Menno Koch scored an own goal and the 89th-minute winner as Bengaluru beat SC Delhi 3-2 in the ISL opener
SC Delhi led 2-1 at half-time in Bengaluru before Borja Martínez’s second goal and a late strike from the Dutch defender turned the first game of the 2026-27 season.
Oct 10, 2026
Menno Koch had a strange first afternoon of the new Indian Super League season. The Dutch centre-back put the ball into his own net to give SC Delhi the lead at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium, then scored in the 89th minute to win the opener 3-2 for Bengaluru FC.
Borja Martínez scored Bengaluru’s other two, and Sunil Chhetri watched the whole thing from the bench.
Three goals in ten minutes, and Delhi in front
Bengaluru started the season the way Pep Muñoz would have wanted. Ryan Williams set up Borja in the 22nd minute for 1-0, and the home crowd had the start they expected against a side that finished 12th of 14 last season.
It lasted four minutes. Lalrinliana Hnamte laid on the equaliser for Rodriguinho in the 26th. The Brazilian scored five on his first start for Delhi, a 7-0 win over Defenders FC in the Durand Cup in August, and he looks just as comfortable in the ISL. Six minutes later came Koch’s own goal, and Tomasz Tchórz’s side went in 2-1 up at half-time.
Borja levels, and Koch makes up for it
Muñoz went to his bench first, sending on the Argentine Manuel De Iriondo for Ashique Kuruniyan just before the hour. In the 74th minute Tchórz made three changes at once, bringing on Carlos Fortes among them, and Muñoz sent on Soham Varshneya.
The equaliser came a minute after those changes. Mihailo Perović found Borja, and the Spaniard had his second of the afternoon in the 75th minute. With a minute of normal time left, Varshneya provided the ball and Koch scored at the right end this time.
Delhi still had chances to snatch a point in stoppage time. Richard Ndayishimiye, another substitute, hit a left-footed shot from outside the box that Gurpreet saved, and at the other end Nora Fernandes kept out a header from Varshneya. Chhetri, named among the substitutes, did not come on.
Chennaiyin next for Bengaluru
Bengaluru stay at home for their next game, against Chennaiyin FC on 17 October with a 7.30pm IST kick-off. Chennaiyin play FC Goa at Fatorda tonight in the second game of the opening day. Delhi were 2-1 up at half-time away at last season’s fourth-placed side and went home with nothing. For a club that was 12th of 14 last term, that one will sting for a while.