East Bengal to play in empty stadium

Empty stadiums during a football match in the country may not be an unusual sight but come tomorrow East Bengal will take on Mumbai FC in the I-League behind closed doors at the gigantic Vivekananda Yuva Bharati Kriragan here.
The match will be held literally in an empty stadium and will the be first of the three matches that East Bengal play at a closed stadium as police deployment was not possible because of municipal elections in the state.
The Kolkata Municipal Corporation polls are slated for tomorrow while 92 municipalities across the state will go to vote on April 25 and Bidhan Nagar police, under whose jurisdiction the stadium falls, refused to provide security.

Under the circumstances, East Bengal have agreed to play without crowd and only officials, players and media would be allowed on the day.
After Mumbai, East Bengal are slated to face Dempo SC on April 25 in two I-League matches and thereafter, they will take on Johor Darul Ta'zim in the final AFC Cup group match on April 28.
The last season's runners-up find their campaign back on track after registering back to back victories (Bharat FC and Pune FC) in away matches and they would look to relish the home conditions even as the fans' absence would be a dampener.

East Bengal's star striker Ranty Martins, who leads the scorers' pack with 14 goals, is one goal shy of a milestone.

The Nigerian needs to score one more to become the first player in the I-League/NFL to get to the 200th mark.
Mumbai FC come here on the back of their shock 0-1 loss to Dempo and the news of their midfielder Dane Pereira flunking the dope test would be a big blow to their hope for a comeback.
Pereira has been suspended from playing professional football until further notice.
Currently East Bengal are fifth placed in the table while Mumbai FC occupy the eighth place.