In one of the most entertaining games this ISL, Atletico de Kolkata defeated the Delhi Dynamos at home, courtesy an Iain Hume penalty. The Canadian created history by becoming the highest goal-scorer in ISL history with 18 goals, crossing Columbian striker Stiven Mendoza.
The game was played at a high pace, with end-to-end chances and some terrific goalkeeping. Debjit Majumder managed to keep the ball out of his net in an unorthodox yet effective fashion. Gianluca Zambrotta, on the other hand, faced his first defeat on Indian shores and would have a cheeky mistake from Lalchawnkima to blame.
Let’s take a look at the players’ ratings for this high-voltage game.
Atletico de Kolkata
Debjit Majumder: 8/10
The Kolkata goalkeeper had a busy day under the bar, and kept off the attacking threat of Marcelinho, Richard Gadze and Florent Malouda. Majumder made a remarkable triple-save in the first half to keep the scoreline level.
Pritam Kotal: 6/10
The young defender looked average, often troubled by Marcelinho. With almost no support from Sameegh Doutie in the first half, Kotal was often troubled by Marcelinho, who created a lot of chances. A compact performance, with no real blemish from the young right-back.
Prabir Das: 8/10
The left-back had a brilliant day in office. Growing in confidence, game by game, the player cleared a goal-bound shot from Marcelinho in the first half. The former Dempo defender kept Rupert Nongrum silent for most of the match, and also made telling contributions with his runs down the flanks.
Sereno: 5/10
Sereno looked decent in the game before being sent off for two yellow cards. Confident and comfortable at the back with Spanish partner, Tiri, the Portuguese almost gave away a penalty in the first half with a poor pull at Marcelinho.
The player made a couple of clearances and distributed the ball well from the backline.
Deserved the booking on both the instances and was sent off in the 74th minute, conceding a penalty on Richard Gadze.
Tiri: 7/10
The backbone of Atletico’s defence looked a little troubled with the speed and attacking flair of the opposition, but managed the defence well. Tiri gave yet another good performance which explains why he’s regarded so highly by Jose Molina. The centre-back made some crucial challenges to thwart a lot of Delhi attacks.
Borja Fernández: 6/10
The captain and the midfield lynchpin, Fernandez had a below par game according to his lofty standards. Playing in a two-man pivot with Bikramjit Singh, Borja often distributes play from the opposition’s half.
Against Delhi Dynamos, though, the former Getafe man could not control proceedings as he would have liked and played more as a screener to his defence. Had a decent game. Played the second half at a much better pace and at a much higher position up the field.
Bikramjit Singh: 4/10
The former Churchill Brothers midfielder did nothing extravagant. The Mohun Bagan man was asked to keep Florent Malouda and Milan Singh in check, which he tried well, but was not able to do effectively. Bikramjit spread most of the balls to Borja or his defensive line, did not make a great impact on the game and was rightly replaced at half-time.
Sameegh Doutie: 8/10
If anyone on the pitch deserved an assist in the first half for Kolkata, it was this man. The diminutive winger ran hard, toiled well and showed his bag of tricks. Creating one chance after another, the South African kept the Indian pair of Kima and Chinglesana Singh on their toes for most of the game.
Doutie created two goal-scoring opportunities for both Juan Belencoso and Iain Hume, dribbled well for the penalty and was one of the best players on the pitch.
Iain Hume: 8/10
The Canadian striker had one of his best matches this season. With Javi Lara not starting, the attacking onus was on the former Kerala Blasters striker and he was in the thick of things throughout the game. The striker had two opportunities created by Sameegh Doutie and converted the penalty comfortably, becoming the highest ever scorer in ISL with 18 goals.
Lalrindika Ralte: 6/10
The attacking midfielder had an average game against the Lions. Ralte tried a shot in the 61st minute from a Doutie cut in, which went wide. He delivered a few inviting set-pieces into the box, but didn’t create anything worthy of mention.
Juan Belencoso: 6/10
The burly striker made his presence felt, but flattered-to-deceive. The Spanish striker won most of the aerial duels in and outside the box but couldn’t really affect the game. He didn’t link up well with Iain Hume and Sameegh Doutie, but helped the defence during set-pieces well.
