ISL 2016: Kerala Blasters FC 1(3) - 1(4) Atletico de Kolkata - 5 Talking Points
It was yet another historic encounter between two amazing teams. In the end, Atletico de Kolkata beat Kerala Blasters on penalties and emerged as the champions of the 2016 Indian Super League.
Here are the biggest moments from the cracking encounter in Kochi:
#1 Helder Postiga wasteful in the first half
Playing a final in front of 60,000 vociferous away supporters, you’d have reckoned that Atletico de Kolkata would have started the game tentatively. But the reality was Molina’s men took the game to Kerala and created a host of chances in the first half. The men in red and white were confident on the ball and didn’t find it hard to open up the Blaster’s defensive line.
But Kolkata’s go to man, Postiga was extremely rusty in the opening 30 minutes. The Portuguese had three glorious chances to give his side the lead. On all three occasions, he fluffed his shots wide of the mark.
The best among those was the third one as Doutie found Postiga with a delightful cut back from the right flank. The striker had space and time to pick his spot. Instead, he hit it first time and his weak shot rolled past the keeper. For a player who has played two World Cups and three European Cups, he ought to have buried at least one of those three opportunities.