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Champions Atletico de Kolkata got their season back on track with after a clinical 4-1 thrashing of Mumbai City FC in the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) game at Mumbai’s Dr. D.Y. Patil Stadium on Sunday evening. Iain Hume fired in a hat-trick as Atletico de Kolkata leapfrogged Mumbai City FC into fourth position in the ISL table.
Nicolas Anelka started for Mumbai City FC upfront in place of Frederic Piquionne, while Juan Aguilera came in for Christian Bustos in midfield. Habas made three changes to his team which lost at home to Delhi Dynamos with Denzil Franco coming in for Rino Anto, Nabi replacing Arnab Mondal and Jewel Raja coming in place of Baljit Sahni.
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First Half
Mumbai City FC started the game on the front foot and won a series of corners within the first five minutes of the game. Sony Norde almost squeezed one in directly but for an alert Amrinder Singh who punched clear at the right time.
Six minutes later, some great piece of play between Sunil Chhetri and Juan Aguilera saw the Spaniard scoop a pass over the Atletico de Kolkata defence for Nicolas Anelka, but Mumbai City’s marquee player was denied by a brave Amrinder Singh who came off his line to clear the danger.
Atletico mounted their first real attempt of the game in the 11th minute, when Doutie swung in a cross from the right flank which was headed wide by Gavilan who should have put it on target after attacking the ball without any challenge.
The game got a bit scrappy as neither team was able to string together moves to threaten each other’s goal around the half hour mark. Mumbai City FC came close in the 32nd minute when Bertin got his head on a deep free kick from Darren O’Dea but he had a very tight angle to aim at goal and ended up heading it wide.
Two minutes later, Atletico de Kolkata went up to the other end of the pitch and scored pretty much against the run of play when Gavilan picked out Iain Hume who had peeled away from the central defenders as the Canadian volleyed past Subrata Pal to give Atletico de Kolkata the lead. Hume’s goal ended Atletico’s 340 minute goal drought and put them in the driver’s seat in the game.
Things got better for the Champions on the stroke of half time when Subhash’s clumsy tackle on Gavilan forced the referee Santosh Kumar to point to the spot. Iain Hume stepped to convert the spot kick and put Atletico de Kolkata totally in command at 2-0 at half time.
Second Half
Mumbai City FC made all three changes at half time as Selim Benachour, Frederic Piquionne and Rowlinson Rodrigues came on for Frantz Bertin, Darren O’Dea and Subhash Singh. Rowlinson slotted in Mumbai City FC’s back four beside Cmovs, while Benachour formed the pivot with Aguilera. Nicolas Anelka dropped back into the hole, flanked by Sony Norde and Sunil Chhetri.
Mumbai City FC started on the front foot and pushed Atletico de Kolkata into their own half. The early pressure nearly gave some results when Atletico de Kolkata failed to clear a corner which fell to Pavel Cmovs at the edge of the box, but the Czech defender could only fire into the side netting.
Atletico de Kolkata goalkeeper Amrinder Singh was forced into a brilliant save from Frederic Piquionne who made space for a shot in the box after a good move from Mumbai City FC saw the ball come to his feet in the 62nd minute. A minute later Atletico very nearly wrapped up the game when the successful duo of Gavillan and Hume combined once again and almost recreated the opening goal, only for Hume’s effort to come off the crossbar.
Mumbai City FC’s persistence eventually paid off as a lofted ball over the midfield found Chhetri who did well to to control it and get a shot away which was brilliantly saved by Amrinder low to his left, but couldn’t do anything about the rebound which was fired home by substitute Selim Benachour in the 70th minute, to give Mumbai City FC hope.
But Atletico de Kolkata’s response to conceding was a brilliant one as they did extremely well to steady themselves and got hold off the ball. Mumbai City FC’s reluctance to get men behind them ultimately led to their downfall in the 76th minute when a well worked move saw Augustine Fernandes go through on goal and coolly slot past Subrata Pal to restore Atletico’s two goal cushion.
It got better for the visitors after Mumbai City FC seemed to give up allowing Iain Hume to complete his hat-trick in the 82nd minute. Nicolas Anelka missed a great chance to grab a consolation in the 87th minute when he fired over after a crisp one-two with Sony Norde.
The effort summed up Mumbai City FC’s evening as they came crashing back down to earth on a day when the Champions revived their campaign on the stage which saw their coronation a little less than twelve months ago.
