The 2024-25 season of the Indian Super League is in full swing, and with games coming thick and fast, this is a convenient place to catch up on every match. We'll have a report after every match, right up to the rest day signalling the end of the matchweek.
ISL Standings | ISL Results and Fixtures
The report on all matches from matchweek 15 is here.
Here are the details for matchweek 16 of ISL 2024-25 with the latest match report coming first:
Kerala Blasters FC 3-2 Odisha FC
(Kwame Peprah 60', Jesus Jimenez 73', Noah Sadaoui 90+5' - Jerry Mawinmingthanga 4', Dorielton 80')
Kerala Blasters earned their third win from four games after a dramatic 3-2 win over Odisha FC at home, thanks to an injury-time winner from Noah Sadaoui. The Blasters have now climbed to eighth in the table, a point behind Odisha in seventh and three behind Mumbai City in the last playoff spot.
Jerry Mawihmingthanga opened the scoring for the visitors in the fourth minute, as he ran onto Dorielton's flick-on following a long ball forward, before finishing acrobatically to give Odisha the lead. The visitors then sat back for the rest of the half, allowing Kerala Blasters back onto them, who finished the first half trailing 0-1 but with nine shots compared to Odisha's two.
Odisha's circumspect style of play came back to haunt them on the hour mark as Kwame Peprah scored the equalizer for the Blasters. Korou Singh sidestepped a challenge from Ahmed Jahouh with a clever dummy, and then produced an eye-of-the-needle pass bisecting the entire Odisha backline, with Peprah running onto it in the box, evading an onrushing Amrinder Singh and finishing into the empty net from a narrow angle.
Kochi erupted once more 13 minutes later as the home side completed their comeback, with Jesus Jimenez giving the hosts the lead. Adrian Luna sent in a superb cross to the far post, where Noah Sadaoui was on hand to head the ball back into the penalty spot and Jimenez acrobatically finished from close range. The stadium was silenced in the 80th minute, when Dorielton scored his first ISL goal. Diego Mauricio's free kick cannoned off the post and as the Blasters cleared it to the edge of the box, Saviour Gama hammered a shot that Sachin Suresh could only palm back into danger, with Dorielton on hand to tap the ball into the net, making it 2-2.
The drama wasn't done as Carlos Delgado was sent off three minutes later for two yellow cards in quick succession, following a poor tackle and dissent, reducing Odisha to ten men. Just as it seemed Odisha were about to survive, up popped Noah Sadaoui with the winner in injury time. The forward cut inside from the left wing and attempted a curled shot into goal, with a deflection meaning the ball looped into the net and sent the stadium into raptures.
Mumbai City FC 0-3 Jamshedpur FC
(Mohammed Sanan 64', Jordan Murray 86', Javi Hernandez 90+6')
Jamshedpur grabbed a crucial three points in the playoff race, after defeating fellow contenders Mumbai City away from home by a 2-0 scoreline. Mohammed Sanan and Jordan Murray scored for the visitors, who climbed to third in the table, level with second-placed Bengaluru FC but with a game in hand. Mumbai, meanwhile, remained in the final playoff spot, level on 23 points with NorthEast in fifth place.
Only the bottom three clubs had scored fewer goals than Jamshedpur and Mumbai City coming into this game, so it was no big surprise when the first half ended 0-0. Thaer Krouma and Jordan Murray had half-chances for either side, but there was little in terms of attacking play in a dull first half.
Speculative chances remained the norm in the beginning of the second half, until Mohammed Sanan gave Jamshedpur the lead in the 64th minute. Imran Khan had the ball on the right touchline, and spotted his teammate ghosting into the box between the centre-back and right-back. He sent in a whipped cross right to the penalty spot, where Sanan was on hand to thunder the ball into the net from close range. Jamshedpur were nearly gifted a second goal soon after when Sahil Panwar's backpass nearly crept into the net, but Mumbai survived to keep the deficit down to one.
As Mumbai pushed forward in the late stages, Jamshedpur ended the contest when Murray made it 2-0 in the 86th minute. The striker ran onto a long clearance forward, and got to the ball ahead of TP Rehenesh in the Mumbai goal and lofted the ball over the keeper into an empty net. Javi Hernandez then put the finishing touches in injury time, collecting a deflected cross from the right in the box, and slamming the ball home, thus sealing an impressive away win for Khalid Jamil's outfit. Mumbai's woes were worsened after full time, with Lallianzuala Chhangte being sent off.
Mohun Bagan SG 1-0 East Bengal FC
(Jamie MacLaren 2')
Mohun Bagan defeated 10-man East Bengal to win the Kolkata derby by a 1-0 scoreline. Jamie MacLaren scored the only goal of the game, with East Bengal going down to ten men after Souvik Chakrabarti was sent off on the hour mark. Bagan thus extended their lead to eight points ahead of Bengaluru FC, with seven games left in the league season - East Bengal remain eleventh in the table, nine points behind the playoff spots.
It only took two minutes for Mohun Bagan to take the lead in the Kolkata, with Jamie MacLaren opening the scoring. Asish Rai curled a long ball forward, and a deflection fed it right into MacLaren's path as he ran into the box and slotted the ball into the bottom corner with a composed finish.
Bagan could have soon made it 2-0, but Prabhsukhan Gill made a stunning save diving all across the goal to smother Manvir Singh's shot from close range. East Bengal grew into the game, and ought to have had a penalty late in the first half, with Apuia's handball in the box missed by the referee, as Oscar Bruzon's team trailed 0-1 at the break.
