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The inaugural season of the Indian Super League kicked-off at the Saltlake stadium in Kolkata on Sunday. Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly, apart from some Bollywood stars were also a part of the star studded opening ceremony. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee inaugurated the tournament that will conclude on December 20.
Atletico de Kolkata started with a 3-0 win over strong favourites Mumbai City FC thanks to goals from Fikru, Borja Fernandez and Arnal. Atletico de Kolkata boss Antonio Lopez Habas was happy with his team’s performance and expects more people to fill into the Saltlake stadium to support their home team.
Antonio Habas: "We had great support from the crowd and it was an impressive win. We need more supporters to turn up for the remaining games. The game was quite physical."
When asked what was the difference between Atletico Madrid and Atletico de Kolkata, Habas joked, "The difference is 8,000 miles."
Mumbai City FC manager Peter Reid was very honest about his team’s performance, saying, " I must admit we lost to the better team. I don't want to come up with any excuses. Luis Garcia played well in the midfield and made few crucial passes.”
“We lost the ball in the middle of the park and conceded the first goal and it was a brilliant finish from Fikru. Second goal was a great strike, we had possession at the back and after a sloppy pass they scored. The third goal just came from chasing the ball.”
"Disappointing start for us and we will only get better. Besides from the individual big mistakes that cost us the game, we just didn't pass the ball well and gave it away. You cannot win games like that and the best team won.
"The crowd was fantastic. Credits to the organisers, the opening ceremony was brilliant. The only disappointment for me is my team performance. We will only get better as we can't get any worse."
