Goalkeeper Sangram Mukherjee emerged hero, bringing off two fine penalty saves, as Mohun Bagan claimed the 28th Peerless Federation Cup with a 3-1 tie-break victory over Sporting Clube-de-Goa in a riveting final in Kolkata on Saturday.
The match rolled into the penalty shoot-out as the team remained locked 1-1 after the regulation 90 minutes and even half an hour of extra-time.
Sporting had a nightmarish time in the tie-breaker as Jose Carvalho's first shot crashed into the post, and Sangram showed fine anticipation to save the next attempt from Earnest Jeremiah by diving to his right.
Though Nicolas Borges scored from the third, Bagan raced to their 12th title in the premier knock-out tournament as Sangram blocked Jagdish Papai's fourth penalty, triggering celebrations at the Salt Lake stadium, where more than 70,000 Bagan fans assembled.
Bagan, on the other hand, netted each of their three penalties, with Jose Barreto, Dipendu Biswas and Favio Vidal coming up successful.
Earlier, both teams scored in the first half, with Harmanjot Khabra putting the Goans ahead, before Fabio got the equaliser for Bagan, the most successful team in the history of the tournament.
The visitors drew first blood in the sixth minute as a Nicholas Rodrigues free-kick was put into the net by Harmanjot Khabra with a thundering left-footer that gave no chance to Sangram Mukherjee.
Bagan, on the receiving end of Sporting's repeated forays in the first quarter of an hour, slowly regrouped and seized the initiative after some time.
With Baichung Bhutia as the livewire of the frontline, the Kolkata giants got a couple of corners and managed to even the issue in the 27th minute.
Bhutia, later adjudged the most valuable player of the tourney, set up Vidal with a measured centre from the right and the Brazilian showed fine opportunism to out-jump his marker and head home.