The Kolkata outfit snapped three crucial points on the opening day of the Indian Super League at the expense of Mumbai side bereft of their star players…
Atletico de Kolkata made a fantastic start to the Indian Super League (ISL) as they downed Mumbai City 3-0 at the Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata on Sunday evening.
Fikru Tefera and Borja Fernandez scored a goal in each half to win three important points for the Kolkata franchise before Arnal Llibert added a third late in the game.
The Antonio Lopez Habas’s lined up in a 4-4-1-1 formation with Luis Garcia deployed behind Fikru Tefera upfront. Josemi partnered Arnab Mondal in central defense while Borja Fernandez provided the muscle in midfield.
Meanwhile Peter Reid chose to line up similarly with Tiago Ribeiro in an advanced role just behind Diego Nadaya. Manuel Friedrich and Pavel Cmovs were the two centre-backs while skipper Syed Rahim Nabi played as a left winger.
Denzil Franco showed good presence of mind in the third minute to rob Lalrindika Ralte of possession. His lobbed pass into the box was almost met by Baljit Sahni before Manuel Friedrich intervened.
Sahni had another chance to make amends but was denied by Subrata Paul who came of his line to make himself big and allow Pavel Cmovs to clear the danger. This was after Garcia had played him a lovely through ball.
Just three minutes later, it was Garcia again who was at the forefront of an Atletico attack. From an innocuous throw in, Garcia let loose a fierce left footed volley but was met with an equally good save from Paul.
The only real action the away side saw was Raju Gaikwad using his hand to try and score off a Ralte free-kick in the 20th minute and deservedly was booked by the referee.
It was in the 29th minute that the whole stadium erupted in unison. Jofre Mateu had found an unmarked Fikru Tefera with a delightful pass, after evading Friedrich's tackle with ease. Tefera had Luis Garcia besides him but he chose to delectably chip the ball over an onrushing Subrata Paul. Raju Gaikwad who was supposed to mark the Ethiopian was caught napping.
Mumbai City FC looked distinctly average in all areas of the pitch and were nowhere near leveling the score at any point of the half.
The only chances that came their way were from set piece situations and those too was wasted.
Nabi’s evening turned from bad to worse, as the skipper had to be stretchered off after a nasty collision and was replaced by Nadong Bhutia in the 38th minute.
Moritz’s introduction in the second half seemed to have infused new life into an ailing Mumbai side as they slowly began to regain lost ground with the nippy Nadaya too causing trouble among the Atletico backline.
Sourav Ganguly’s side had a great chance to double the lead in the 64th minute. Sahni had sent Tefera through on goal with Peter Costa trying to keep pace. His last ditch tackle could not retrieve the ball and it was only Paul’s bravery which saved the day as he put his body on the line and smothered the ball.
It was the team who promised to play ‘fatafati football’ that produced a contender for goal of the tournament. A melee in the six yard box following a corner kick for the home team saw the ball cleared out of the box where it fell to Borja Fernandez. The Spaniard did not need to take a touch as he unleashed a swerving piledriver from 22 yards that had even the ‘Spiderman’ beaten all ends up.
Garcia played a neat one two down the left before putting in a lovely cross towards Baljit Sahni at the far corner. Sahni rose up brilliantly and it was only Subrata Paul’s reflexes that kept his thumping header from making it 3-0.
With ten minutes to go, Reid’s side had two half chances both of which were kept out by Subhasish. First it was a brilliant reflex save after Pavel Cmovs’s speculative long range effort took a deflection off Josemi’s head. For the second, it was Friedrich’s header off a Nadong Bhutia pass, which was held smartly by the Atleti custodian.
In the final minute of added time, substitute Arnal Llibert did well to turn in Fikru's cross from the right after Mumbai City FC were caught in defense with most of their players up.
Atletico de Kolkata made a fantastic start to the Indian Super League (ISL) as they downed Mumbai City 3-0 at the Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata on Sunday evening.
Fikru Tefera and Borja Fernandez scored a goal in each half to win three important points for the Kolkata franchise before Arnal Llibert added a third late in the game.
The Antonio Lopez Habas’s lined up in a 4-4-1-1 formation with Luis Garcia deployed behind Fikru Tefera upfront. Josemi partnered Arnab Mondal in central defense while Borja Fernandez provided the muscle in midfield.
Meanwhile Peter Reid chose to line up similarly with Tiago Ribeiro in an advanced role just behind Diego Nadaya. Manuel Friedrich and Pavel Cmovs were the two centre-backs while skipper Syed Rahim Nabi played as a left winger.
Denzil Franco showed good presence of mind in the third minute to rob Lalrindika Ralte of possession. His lobbed pass into the box was almost met by Baljit Sahni before Manuel Friedrich intervened.
Sahni had another chance to make amends but was denied by Subrata Paul who came of his line to make himself big and allow Pavel Cmovs to clear the danger. This was after Garcia had played him a lovely through ball.
Just three minutes later, it was Garcia again who was at the forefront of an Atletico attack. From an innocuous throw in, Garcia let loose a fierce left footed volley but was met with an equally good save from Paul.
The only real action the away side saw was Raju Gaikwad using his hand to try and score off a Ralte free-kick in the 20th minute and deservedly was booked by the referee.
It was in the 29th minute that the whole stadium erupted in unison. Jofre Mateu had found an unmarked Fikru Tefera with a delightful pass, after evading Friedrich's tackle with ease. Tefera had Luis Garcia besides him but he chose to delectably chip the ball over an onrushing Subrata Paul. Raju Gaikwad who was supposed to mark the Ethiopian was caught napping.
Mumbai City FC looked distinctly average in all areas of the pitch and were nowhere near leveling the score at any point of the half.
The only chances that came their way were from set piece situations and those too was wasted.
Nabi’s evening turned from bad to worse, as the skipper had to be stretchered off after a nasty collision and was replaced by Nadong Bhutia in the 38th minute.
Moritz’s introduction in the second half seemed to have infused new life into an ailing Mumbai side as they slowly began to regain lost ground with the nippy Nadaya too causing trouble among the Atletico backline.
Sourav Ganguly’s side had a great chance to double the lead in the 64th minute. Sahni had sent Tefera through on goal with Peter Costa trying to keep pace. His last ditch tackle could not retrieve the ball and it was only Paul’s bravery which saved the day as he put his body on the line and smothered the ball.
It was the team who promised to play ‘fatafati football’ that produced a contender for goal of the tournament. A melee in the six yard box following a corner kick for the home team saw the ball cleared out of the box where it fell to Borja Fernandez. The Spaniard did not need to take a touch as he unleashed a swerving piledriver from 22 yards that had even the ‘Spiderman’ beaten all ends up.
Garcia played a neat one two down the left before putting in a lovely cross towards Baljit Sahni at the far corner. Sahni rose up brilliantly and it was only Subrata Paul’s reflexes that kept his thumping header from making it 3-0.
With ten minutes to go, Reid’s side had two half chances both of which were kept out by Subhasish. First it was a brilliant reflex save after Pavel Cmovs’s speculative long range effort took a deflection off Josemi’s head. For the second, it was Friedrich’s header off a Nadong Bhutia pass, which was held smartly by the Atleti custodian.
In the final minute of added time, substitute Arnal Llibert did well to turn in Fikru's cross from the right after Mumbai City FC were caught in defense with most of their players up.
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