when both of us are out of the title race,’ Amalesh said.
-With New Age input
