Goals by Fikru, Borja and Arnal give Atletico de Kolkata a 3-0 win over Mumbai City FC in ISl opener
Atletico de Kolkata gave the football-crazy city fans a night to remember in their 3-0 drubbing of Mumbai City FC as the inaugural Hero Indian Super league football tournament kicked off in spectacular fashion after a star-studded opening ceremony here on Sunday.
It was Fikru Teferra who struck the first goal of ISl to give the home franchise a 27th minute lead to bring the 70,000 capacity crowd at the Salt lake Stadium to their feet, while Borja Fernandez’s stunning volley from the edge of the box delighted one and all with some top quality stuff.
Substitute Arnal llibert (90+3rd) gave the Kolkatans enough reasons to celebrate by turning Fikru’s cross from the right to give a perfect ending to the match of the league touted to change the landscape of Indian football.
From the short passing of ATK’s to the trademark English style long passes by the MCFC, it was high quality football on display, something that was rarely seen at the Vivekananda Yuva Bharati Krirangan.
The iconic stadium might have witnessed such a big crowd during one of the East Bengal-Mohun Bagan derbies but never had experienced such motley spectators who varied from hardcore football fans to young families to waving youngsters.
It was a day of many firsts at VYBK as fans enjoyed quality football with replays from 17 giant screens that dotted the uppermost tier, something that was never experienced in Indian football.
The 28-year-old Ethiopian forward got a long through pass from ATK’s marquee player luis Garcia and before German defender Manuel Friedrich could intercept, brilliantly chipped over local lad Subrata Paul for the first goal.
The home team had the better share of chances and Spanish short passing skill was well evident in the side which had its affiliations with la liga giants Atletico Madrid.
Dominating the game in deft passing, ATK got two fine opportunities early into the game with Baljit Sahni missing a one-on-one chance with Paul in the ninth minute.
Garcia was involved in both the chances as the former liverpool star first set up Sahni before his left-footed volley was saved by Paul in the ninth minute.
Mumbai tried to add sting to their attack bringing in Italian forward Andre Moritz in the second-half and he won a freekick at the edge of the box but only to put it away.
MCFC also had a narrow escape when their defender Raju Gaekwad got away from a second booking and possible red after a tough challenge.
Mumbai were hit hard by the absence of Nicolas Anelka and injured ex-Arsenal and Sweden star Fredrik ljungberg.
Nabi doubtful for next
Mumbai City FC captain Syed Rahim Nabi is doubtful for their next ISl fixture against Pune City FC after sustaining an ankle injury during the lung opener against Atletico de Kolkata. Nabi was stretchered off after injuring his ankle and he was replaced by Nadong Bhutia in the 38th minute. " We are going to get X-ray done. We will see how it goes. I think we will know later, maybe tomorrow. We will take a call in the next coming days," manager Peter Reid said about Nabi who has been hospitalized. Nabi had a bad tackle in the second minute and got the first booking of the ISl.