Kolkata : The stakes were quite high on the second day of the 2016 Hero ISL here at the city of joy as the inaugural champions and home team, Atletico de Kolkata (ATK) hosted their second season counterpart, Chennaiyin FC in what promised to be a lip-smacking contest.
Both the heavyweight franchises were reeling from different sets of problems before they had hit the grounds for the very first time in 2016. While the defending champions were hoping to resume their sublime form of the previous season without the services of footballers like Elano and Stiven Mendoza, the home side hoped to maintain its stellar consistency record under their new Head Coach, Jose Molina.
Despite everything, the one glimmer of hope for both the teams was the availability of their marquee players before the season went underway; Atletico de Kolkata’s Helder Postiga who missed all but one match last season seemed quite reared up before the kick-off while Chennaiyin FC’s former Liverpool regular John Arne Riise wasn’t an exception either.
Here is what the Starting XI of both the set of teams looked like before kick-off:
Atletico de Kolkata: Debjit Majumder (Goalkeeper), Jose Arroyo (Defender), Arnab Mondal (Defender), Pritam Kotal (Defender), Robert Lalthlamuana (Defender), Sameehg Doutie (Midfielder), Borja Fernandez (Midfielder and Captain), Bikramjit Singh (Midfielder), Javier Lara Grande (Midfielder), Iain Hume (Forward) and Helder Postiga (Forward).
Chennaiyin FC: Duwayne Kerr (Goalkeeper), Nallappan Mohanraj (Defender), Bernard Mendy (Defender and Captain), John Arne Riise (Defender), Mehrajuddin Wadoo (Defender), Hans Mulder (Midfielder), Raphael Augusto (Midfielder), Baljit Singh Sahni (Midfielder), David Succi (Forward), Jayesh Rane (Forward) and Jeje Lalpekhlua (Forward).
Amidst all the anticipation and enthusiasm at Rabindra Sarobar, the first half proved to be a bit of an anti-climax. Although both Jose Molina and Marco Materazzi must have went into the tunnel during half-time quite pleased about their respective teams’ defensive prowess, the fact that neither of the sides couldn’t make quite an impact at the final-third was something they needed to correct in the second half.
South African midfielder, Sameehg Doutie on the right flank looked extremely promising for the home team. However, it was Chennaiyin FC’s marquee defender, John Arne Riise who was the closest to score a goal in the first half. The former Liverpool man’s free-kick from 21 yards clipped the bottom of the cross-bar after Robert Lalthlamuana tripped Baljit Singh Sahni to deny him from taking a shot from a promising position.
Last year’s top scorer for ATK, Iain Hume seemingly tried hard to make an impact in the first half of the match but couldn’t quite recreate his previous year’s magic. The red-and-white brigade’s marquee player, Helder Postiga didn’t seem to have much of an impactful first half either except a decent half-chance in the 27th minute which he missed narrowly.
Chennaiyin FC’s Jeje Lalpekhlua was able to steal a bit of a spotlight in the 21st minute as he took the advantage of an ATK defensive lapse only to shoot the ball straight at Debjit Majumder.
The home side’s Javier Lara Grande, however, was a completely different story. The Spaniard showed his class in the first half when he had burst into a number of runs along the left flank to create numerous chances. Even a free-kick of his was tipped over by a fully-stretched Duwayne Kerr to deny ATK from going up in the 40th minute of the match.
The two teams entered the tunnel goalless at half-time with Atletico de Kolkata leading Chennaiyin FC by two yellow cards to nil (Postiga and Pritam Kotal).
The second half provided some respite to the 10,000 football fans who had flocked to the Rabindra Sarobar Stadium here in Kolkata to see their home team score some goals. Both the set of teams seemed to have adopted the conditions of the pitch from their experience in the first half of the match and exhibited a more free-flowing style of football.
However, it was the home team, Atletico de Kolkata who drew the first blood in the 59th minute of the match after Sameehg Doutie put the hosts ahead courtesy a clean strike from the right flank. It took only seven minutes for Chennaiyin FC to level thanks to a Jayesh Rane strike.
The visitors soon went up in the 70th minute of the match as Hans Mulder put the ball into the net after letting it deflected off Jose Arroyo.
The last 20 minutes of the match had ATK written all over it as the home team indulged themselves into waves after waves of attack led by Iain Hume, Sameehg Doutie and Helder Postiga. The pressure on Chennaiyin defense finally took its toll in the 84th minute of the match as Doutie was tripped by substitute Jerry Lalrinzuala in front the goal.
ATK’s prolific goal-scorer, Iain Hume didn’t fail the convert the penalty as Atletico de Kolkata rose from the ashes in the final hours of the game. The match ended at 2-2 as both the champions- quite deservedly- shared the honors in their very first match of the 2016 ISL season.