East Bengal's fortunes took a nose-dive minutes after the hour mark, after Souvik was sent off for a second yellow card following a reckless tackle on Liston Colaco leading a counter-attack. Bagan, who had kept the most clean sheets in the league coming into this game, then shut shop, and despite Cleiton Silva's best attempts, there was no real danger as Bagan took all three points and the bragging rights in the derby. East Bengal, meanwhile, still remain searching for their first ISL win over their rivals.
Bengaluru FC 0-1 Mohammedan SC
(Mirjalol Kasimov 88')
Bengaluru FC dropped crucial points in the title race with a 0-1 loss to Mohammedan SC at home, with Mirjalol Kasimov scoring a late free-kick. The result meant Mohammedan moved off the bottom of the table, while BFC remained in second, but now eight points behind Mohun Bagan, who won the Kolkata derby.
Bengaluru FC ought to have taken an early lead, but Jorge Pereyra Diaz sent a free header over from a 12th minute corner, sandwiched between two great opportunities for Ryan Williams, as Mohammedan struggled to break out of their own half. When they did midway through the first half, they nearly scored - Franca breaking BFC's offside trap and running onto a through ball from Lalremsanga Fanai, but his shot was smothered by an onrushing Gurpreet Singh Sandhu.
At the other end, Padam Chettri had to be at his best to keep out BFC after a goalmouth scramble, and then made an acrobatic save to deny teammate Florent Ojier from scoring an own-goal with minutes to go in the half. Mohammedan did hold on to keep their run of clean sheets in the first halves going, with both teams level 0-0 at the break.
Gurpreet Singh Sandu's now customary mistake almost gifted Mohammedan the lead minutes into the second half, as he passed it out straight to Alexis Gomes, but the forward was unable to capitalize. The visitors were the better team after the break, but BFC rode their luck to keep their clean sheet. Against the run of play, the hosts really ought to have scored in the 73rd minute, when substitute Shivaldo Singh Chingangbam shot wide from two yards out after Williams' cross.
They were made to pay for their profligacy as just as it seemed the game was drifting towards a goalless draw, up stepped Kasimov with a 88th-minute free kick. The midfielder curled a delicious strike right into the top corner to stun the home crowd and seal all three points for the visitors.
NorthEast United FC 1 -1 Punjab FC
(Alaaeddine Ajaraie 24', Khaiminthang Lhungdim 82')
NorthEast United and Punjab FC played out a 1-1 draw in their Indian Super League match, which ended Punjab's four-match losing streak.
NorthEast took the lead in the 24th minute through Alaaeddine Ajaraie but Punjab struck the equaliser in the 82nd minute through Khaiminthang Lhungdim.
The hosts were on the offensive in the opening 30 minutes, with their key creative outlet Jithin MS, who has five assists to his name this season. He had the chance to score his first goal of the season but missed a header from close distance from inside the six-yard box. The breakthrough came in the 24th minute through Ajaraie, who showed tremendous finishing instincts in the final third.
Punjab FC managed to get back as the game entered its final stages. Muhammad Suhail came on the pitch in the 75th minute, and made an impact seven minutes later.
Picking up the ball on the left flank, he outpaced the NorthEast United defensive line, explored a yard of space, and burst into the attacking third before initiating a shot that required a diving Gurmeet to block it.
The goalkeeper didn't make a clear save though and the ball fell at the feet of Khaiminthang Lhungdim on the right side of the box. Lhungdim showed impressive finishing, placing the ball into the bottom right corner, with the ball swerving past the entire backline.
Chennaiyin FC 2-2 Odisha FC
(Wilmar Jordan Gil 48', 53'; Dorielton 80', Mohammed Nawaz (OG) 90+7')
Chennaiyin FC once again let a promising position slip as they dropped two points at home after having been in a two-goal lead. Wilmar Jordan Gil put Chennaiyin in command with two good goals early in the second half, both coming after influential work from Connor Shields in the build-up.
After an even first half that Chennaiyin slightly shaded, even with lesser position, they sprung to life with those two goals from Jordan, but Odisha got Hugo Boumous to pull strings in the dying stages of the game, and were massively helped by a superb Diego Mauricio cameo off the bench. First, they pulled one back through Dorielton, who scored his first goal for the club, since being signed as the injured Roy Krishna's replacement.
It was another new signing who was in the thick of the action for the equaliser as Rahul KP got in on a rebound after Mohammed Nawaz's save from a close-range Mauricio shot. Rahul's bicycle kick slammed the post and then ricocheted into the net off the goalkeeper, who was left hapless.
FC Goa 1-1 Hyderabad FC
(Armando Sadiku 52'; Allan Paulista 90+1')
FC Goa shared the spoils with Hyderabad FC in an ill-tempered encounter at Fatorda, that saw both sides reduced to ten men, followind red cards to Borja Herrera and Alex Saji. Eventually, Allan Paulista's equaliser in the 91st minute prevented Goa from moving up to second on the ISL table, past Bengaluru FC.
They had looked on course to doing just that when Armando Sadiku gave them the lead with a smart finish early in the second half, but their job became harder when Herrera was sent off for violent conduct. However, soon after that, Saji picked up a second yellow card for hauling Sadiku back from behind him.
In the first minute of second-half stoppage time, Paulista produced an excellent turn and shot which saw Hyderabad pick up another point.