ISL: Atletico de Kolkata, Kerala Blasters Slug it out to Become Inaugural Champions
Ironically, Saturday's finalists,
After nearly 10 weeks of exciting action featuring 60 scintillating encounters, a mouth-watering clash between Atletico de Kolkata and Kerala Blasters promises to provide the perfectly high-voltage finale to the inaugural Indian Super League football tournament here Saturday.
A dash of cricketing flavour has been added to the contest given that Kerala are co-owned by Sachin Tendulkar and ATK are co-owned by Sourav Ganguly. The two icons are expected to cheer their respective teams from the stands, along with what is expected to be, a sell-out crowd. (ATK vs Kerala or Ganguly vs Tendulkar?)
Ironically, Saturday's finalists finished third and fourth in the league stage, and the teams who were knocked out in the semi-finals were top finishers Chennaiyin FC and FC Goa.
Despite being finalists, both Blasters and ATK have had contrasting league rounds and semi-final matches. (ATK to Miss Fikru for ISL Final)
The Blasters struggled in the initial few games and from being placed right at the bottom, they bounced back and started peaking at the end of the tournament. They outclassed the league toppers Chennaiyin FC in the first semi-final and got the much-needed goal in the extra time of the second one to drub the leaders 4-3 on aggregate and book a spot in the final.
On the other hand, ATK endured a drop in form after some initial blitz. They were the league leaders in first few weeks but lost the plot and managed to scrape through to the semi-finals and the final.
The Eastern outfit seems to have lost its initial rhythm and even against FC Goa, they drew a blank, managing to qualify for the finals on the basis of penalties which they won 4-2. With the Kolkata outfit finding it difficult to score goals in the second half of the league, they have relied on their solid defence to see them through to the finals. (Tough to Pick up Winner, Says Del Piero Ahead of ISL Final)
The Antonio Habas coached-team has secured just one win in the last 12 matches and the Spaniard would hope his side finds its best form and comes out of the rut when it matters the most.