Two local lads played a crucial part in tie-breaker against Blasters
Internet Desk: Once again a local guy played a part in Atletico de Kolkata’s win in the Indian Super League (ISL) final against Kerala Blasters at Kochi. Md Rafique’s late strike won the inaugural final for the Indian RojiBlancos at Mumbai in 2014. On Sunday it was Debjit Majumder and Jewel Raja who were instrumental in handing the Kolkata franchise its second ISL trophy in three years.
Majumder stood tall in Atlético de Kolkata’s goal as Jose Molina’s men beat Kerala Blasters FC 4-3 on penalties to win their second Hero Indian Super League trophy in three years. Majumder brilliantly stopped the experienced Cedric Hengbart to set the stage for Jewel Raja to score the winning penalty.
Both footballers spoke to ISL’s official website after ATK’s triumph. Here are the excerpts from the interview.
Q) You were the penalty shoot-out hero, how did it feel?
Debjit: It felt great and I’m really happy that my save contributed in making us champions and it just feels great.
Q) How did it feel before the match to play in this stadium?
Debjit: It felt great. Because to play in a stadium like this is what every player wants, no player likes to play in empty stadiums. There was a great atmosphere here today and whenever Kerala Blasters play, the crowd comes in great numbers, hats off to them.
Q) What are your thoughts on the Kerala team?
Debjit: They have a great team and that’s why they came into the final. Hard luck to them but we are happy because we are now champions.
Q) ATK are now two time winners but this is your first ISL trophy, how are you feeling?
Debjit: The feeling of being a champion is unlike any other, the hard work of several days has been a success tonight, whatever work we have done in the last four months has been a success.
Jewel Raja, who hit the winning penalty for Atlético de Kolkata in their 4-3 shootout win over Blasters FC in the final at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi on Sunday was equally ecstatic on the win.
Q) You have won Hero ISL 2016, how does it feel?
Jewel) I’m feeling really great, last year we could not get past the semi-finals, so it feels great to win the league this year. I’m very proud of the team and very happy that it was my penalty that won us the trophy.
Q) What was going on in your head in the lead-up to that penalty?
Debjit: Before the match I was very relaxed and during the penalty as well I was relaxed. I knew I had to shoot on the right since I knew the goalkeeper was very strong.
Q) The atmosphere was great tonight but you managed to silence the crowd. What do you have to say about that?
Jewel: We were really happy the final was in Kerala since every footballer wants to play in front of 60-70 thousand people.
Q) How are you going to celebrate this win?
Jewel: Obviously, we are going to celebrate this win, last year we played an amazing game against Chennaiyin FC in the semis but lost, so I think we deserve to celebrate.