Kolkata , December 18 : Atletico de Kolkata started their ISL 2 campaign as the defending champions and ended the season two as a semifinalist .
Atlético de Kolkata’s board took the correct decision in retaining former Bolivia and Valencia CF manager Antonio Lopez Habas for the 2015 season. It was under him that the team had won the title in 2014. However, in spite of their first season, the team decided in retaining just 7 players from their squad of 2014, including 3 foreigners. The team signed 5 Indians and 10 foreigners from the open market.This was followed by 7 more domestic signings from the Draft.
The team signed Portuguese international Hélder Postiga as its marquee player who replaced Luis Garcia .
The team went on pre season tour in the middle of August to Madrid , Spain where they trained for a month.The prized recruit for the defending champions was acquiring the service of Canadian international forward Iain Hume, whose five goals had helped Kerala to the final of the previous season.In the second season’sdomestic draft, Atlético de Kolkata had the first pick, choosing Pune F.C. goalkeeper Amrinder Singh for a fee of 4.5 lakhs; their most expensive purchase was that of defenderAugustin Fernandes for 26 lakhs. The team also decided to sign last year final’s goalscorer Mohammed Rafique replacing Lalchhawnkima who was ruled out due to dengue.
The last years champions had several injury issues with marquee Postiga playing just the first match .Key footballer in defence Josemi also got injured and had to be replaced by Serbian international Dejan Lekic .
Spaniard Javi Lara , who showed tremendous skill suffered a groin injury and found it hard to recover . On 16 November 2015, the team announced replacement for another injured player Javi Lara, who found it hard to recover quickly from a groin injury. For him, another Spanish midfielder Jorge Alonso was signed.
There were a few good signings that included Saamehg Doutie from Supersport United, Javi Lara from Eibar, Tiri from Atletico Madrid ‘B’, former Valencia CF midfielder Jaime Gavilan and former Hercules CF goalkeeper Juan Calatayud. Amongst the Indians , Arata Izumi signing for a whopping 65 lakhs raised many eye brows . Rino Anto also failed to leave up to his expectation as he was roped in for an exorbitant 90 lakhs .
Kolkata started their title defence in an exciting fashion beating the Chennaiyin FC 3-2. Helder Postiga scored a brace in the match before being substituted due to a injury. Later it was found that he has injured his hamstring and was forced to miss the rest of the season.
In the second match Atletico drew 1-1 with FC Goa. Baljit Sahni was handed a marching order after head butting Arnolin.
Kolkata held their nerves to a 2-1 win over Kerala Blasters. Arata opened the scoring in the 6th minute before Javi Lara doubled the lead. Dagnell pulled one back for the visitors in the 80th minutes.
Antonio Habas’ team had a slight dip in form as they lost their next two matches against Pune FC and Delhi Dynamos .
Atletico got back to winning ways by beating in form Mumbai City FC 4-1. Canadian striker Ian Hume scored his first hat-trick of the season .
But the win against Mumbai was followed by a loss to North East United FC . Atletico lost the match by a narrow 0-1 margin .
Arata Izumi’s double sealed a victory against the Kerala Blasters in the next match . Arata scored in the 84th and 93rd minute after Mohanraj opened the scoring.
In the next match against Delhi Ian Hume put the visitors ahead before his strike was cancelled by Richard Gadze.
Atletico humbled Chennaiyin FC 2-1 as Hume and Doutie both got their names on the scoresheet. Raphael Augusto scored the lone goal for the Machans.
In the final group league match , Mumbai FC got the better of the defending champion in a 5 goal thriller. Sony Norde opened the scoring for the visitors in the 26 th minute before Hume equalised from the spot. Sunil gave the lead to Mumbai but Arata drew level in the 90th. Norde then came with a dramatic finish in the fourth minute of the stoppage time to seal the match for the away side.
Key performers for Atletico de Kolkata – Amrinder Singh was brilliant under the bar. The ATK custodian had a superb season under the bar. With a experienced keeper Cataluyd sitting in the bench Habas heavily relied on him.
In the defence Arnab Mondal stood stall in the absence of Josemi He marshalled the defence along with Tiri . He had a commanding presence at the back.
South African sensation Sameehg Doutie has been a revelation for the Kolkata based franchise. He scored a brace in Atletico de Kolkata’s 4-0 thrash of Goa.
Talismanic Borja Fernadez was also one of the key architect of Atletico’s dream run. He and Ofernse Nato controlled the midfield. They created the space, broke opponents attacks.
Izumi Arata who was bought by Kolkata for a astonishing amount silenced his critics with goals and 1 assist. His goals mainly have come as a substitutes.
With players like Josemi, Javi Lara, Helder Postiga unavailable for a larger part of the tournament it is a great achievement for the Spanish coach Habas to lead his team into the Semis.
Dissappointments for Atletico de Kolkata – Atletico de Kolkata suffered big time when it came to marquee footballer . Helder Postiga had to be ruled out owing to an injury he suffered in the first match . The Portugese went back to Spain for rehab but was considered not fit enough to play by coach Habas , only adding to the speculation that the Portugese might be carrying some injuries .
According to Atletico defender Arnab Mondal ,”We played a very disciplined football throughout the season. But a few lapses and injuries to key footballers mid-season hampered our chances . But still it was a commendable effort for us as to end up as one of semi-finalists . ”