Pre-Derby heat boils over in online war of words between Mohun Bagan defender and East Bengal striker's agent

IT'S STILL A WEEK until the ball is set rolling on the season's first Kolkata Derby, but the war of words on social media around this stellar fixture is already heating up and it has sucked in current and former footballers as well.

The point of contention is East Bengal striker Willis Plaza. The Trinidadian player has turned a lot of heads by notching up 4 goals in the I-League already. The swift finisher who earned 23 international caps and scored 7 goals for his country is being considered one of the major weapons for the Red and Golds in the upcoming Derby.

Incidentally, his agent happens to be a former footballer renowned in the Indian circuit, Stephen Abarowei. The Nigerian played for multiple major clubs in India, including Mohun Bagan and JCT. He was a prominent member of the Mariners squad that won the league in 1999-2000. He is primarily remembered as one of the notable Mohun Bagan players in the last two decades. He is quite active on Facebook and is often seen to engage in football banter concerning East Bengal and Mohun Bagan in instances like this...

The problem started when defender Eduardo Ferreira, a current member of the Mohun Bagan squad, took a dig at Willis Plaza on Facebook.

The post makes it appear that Eduardo, who has dealt with injury and lack of form in the last couple of weeks, is under a certain amount of pressure ahead of the high voltage Derby and is trying to play the mental game on social media. But Stephen took an exception to the post and replied with a long post of his own, written in angry capital letters, questioning Eduardo's quality, loyalty and even national identity. 

The post created an instant storm on the internet with fans of both clubs weighing in with comments both supportive and negative of it. Seeing the situation getting out of control, Eduardo played it diplomatically, leaving a comment (that he deleted soon afterwards),

"I can only pray for you and your brother and hope you do well. Best of luck for the Derby and the season ahead."

But Stephen wasn't done. He soon made another post personally attacking Eduardo.

But when a long string of criticism followed from Mohun Bagan fans, Stephen deleted his angry rants and made a partial backtrack with this post...

But comments from Bagan fans kept flowing in, and many were ready to disown the player once proclaimed as a club legend. Things became bad enough for Stephen to assert his love for his former club repeatedly.

The situation calmed down once the weekend fixtures kicked off, distracting fans from this off-the-pitch drama. But this particular exchange is an indication of an especially volatile build-up to this Kolkata Derby where East Bengal, chasing their first league title in 13 years, are being closely followed at the top of the points table by arch rivals Mohun Bagan. Their face-off on 12th February is expected to establish an undisputed league leader.

Interestingly, Willis Plaza, the primary reason for this online feud, chose to stay mum about it all.

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