ISL 2016: FC Pune City vs Atletico de Kolkata

FC Pune City and Atletico de Kolkata clashed at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Stadium, Pune on Sunday and nobody expected the former to register a victory against the in-form Kolkata team. However, FC Pune City surprised the home crowd by defeating the No. 3 team of ISL 2016.

FC Pune City entered as the underdog in the game and came out as the favorite. The team was yet to register a home ground win in the current Indian Super League season and it came in an unbelievable fashion. FC Pune City lost its last match against the least performing team in the league, FC Goa but, claimed its first home ground victory of ISL 2016 against one of the top three teams of the league tally, Atletico de Kolkata.

This is also Pune’s second win of the season as the defeated FC Goa in its second match on 8th October 2016, after which, the team suffered from a winless drought.

Atletico de Kolkata came all guns blazing after winning its last game against NorthEast United FC and winning this one was considered as a piece of cake for the team. The team enjoyed a nine days rest before this game and maybe, that is the reason, why the team failed to carry forward its momentum to its match against FC Pune City.

The first half saw both the sides trying desperately to score a leading goal and in the 27th minute, it was Jonatan Lucca created the first chance for his team when he built up an effort with L.Rodrigues and took the ball toward the opposition’s goal post. However, the shot by Lucca went past the left side of Majumder’s post.

The game took an emotional turn in the 39th minute when Pune City’s Eduardo Ferreira and Kolkata’s Lalrindika Ralte went in for a header and both the heads collided with each other. Eduardo Ferreira came off the worst as he seemed to have lost consciousness and the medical staff was rushed to the ground, however, he was back on the pitch after a small patch-up.

The crowd erupted in respect of Ferreira and returned the favor with a quick goal. Eduardo Ferreira never gave the opposition a time to settle as he headed a corner by Lucca straight into the goalpost in the 41st minute.

Not much time had passed when the Ferreira was again down on the ground and this time the team was quick to replace him with Jesus Tato.

The game went into the halftime with FC Pune maintain its lead of 1-0.

Atletico de Kolkata was looking for an equaliser at the start of the second half but FC Pune City kept the doors shut.

FC Pune City took the game to 2-0 in the 56th minute, when Zurdo headed a superb cross in Kolkata’s box but the effort was successfully blocked by Pritam Kotal. However, the referee saw Kotal’s hand touching the ball while defending and awarded Pune City with a penalty.

Zurdo took the penalty and shot the ball towards the goal. Even though the ball touched Majumder’s glove, the force of the kick still took it straight into the bottom right corner of the goalpost.

Atletico de Kolkata players finally got a lifeline to save themselves from total embarrassment in the 69th minute when Postiga got a penalty after been fouled by Mohammed Sissoko inside the box. Hume took the penalty shot and it was successfully blocked by Edel Bete however, Hume struck the ball again in rebound and saved his team from humiliation.

For the rest of the match, Atletico de Kolkata attacked with a newly found vigor but Pune City was happy to defend its stands. The game ended in a comfortable win for FC Pune City and the team also put an end to its winless streak in last five matches.

FC Pune City is now at the 6th position of ISL 2016 league tally while Atletico de Kolkata retained its 3rd position even after losing the match.

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07 November 2016
Rohan Jaitly