Atletico de Kolkata played out a goal-less draw against Chennaiyin FC in a high-intensity Hero Indian Super league fixture to maintain their top spot here Friday.
Watched by a starry Bollywood gathering of Bachchan father-son duo and Deepika Padukone, the match had all the ingredients of an eventful contest, including a 11-minute interruption thanks to a familiar power outage at the Vivekananda Yuva Bharati Krirangan.
But a goal eluded both the teams as ATK would consider themselves unlucky after their star striker Fikru Teferra fluffing an easy chance while their marquee player and captain luis Garcia's shot hit the crosspiece.
Chennaiyin FC very nearly went one-up in the 80th minute when Balwant Singh scored using a Jean-Eudes Maurice cross. But the Indian striker's deflection of his hands was quick to be spotted by referee who disallowed the goal. Chennaiyin's star Brazilian forward Elano Blumer also had a lacklustre day, missing some easy opportunities while his clinical freekicks too eluded him a goal.
Both teams refused to play second fiddle in the top of the table clash but it was ATK who had the best opportunity with Fikru firing it wide of the post. In a 21st minute move, a full charged-up ATK dished out some amazing interplay between Garcia, Nato and Fikru who found himself in front of an open goal. But the Ethiopian let the team down firing it wide of the post in the best chance of the first-half.
If Fikru's shot broke the hearts of the 45,000-odd crowd in the first-half, former liverpool star luis Garcia hit the crossbar after a powerful curling left-footer on the edge of the box in the 62nd minute.
Power blackout again
Notorious for its history of power blackouts in the past, the Vivekananda Yuva Bharati Krirangan once again disappointed fans and players Friday as darkness descended suddenly on the stadium during Indian Super league match between Atletico de Kolkata and Chennaiyin FC here.
In the 37th minute of the match, some of the floodlights in the northern side suddenly went off. Darkness engulfed the stadium as the players were left confused and the match stopped, embarrassing the organisers.
After an interruption of 11 minutes, the lights started flickering one by one and the game resumed.