The 2014 Hero Indian Super League kicked-off at Kolkata’s Saltlake Stadium today as local side Atlético de Kolkata defeated Mumbai City FC 3-0.
Atlético de Kolkata had the better start in front of the fanatic crowd, representatives from all the eight ISL teams and guests of honour. Baljit Singh Sahni had the first chance of the match in the 7th minute when he found him in an one-on-one with Mumbai City FC and India keeper Subrata Pal. But the Mumbai City FC keeper pulled out a brilliant save to deny Baljit.
Atlético continued to put some pressure on the visitors as former Spanish international Luis García’s left-footed volley was headed for goal but Subrata got his body behind the strike and managed to get it away.
Mumbai City FC slowly found their way into the game after 20 minutes, but it was Atlético de Kolkata who opened the scoresheet. Fikru Teferra Lemessa scored the first goal of the inaugural Hero Indian Super League with a fine chip over on-rushing Subrata Pal.
Mumbai City FC faced even more misery when head coach Peter Reid was forced to substitute captain Syed Rahim Nabi minutes before the half-time whistle due to an injury.
Reid made another substitution at the beginning of the second half, when he brought on André Francisco Moritz for Tiago Ribeiro. Moritz made an immediate impact as the Brazilian produced a few good moves in the Atlético half and Mumbai City FC managed to put some pressure on the home side.
But Atlético increased the lead against the run of play as Borja Fernandez fired home from the edge of the box with a powerful strike which found its way to the back of the net.
Subrata Pal denied Atlético a third goal when he pulled out a great reflex to deny a powerful header from Baljit Singh Sahni in the 77th minute.
On the other side, Atlético’s Indian national team keeper Subhasish Roy Chowdhury denied the visitors a goal, when he punched Pavel Cmovs’ deflected shot over the crossbar.
Atlético de Kolkata cleverly managed to keep Mumbai City FC at bay and sealed the win with an injury time goal by substitute Arnal Llibert to secure a 3-0 win in the opening match of the inaugural Hero Indian Super League.
Atlético will face NorthEast United FC on October 16 in their next league match, while Mumbai City FC will play host to FC Pune City on October 18.
The Hero Indian Super League action will continue on Monday (October 13) with the NorthEast United FC v Kerala Blasters FC match at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati.
2014 Hero Indian Super League
at Saltlake Stadium, Kolkata
ATLÉTICO DE KOLKATA 3-0 MUMBAI CITY FC
GOALS
1-0 Fikru Teferra Lemessa (27′)
2-0 Borja Fernandez (69′)
3-0 Arnal Llibert (90’+3′)
LINE-UPS
Atlético de Kolkata
1 Subhasish Roy Chowdhury – 12 Denzil Franco, 17 Josemi, 5 Arnab Mondal, 2 Biswajit Saha – 8 Borja Fernandez, 23 Ofentse Nato, 11 Jofre Mateu (62′ 21 Jakub Podany) – 10 Luis García [C] (87′ 24 Arnal Llibert), 9 Fikru Teferra Lemessa, 6 Baljit Singh Sahni (81′ 15 Sanju Pradhan)
Unused Subs
25 Apoula Edel – 4 Kingshuk Debnath, 14 Mohammed Rafi, 26 Sylvain Monsoreau
Mumbai City FC
1 Subrata Pal – 17 Deepak Mondal, 27 Pavel Cmovs, 5 Manuel Friedrich, 3 Raju Eknath Gaikwad – 2 Johan Letzelter, 6 Jan Stohanzl, 4 Tiago Ribeiro (46′ 21 André Francisco Moritz), 19 Syed Rahim Nabi [C] (40′ 14 Nadong Bhutia) – 20 Lalrindika Ralte – 10 Diego Nadaya
Unused Subs
41 André Preto – 7 Rohit Mirza, 12 Singam Subash Singh, 15 Asif Kottayil, 16 Peter Costa, 18 Sushil Kumar Singh
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee
Chris Penso (USA)
Assistant Referees
…, …
Fourth Official
…
BOOKINGS
Yellow Cards
2′ Syed Rahim Nabi (Mumbai City FC)
19′ Raju Eknath Gaikwad (Mumbai City FC)
24′ Fikru Teferra Lemessa (Atlético de Kolkata)
29′ Jan Stohanzl (Mumbai City FC)
32′ Ofentse Nato (Atlético de Kolkata)
90’+3′ Arnal Llibert (Atlético de Kolkata)
Yellow-Red Cards
none
Red Cards
none
MAN OF THE MATCH
Borja Fernandez (Atlético de Kolkata)
HERO INDIAN SUPER LEAGUE MATCH REPORT
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