Delhi Dynamos and Atletico de Kolkata fought for redemption at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Delhi and man it was football at its best. Delhi kept its numero uno position after the match and Atletico de Kolkata also stayed firm at fourth position of ISL 2016 League Tally.
Delhi made a lot of errors and kept on losing the possession of the ball. The home team was looking nothing like the team that defeated FC Pune City in their previous ISL 2016 match. Atletico de Kolkata emerged as the stronger team as the visitors were regressively attacking the opposition’s defence.
Atletico de Kolkata was deservingly rewarded in the 17th minute. Iain Hume received a Doutie pass and shot it towards the bottom right of the goalpost. The onrushing goalkeeper, Doblas had no option other than being the closest one to see Iain Hume’s perfection.
The temperature rose within the next two minute as Badara Badji(Delhi) and Laldrinka Ralte(Kolkata) were shown yellow cards for foul play.
From thereon, the visitors lost their effervescence which resulted in a bunch of mis-kicks and fouls. The team was seen defending for their lives against the ceaseless attack by Atletico de Kolkata’s players.
Kolkata was looking to end the first half on a high note but the visitors tried to comeback in the game as Delhi Dynamos Captain, Malouda took the initiative in nick of the first half. Malouda drilled-in the ball with Badji but the matters got worse for the visitors as the referee saw the later deliberately trying to hand the ball and gave him his second Yellow card.
The first half ended with Atletico de Kolkata leading the game by 1-0.
Kolkata looked a tad slow in the second half and it was enough for Dynamos to take advantage of the situation. In the 63rd minute, Milan Singh dribbled the ball close to the goalpost and shot a screaming curled shot that Majumdar couldn’t defend, taking the score to 1-1.
Atletico de Kolkata was not left behind as the team took only eight minutes to reclaim the lead. In the 71th minute, Delhi’s attack was countered by the visitors as the whole team hurried back into the box. This left Javi Lara with ample space and he shot the ball towards the opposition’s goal post, leaving Doblas beaten for the second time.
The visitors went into defencive mode to claim the victory which could have dethroned Delhi Dynamos from the top spot but the ‘Lions’ were in no mood to lose. Malouda showed his Chelsea ‘Avatar’ in the 84th minute as he tackled two defenders at the same time and passed the ball beyond Majumdar, taking the score to 2-2 and scoring his third goal in two games.
Both the teams desperately tried to score the winner for rest of the match but none of them were able to breach the opposition’s defence.
The game ended in a much deserved draw and the both teams retained their position in the ISL 2016 League tally. Delhi Dynamos are at the top with 17 points and have cemented their position in the semi-finals. Atletico de Kolkata on the other hand, is at the fourth position with 13 points.
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14 November 2016
Rohan Jaitly