Atletico de Kolkata gave Chennaiyin FC a run for their money as they won 2-1 at the Salt Lake Stadium in the Indian Super League (ISL) semi-final second leg on Wednesday. However, they ultimately succumbed to a 4-2 defeat on aggregate which saw the visitors progress to the finals.
Dejan Lekic (22′) opened the scoring before Iain Hume’s (87′) strike set up a grandstand finish in the closing stages. A horrendous error at the back though allowed Fikru Tefera (90′ + 2′) to take advantage and seal his side’s progress.
Antonio Habas was forced to make two changes to the line-up with the injured duo or Borja Fernandez and Ofentse Nato making their way out for Nallapan Moharaj and Dejan Lekic.
Marco Materazzi too welcomes Elano Blumer and Mehrajuddin Wadoo back into the starting eleven as Bruno Pelissari and Zakeer Mundampara were relegated to the bench.
The home side had an early chance when Lekic controlled a ball well and took a touch to get beyond the marker but his final effort from range fizzled just wide.
Elano’s corner-kick in the seventh minute saw Mailson’s header go over the bar while four minutes later, Mendosa tested Amrinder in goal.
In the 13th minute, Lekic played Hume down the left channel but the Canadian took ages to shoot which allowed Mendy to steal the ball from him.
The breakthrough came in the 22nd minute when Mendy’s weak header towards Edel was intercepted by Lekic and the Serbian made no mistake in finding the back of the net.
The very next minute saw Edel pull off a save from a deflected striker from outside the box by Arata. Just before the half hour mark, Jeje’s shot on the turn saw Amrinder dive to his left to keep his effort out.
Sameegh Doutie got on the end of a quick throw-in from Hume and his right footed effort was parried away by Edel in goal.
It was the home side which led 1-0 at half-time.
In the second half, Atletico continued to attack but were either denied by Edel’s brilliance or their wastefulness in front of goal. Lekic trapped a long pass and cut inside Mailson and Wadoo but his right footed strike took a deflection off Wadoo for a corner.
The very next minute saw Gaivilan’s corner-kick being headed by Tiri but Edel parries his effort. The ball comes out to Lekic whose shot under pressure from Mailson goes over the bar.
Four minutes after the hour mark, Lekic’s free-kick was blocked and on the rebound, his shot went up in the air. Hume flicked it for Arata whose snapshot was blocked by Wadoo.
Doutie saw his cross being deflected by Mendy but straight into the hands of Edel while Gaivilan’s shot from the right missed the far corner.
Chennaiyin cleared their lines effectively with Mailson winning most of the aerial duels as Atletico bombarded their back-line with long balls and crosses.
Iain Hume scored a wonderful goal in the 87th minute. A quick one-two with Lekic saw Hume’s left footed volleyed effort find the top corner.
The faint hopes Atletico had of scoring the third goal went up in the air in the second minute of injury time. Fikru pulled one back for Chennai in the injury time. Tiri went down and following a drop ball Fikru puts the ball out of play for a throw-in. Amrinder Singh’s throw-in finds Mohanraj who couldn’t control it and Fikru is around to win the ball and slot it into an empty net.
Atletico coach Habas was disappointed with the match officials and he was sent-off for his remonstrations.
The match ended with Chennaiyin FC winning 4-2 on aggregate and setting up a summit clash against Zico’s FC Goa this Sunday. Atletico put up a strong fight but would be disappointed for having conceded three in the first leg.
