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[caption id="attachment_25661" align="aligncenter" width="580"] Diego Forlan celebrating after his first goal in Hero ISL.Image Source: Hero ISL[/caption] Kolkata: Atletico de Kolkata hosted a struggling Mumbai City FC here at the Rabindra Sarobar Stadium in Kolkata this Tuesday evening. Jose Molina’s men who were riding high courtesy an unbeaten run in the 2016 edition of the Hero ISL and a 1-0 victory over Delhi Dynamos a couple of nights ago seemingly looked quite confident as they took on Mumbai City FC who had started the tournament really well but somehow lost their momentum midway into the tournament. The two sides had met earlier in Mumbai on the night of Dusshera a fortnight back. Although the match ended in a stalemate, according to Mumbai FC City Head Coach, Alexandre Guimaraes, if his side wasn’t reduced to ten men with almost 45 minutes to go, the final outcome of that fixture might have completely different. Also, much to the delight of the Mumbai City FC fans, both their captain and former Uruguayan international, Diego Forlan and Sony Norde made their way into the First XI against ATK, whereas, for the home side, Arnab Mondal found his place back in the team in place of a suspended Sereno. With Arsenal legend, Thierry Henry in the audience, the initial phase of the fixture couldn’t match the enthusiasm of the Rabindra Sarobar Stadium crowd. Both the teams played sloppy football and were giving away possession easily. While Atletico de Kolkata – like any other fixture of theirs – tried to exploit the right flank through the ranks of Sameehg Doutie and Iain Hume, Mumbai City FC seemed to be on the lookout to shut them out by playing pressing football. Although, both the sides successfully penetrated the other’s defence quite a number of times in the first half, the golden opportunity of the first forty-five, perhaps, belonged to Atletico de Kolkata in the 23rd minute of the match. Iain Hume had set Sameehg Doutie with a brilliant through ball but all the South African could do was to trip horribly over the ball and later, manage to get a free kick in a potentially dangerous position for the home side. Javier Lara who took the free kick for Atletico de Kolkata could just only manage to hit the wall in the first attempt but then successfully upped his effort to just skim the ball over the post in the rebound. Mumbai City FC also had its chances in the first half with the best of the lot coming in the 34th minute of the match. The Men in Blue had a brilliant build-up play and it was Sony Norde who took the final shot. The Haitian’s effort was brilliantly saved by his Mohun Bagan AC teammate, Debjit Majumder as the score at the end of the first half remained 0-0. Although it was the away side, Mumbai City FC who had started the second half with much more intent, the second half was a much better spectacle for the home fans than the first. It was Sony Norde – once again – who had received the first golden opportunity if the second half for the visiting team in the 53rd minute of the match. The Haitian took advantage of an Atletico de Kolkata defensive lapse but could only manage to shoot the ball wide of the three sticks. Sony Norde’s effort was followed by waves after waves of Atletico de Kolkata attack. The home side exploited both the flanks and had set itself with numerous chances which easily could have gone in. Iain Hume had once again set up a chance for Sameehg Doutie in the 59th minute of the game which the South African managed to get a head on but the chance was nullified by a brilliant goal line save by Mumbai City FC’s Lucian Goian. The deadlock was broken at last in the 79th minute of the game. Sony Norde’s strike was deflected off Atletico de Kolkata’s Arnab Mondal and the veteran Uruguayan international, Diego Forlan successfully tucked the ball into the net. Jose Molina’s men – who were unbeaten in the tournament before this fixture – didn’t seem like going down to a Diego Forlan strike very easily. The Red and White brigade launched a string of attacks in the last ten minutes of the match but somehow, couldn’t manage to get the all-important final strike that matters. A superb free kick by Javier Lara Grande was tipped over by Mumbai City FC goalkeeper, Albino Gomes with seconds left as Atletico de Kolkata went down for the first time in the 2016 Hero Indian Super League.