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Superstar Rajinikanth, who is busy shooting for his upcoming film ‘Kabali,’ directed by Ranjith is all set to make a public appearance, during Hero Indian Super League (ISL) inaugural match on Saturday.
The organisers have confirmed that the actor has accepted their invitation to grace the ISL opening ceremony. Previously, Rajni’s son-in-law and actor Dhanush has been appointed as a brand ambassador for ISL in Tamil Nadu.
The city of Chennai is all set to host the second edition of the ISL, that starts today at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium. The evening is going to be a star studded one as the opening ceremony will be flagged off with performances of Academy Award winner AR Rehman, and renowned Bollywood actresses Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Alia Bhatt.
The country is all set for the football extravaganza that will go on for as many as 79 days. The opening ceremony for the event is supposed to be more colorful and glitzy this year. Apart from Bollywood stars the events will also have 500 dancers and 2000 participants. The programme will be hosted by actor Anil Kapoor.
The inaugural match of the season will be played between Chennaiyan FC and defending champions Atletico de Kolkata right after the ceremony. The franchise team from Chennai will aim to make their title ambitions known right at the start against the resilient ATK team. Chennaiyin FC were favorites for the title last year, until they were grounded by a resolute Kerala Blasters in the semi-finals.
Chennaiyin FC took that setback in their stride and are looking to come back stronger this time with a more balanced squad.
Presence of players such as Italian World Cup winner Marco Materazzi, Bernard Mendy, last year’s top scorer Brazilian Elano, Portugese world cupper Helder Postiga, Spanish Borja Fernandes.
People are poised to see how strikers Fikru Tefera and Ian Hume perform against their previous sides. Fikru has been nursing an injury recently, but he is all set to start for the Chennai team against ATK today. Last year, Fikru scored the first goal in the history of the Hero ISL against Mumbai City FC. ATK emerged as the champions of the tournament and Fikru although missing out on a few matches, became the second highest scorer, last year.
