Jose Barreto scores in final Mohun Bagan match

35 year old Brazilian Jose Marcio Ramirez Barreto played his last match for long-time club Mohun Bagan AC against Pune FC in the I-League at the Saltlake Stadium yesterday.

The match had a fairytale start then Jose Barreto went on to score Mohun Bagan's first in the 6th minute following a pass from fellow Brazilian Hudson Lima da Silva. His last goal in green-and-maroon colours. Odafe would go on to score a second just a minute from time for a 2-0 win, but what mattered was that Barreto was given a fitting farewell not only by his team mates but also the fans.

It was a hot day in Kolkata still more then 30,000 fans came to the Saltlake Stadium for an inconsequential match just to see Jose Barreto, who was adjudged Man-of-the-Match for his performance for one last time though he did fight with his own body to stay on the pitch for the entire 90 minutes.

West Bengal sports minister Madan Mitra handed the Brazilian a cheque of Rs 100,000 (1 lakh) from the West Bengal Sports Council for his contribution to the sport in the state in a 20-minute felicitation ceremony that preceded the match.

Further hundreds of balloons with 'Barreto' written on them were released into the sky. He even kicked about 30 balls into the crowd during the break.

Barreto has scored more then 200 goals for Mohun Bagan in 11 years at the club, the only players to achieve this at one single club in India. Barreto had first joined Mohun Bagan in 1999 from Grêmio Porto Alegre and had five successful years before leaving the club to play a season each for Penang FA (Malaysia) and Mahindra United before rejoining the green-and-maroon in 2006 for a second six year spell. Now Barreto leaves, but is set to stay in Kolkata and join aspiring Bhowanipore Club.