ISL 2016: Mumbai City FC 1-1 Atletico de Kolkata - 5 Talking Points
Mumbai City FC’s 100% win record was brought to an end as their ten men could not hold on to the first-half lead given to them by Matias Defederico. Atletico de Kolkata took full advantage of Pronay Halder’s sending off as they found their equaliser with 12 minutes to go through Javi Lara.
Mumbai remain top, one point ahead of NorthEast United.
Here are a few interesting talking points from the game.
#1 Defederico's form
Matias Defederico has had a wonderful start to the tournament this year. Today, his job was to ensure that Mumbai didn't miss the services of Diego Forlan and the Argentine obliged with a stunning first half. He set Boithang Haokip on his way, a few times only for the young Manipuri to be thwarted by what looked like a few dodgy Kolkata tackles.
But when he did get his chance, Defederico took it brilliantly, putting the ball in the bottom left corner giving Debjit Majumder no chance. This was the Argentine’s second goal of the season, following a similar effort in Mumbai’s opening game win against Pune.
It wasn’t just his goals that made Defederico a threat to the Kolkata defence. He was elusive and moved around the pitch, making it difficult for a single defender to pick him up, meaning the entire Kolkata backline had to be alert at all points.
His impact waned in the second half, though, as Kolkata grew into the game, and Mumbai lost the calmness they had shown in possession in the first half.