ISL 2017: ATK's Robbie Keane set to go back to Ireland for Christmas holidays

What's the story?

ATK star Robbie Keane is all set to leave India for a while, as he goes back to his home country Ireland, to spend some time with his family.

In case you didn't know...

The Kolkatta-side had acquired the services of the legendary former Irish captain as the marquee player of the season.

After suffering an Achilles injury during pre-season training, Keane had missed the first few games. However, he has recovered from that injury and started his first match of the season on 17th December.

ATK had been struggling in the initial stages of the season and started their renaissance when Keane came back from injury. In fact, ATK has won both the games Keane started in ISL 2017. Incidentally, these are the only two games they have won so far.

The heart of the matter

The ISL, on Saturda, announced several fixture-changes majorly to accommodate Bengaluru FC's AFC Cup qualifier matches. One of the changes in the schedule saw ATK's match against FC Goa being postponed from Sunday, December 31, 2017, to Wednesday, January 3, 2018.

With the Kolkata side getting a 10-day gap between last night's match against Delhi Dynamos and their next match against FC Goa, Keane has decided to spend the festive period with his family, and will fly off to Ireland today, a club official said to Sportskeeda.

What's next?

The skipper would be back in India and is likely to be available for the match against the high-flying FC Goa. Another thing to keep in mind though is whether he would be match fit or not when he returns from the festive period for the encounter against the Gaurs.

Author's take

It's a good thing that Keane has gone home to spend some quality time with his family but ATK would need their No. 10 to hit the ground running when he returns from his homeland. Teddy Sheringham's side needs their Irish forward to step up and start exploiting opposition defences before it's too late.