Abahani ended Bashundhara Kings' reign in domestic football with a 3-0 victory against the defending champions in an entertaining final at the Birshreshtha Shaheed Mostafa Kamal Stadium in Kamalapur yesterday.

Kings had come into this final on the back of five consecutive titles including that of the last Independence Cup they won three years ago, but Abahani showed them that they are rebuilding towards something big with a dominating display in front of around 5000 supporters.

Following a goalless first half in which the Sky Blues completely dominated but failed to take their chances, Rakib Hossain gave the Dhanmondi outfit a deserved lead in the 54th minute before Dorielton Gomes doubled the hitherto-one-time champions' advantage with a spot-kick nine minutes later.

The Brazilian further extended Abahani's lead on 71 minutes as the Sky Blues claimed the prestigious title only for the second time in their history and the first time since 1990.

PHOTO: FIROZ AHMED

It was also Abahani's second final win against the new powerhouse of domestic football, the first one coming in a tempestuous Federation Cup final back in 2018 before Kings went on to scoop up all five domestic titles since.

Both sides had turned up with a change each, Abahani bringing in fit-again Dorielton for Nabib Newaz Jibon while Kings replaced injured playmaker Jonathan Fernandes with Mahbubur Rahman Sufil.

The Sky Blues, playing with four foreigners against Kings' three, had majority of possession and attacks, with Raphael Augusto and Dorielton missing two gilt-edged chances in the first half.

Raphael failed to beat Bashundhara keeper Anisur Rahman from a one-on-one situation on 26 minutes after running onto a clever volley from Milad Sheikh.

Dorielton was guilty of not making the most of a free header on a cross from Raphael on 38 minutes after Kings, already hamstrung with a few injuries, saw centre-back Atiqur Rahman Fahad stretchered off, to be replaced by Bishwanath Ghosh.

Daniel Colindres failed to take advantage of a free-kick from the edge of the box at the stroke of half-time but those missed chances did not come back to haunt the Sky Blues as Rakib broke the deadlock nine minutes after restart, placing the ball past Anisur on an excellent through-ball from Raphael.

Colindres was then brought down inside the box by Rimon Hossain and Dorielton clinically dispatched the spot-kick in the 63rd minute as Abahani profited from their control in midfield.

The Rio de Janeiro native then wrapped up the victory in the 71st minute, smashing home from inside the box after Raphael's corner was headed towards him by Milad.

Dorielton, the top-scorer of the tournament, was happy to contribute to the team's cause.

"I was always confident about winning this and I thank my teammates, not just the foreigners but also the local ones, for doing their job," Dorielton said after the match.

"We were playing for the title and I didn't mind whom we were playing against. I feel welcome by the club and I wanted to win with this club," the Brazilian added.

Abahani coach Mario Lemos, who hoisted his first trophy with Abahani in his third season in charge, said he didn't expect the margin of victory to be this big.

"Honestly I didn't expect a 3-0 win. The opposition are a great team and they made it hard for us in the first half. But we made some adjustments in the second and the chances were taken by the players.

"We had a few reinforcements in the preseason and that helped our squad," the Portuguese coach said.