Mumbai, Dec 20: Cometh the hour, cometh the man. The ‘battle’ between two former Indian captains – Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar – threw up an unlikely hero when Atletico de Kolkata (ATK) clashed with Kerala Blasters in the final of the inaugural edition of the ISL. Mohammed Rafique, probably one of the shortest players on the DY Patil Stadium pitch here outjumped all of his more illustrious and taller colleagues to nod home the winner in the last minute of stoppage time to ensure victory for ATK.
Kolkata should also be grateful to their goalkeeper Edel who pulled off a couple of marvelous saves in the second session to ensure victory for his side, the outstanding one being the shot he saved from Michael Chopra. It was a shot from within the six- yard box and yet Edel anticipated it to jump to his left and palm the ball away albeit the post for a corner.
Coach Antonio Habas once more adopted the defensive route and depended on counter attacks. Luis Garcia till the time he stayed on the field was outstanding, maintaining a very good balance between offence and defence. As usual Arnab Mondal played a stellar role in defence and was instrumental in holding at bay Iain Hume.
It was an exciting finish to the new league as the two teams battled it out for 90 minutes before Rafique found the target. Just when it looked like the match would enter into extra time, substitute Rafique headed home leaving Sushanth Matthew, Sandesh Jhingan and Kerala goalkeeper David James shocked.
The southern outfit started well as they created a good chance in the fifth minute. Former Newcastle United striker Michael Chopra and Hume played well to enter the box but Josemi cleared the ball with a tackle to deny them an opportunity to go one up. Six minutes later Ishfaq Ahmed took a good left-footer but it was blocked by Edel Bete.
ATK had a chance in the 25th minute when Arnal Llibert sent the ball through to Mohammed Rafi, but Nirmal Chettri made a last-ditch tackle to deny the forward from entering the box.
Chettri earned a yellow card for his wild tackle but Podany’s free-kick from just over 20m sailed over the post.
Llibert then tried to slide the ball past Kerala Blasters’ marquee player-cum manager James in the 35th minute, but the English shot-stopper showed great reflexes and blocked the shot with an acrobatic effort.
PTI