Substitutes
Arnab Mondal: 5/10
The Indian defender came late on to and protected the goal well.
Jewel Raja: 6/10
The former Dempo midfielder had a good game, coming at the onset of the second half. Raja replaced the almost-absent Bikramjit Singh and gave the much-needed freedom to captain and midfield marshal Borja Fernandez. Raja made a few compelling runs into the opposition box.
Javi Lara: NA
Lara came on late in the game for Iain Hume.
Delhi Dynamos FC
Toni Doblas: 7/10
The captain had another comfortable outing in goal. With not many attempts on target, the Kolkata attack did not trouble and test Doblas enough. The Delhi goalkeeper played most of the game as a sweeper, keeping the box under his control, killing the threats of aerial balls from the ATK players.
Shouvik Chakraborty: 7/10
The right-back put in another good display at the back for the Lions. Shouvik again showed why he’s always the first name on the team-sheet. Confident in defence, he gave practically no space to Ralte. He did not make a lot of attacking runs, but was compact at the back.
Chinglesana Singh: 8/10
For someone aged just 19, Singh looks brilliant. Keeping former regular starter and last season’s hero out of the first XI is no mean task, and the compact, powerful and imposing defender, could be a future Indian star. The youngster had a brilliant game at the back, keeping Iain Hume, Doutie and Belencoso silent for most of the game.
Rubén Gonzalez: 7/10
The former Real Zaragoza man showed a new side to his game, providing a lot of attacking flair for his team. The defender showed his full repertoire of skills and ball-playing ability, giving Delhi the much-needed impetus from the back. The defender would be hoping his defensive teammates do a better job in the next match.
Lalchawnkima: 4/10
25 year old left-back looked uncomfortable throughout the match in his defensive duties and was troubled by Sameegh Doutie throughout the game. Playing behind Marcelinho, Lalchawnkima exchanged a few good passes with the Brazilian in the first half, but conceded a poor penalty.
Marcos Tébar: 6/10
The Spanish midfield maestro looked a little out-of-sync in the game. The former Real Madrid youth player handled proceedings well and controlled the speed of the game, slowing it down in the second half when Atletico were looking to up the ante. Did his job defensively, but was below par from his high standards.
Milan Singh: 7/10
An unsung hero and a tactical masterpiece from Gianluca Zambrotta, Milan was a gem on the field. A fighter off the ball and a calm thinker on it, Milan pressed hard and broke opposition build-up play in their half, doing his job to perfection. A little more link-up play with Marcos Tebar would’ve served the Dynamos better.
Florent Malouda: 7/10
The Frenchman used all his experience to shut out the opposition’s main man, Borja Fernandez. The marquee player played the No. 10 position well and linked up brilliantly with Gadze and Marcelinho. It was the guile and defensive stability provided by the former Chelsea winger which made Delhi look the better side in most of the game.
Marcelinho: 6/10
The Brazilian had a good game, except for the missed penalty. Running at defenders and befooling them on many occasions, the winger was brilliantly played forward by Malouda in the first half, his shot only being cleared by Prabir Das.
Rupert Nongrum: 4/10
Playing on the right wing, Nongrum did not support Shouvik much defensively and had poor first touches throughout the match. He gave away a few silly free-kicks, and Nongrum needs to calm down and concentrate on his game to cement his place in the side.
Richard Gadze: 7/10
Gadze missed a great chance at the beginning of the second half. With all defenders beaten and too slow to react, the 21-year-old needed to beat only the goalkeeper to give his team the much-deserved lead. Gadze missed two glorious half chances, which deserved to be converted by a striker. The Ghanaian needs to start converting chances soon or will have to make way for target man Badara Badji soon.
Substitutes
Bruno Pelissari: 5/10
The Brazilian looks a shadow of himself from the player fans saw when he was at Chennaiyin FC. Pelissari had two poor corner kicks to his name and did not do anything note-worthy since coming on.
Memo: 5/10
The Brazilian was relegated to the bench and came on late in the second half. Memo did try to affect proceedings late into the game, but couldn’t manage much due to his team’s ineffective link-up play.
B. Badji: NA
The Senegalese forward was brought on for Marcelinho but didn’t have an impact on the game.
