Bengaluru FC are back in the Indian Super League (ISL) playoffs after a year's hiatus. It was a season that promised so much more before falling apart in January. But since that slump at the start of 2025, they've recovered nicely to finish third in the table.
Head coach Gerard Zaragoza told ESPN that he's still 100% not sure why that slump in January happened. "This is something that happens in football, no?" he asked. Zaragoza pointed to two games, the one they lost 1-0 to Mohun Bagan in Kolkata, and the one they beat Chennaiyin FC 1-0 at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium. Arguably, Bengaluru FC played better against the league shield winners. They had some golden opportunities that largely fell to Sunil Chhetri but he didn't take them, and BFC eventually lost. Against Chennaiyin, they scored off a set-piece, and watched their opponents miss some big chances to score as they eventually won.
Are they as good as the side that conceded no goals enroute to 13 points in their opening five games? No, that wasn't sustainable, their underlying numbers at the time proved it, as they were conceding too many shots and taking too few. At the same time, are they as bad as the side that picked up one point from an available 18 in January? Also, no. Such runs even out over the course of a long season (unless you're Mohun Bagan in the ISL). And that's exactly what has happened with Bengaluru.
The addition of leaders
They had finished 10th last year. Another such season would be unacceptable. Zaragoza knew that. And he already knew then what his side needed more of. Leaders. Voices in the dressing room. That might seem a weird thing to say about a club which had in their ranks two national team captains in Sunil Chhetri and Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, but Zaragoza was clear, he wanted more leaders in the squad.
So, when their summer business happened, it was clear Rahul Bheke was coming in as the leader of their defence, another voice in the dressing room, someone else who knew what the club was about. Pedro Capo, Alberto Noguera, and Edgar Mendez were good additions to the squad in that aspect.
"70% of our team is the same as last season. We brought in people who show their face when there is a problem, and we needed this," Zaragoza said. "A team needs leaders, and last season, we didn't have enough leaders, this season we signed players with that leader mentality, and everything changed."
For Zaragoza, it was also a way to free up his most-trusted goal-scorer in the side - Sunil Chhetri. Last season, Zaragoza says, the burden of having to lead Bengaluru out of a mess weighed too heavily on Chhetri. That prevented him from playing his best football. He wanted to free his captain off some of that weight. Zaragoza wanted his most-prized forward to concentrate on doing what he does best - scoring goals. The likes of Bheke, Noguera, Capo and Aleks Jovanovic have been big voices in the dressing room this season, Zaragoza says.
What happened with Gurpreet Singh Sandhu?
A big issue for Bengaluru this season has surrounded Gurpreet Singh Sandhu's form. The reality is that Gurpreet has cost Bengaluru many points this season with his errors. No goalkeeper has made more errors directly leading to goals than him. Bheke says the way the squad dealt with it was to rally around him in training and try to work even harder as a defensive unit.
"We knew that it's not just Gurpreet's mistakes. As defenders, we had to protect him. No one criticized him," Bheke said. "It's part of a footballer's career, it can happen to him, it can happen to me, it has happened to me, in fact."
Bheke just placed his confidence on Gurpreet to turn things around. He worked with the others around him, the likes of Chinglensana Singh, Namgyal Bhutia, Nikhil Poojary and Naorem Roshan Singh to ensure that Bengaluru weren't conceding as many chances as they were. It seemed a logical way to deal with such an issue, if the goalkeeper was involved in fewer actions, maybe he wouldn't make as many mistakes as he had been making previously.
"We know who Gurpreet Singh Sandhu is, and what Gurpreet Singh Sandhu can be," Bheke added. Come the playoffs, Bengaluru will need the error-free version of Gurpreet that has often turned up in these big ISL games.
An attack built around Chhetri, but not through Chhetri
Chhetri has struck up an excellent understanding with Ryan Williams and Edgar Mendez up top, and even with Jorge Pereyra Diaz when he's been fit. A 12-goal return in the league phase is Chhetri's best ever in the ISL. At 40, he certainly isn't the all-action striker he was a few years ago, but there is no Indian player right now with Chhetri's smarts. He knows when to be where, and he knows where the back of the net is. Zaragoza has leveraged that beautifully.
He's not their main striker, as he often is for the national team. He plays off the left, and Bengaluru often build up from the opposite side, so they can get Williams isolated against a full-back and let him cross to the back-post, where Chhetri has the beating of the bulk of the ISL's right-backs. That's his bread and butter.
While Chhetri does his share of pressing and defensive work too, he isn't burdened by it. Suresh Singh Wangjam plays on the left of Bengaluru's midfield three, and he does some of Chhetri's running for him. Long balls from the back are now punted into Mendez, he does the dirty work and the hold-up play. Chhetri works off him.
Zaragoza has built a system where Chhetri is the main man, without really being the main man. Perhaps, there's a lesson or two for some other coaches to learn from that.
"I always joke with him that I expect him to play just 30 minutes every game. But he keeps pushing, and he's playing more 90 minutes than the last two seasons. Did I expect him to score 12 goals? No. But his (goals-to-games) ratio with me is better than other coaches," Zaragoza says.
Bengaluru face Mumbai City FC in the knockout playoff at the Kanteerava on Saturday. Their home advantage does speak for itself, but particularly on such big nights. Since losing the ISL final in 2018, they've been almost without blemish in knockout games at home. If they are to do it again, the refrain might be familiar. There's a good chance the night will be all about Sunil Chhetri again. Just not the way it has been for all these years in Bengaluru.