ISL: Atletico de Kolkata 1-3 FC Pune City - 5 talking points

Atletico de Kolkata have been on the top of the league right from the beginning of the tournament. They hadn’t lost a game and had come from a losing position to win the game earlier in the tournament. FC Pune City on the other hand, have struggled with goalless draws, won games in a clinical fashion and also lost games that they were winning. And unlike Kolkata, they languished in the bottom half of the table only until very recent.When Pune travelled to Kolkata at the Salt Lake Stadium, it was a classic case of the invisibles playing the invincibles. Ninety-six minutes later, in game number 24 of the Indian Super League, the invisibles had defeated the invincibles handsomely by scoring three goals and conceding just one. While Pune shone in all the departments of the game, Kolkata tried desperately to beat Pune on the attacks as well as the counters but of no avail.Here are the 5 talking points of the game:

#1 Pune\'s reinvented strike-force

In their previous game against NorthEast United, which Pune won by a solitary goal, their strikers missed close to half a dozen chances to score and win the game in a convincing manner. While coach Franco Colomba had pointed to the tight schedule (three matches in a week) as a reason for the same, it was not the case this time around.

Dudu and Goossens who had come on as substitutes in the previous game, were instrumental in turning it around for them with their attacking style of play. And this was something that was very evident today.

While Kolkata pushed on right from the opening minutes of the match, Pune countered effectively and with their strike force making daring runs into the Kolkata box it was a matter of time before they ran through the Kolkata defence. Kostas, Goossens, Dudu and Davide were responsible for Pune's renaissance in Kolkata.

#2 Fikru and Garcia fail to capitalise

While Fikru returned after a two-match ban to a rambunctious welcome at Kolkata's home stadium, he will be rueing the missed chances and shots that were defended well by Pune. Fikru lived up to his reputation and began by testing Pune's Italian-Indian defence combination as early as the sixth minute of the match to no avail. He was well marked and blocked off by the Pune defenders, who knew how dangerous he could be if he built up enough steam and space to fire his screaming volleys.

Ironically that wasn't to be the case today. He scored Kolkata's only goal through a penalty giving the home fans a reason to cheer and also hope for a draw, which wasn't to be. Garcia on the other hand, too made daring runs in the early part of the second half, once narrowly missing a ball from Fikru with just the Pune custodian in front of him.

He eventually made way for Podany who brought the much needed edge to the Kolkata strike force almost immediately effecting a save from the Pune custodian. Garcia like Fikru was either caught off-guard by the passes or was just unable to find the shooting space for his team.

#3 Dudu Omagbemi proves a point

The reason why Dudu has a separate section here is because he was responsible for the team from Pune taking the fight to Kolkata on their home turf. Not one to give in easily without a fight, he showed signs of his tenacity in Pune's previous home game against NorthEast United.

Starting today for the team, he made ambitious runs, attacked the Kolkata defence and forced their custodian Subhashish Roy Chowdhury to make a few brilliant saves, especially towards the end of the first half and midway through the second half. It was not surprising that he was named the Hero of the Match. Not one to be daunted by a tough opposition the tall Nigerian scored the opening goal of the game through a brilliant combination of passing that involved Davide Colomba, Goossens and him.

Coach Franco Colomba in the previous game had highlighted the importance of the speed and strength that he brings to the squad, and it was very evident today. Even when Kolkata was threatening to pull the game away after the penalty Dudu was constantly pushing his teammates forward, refusing to relent to the Kolkata defence.

#4 Pune\'s foreign imports come good

All of coach Franco Colomba's men today came to the party, be it his defence, the mid-field or his strikers. And in a game where the team's marquee player David Trezeguet was not playing, the defenders Cirillo and Magliocchetti, midfielder Kostas (who scored a stunner of a second goal) and the coach's son Davide Colomba (who scored the last goal off a free kick late in the game), and John Goossens and Dudu, all clicked.

Everyone worked tirelessly to deny Kolkata a win. While the midfield ensured that Kolkata never settled into the game, the defence took quite a few knocks to ensure that their strikers never found the space to score.

Consider this, Kolkata, prior to the game, had conceded just four goals as compared to Pune's seven, and they held the record for the maximum number of fouls and yellow cards at 97 and 16 respectively. It just goes to show how attacking and physical they are as a team and the magnitude of the work that Pune had to do in order to keep them at bay.

#5 The tale of the goalkeepers

In what was an intense game, the two people who bore the brunt of load were the two custodians for the two teams. While Roy kept the goal for Kolkata, Bhattacharya got his second start in a row in place of the injured Belardi. And both the keepers had saves aplenty to make.

Right from the attacking volleys of Goossens and Dudu which kept Roy busy in the first half, the crafty runs of Fikru and the occasional shot from Garcia kept Bhattacharya engaged. While his Kolkata counterpart was left rooted by three brilliant strikes from Dudu, Kostas and Colomba, Bhattacharya was not afraid to reach right out to the edge of the box to keep a clean sheet.

An error in judging the ball saw him crash into Fikru and receive a yellow card in the 83rd minute of the game. That and a penalty from which Kolkata scored were the only sour points of the 90 minutes for Bhattacharya. On the other hand Roy made some inspired saves to deny both Goossens and Dudu chances to extend the margin of victory for Pune.