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Despite a strong show from Zico’s men, the first leg of the semi-final of the Hero Indian Super League between Atletico de Kolkata and FC Goa ended in a draw. Playing in front of their home supporters, Atletico had a shaky start in the match.
Kolkata were without their main marksman, Fikru who was ruled out ahead of the tie with an injury alongside team-mates Arnab Mondal, Biswajit Saha and Jofre Mateu who were all unavailable for selection.
FC Goa’s good start in the match was struck by an injury after Narayan Das had to be taken off following a challenge from Luis Garcia. He was replaced by Peter Carvalho.
It was Romeo Fernandes of FC Goa who kept the Atletico defence busy in the early twenty minutes as he had several attempts on target, but was unable to find a way past Apoula Edel who was solid throughout the match. He almost found the breakthrough in the 17th minute when his shot ended up on the side-netting.
After a few string of long-range shots and poorly executed chances, the players went into their locker room with the score tied at 0-0.
Coming into the second half, Atletico de Kolkata had a brilliant chance at goal when Jakub Podany released an inviting cross inside the box from a free-kick, but it was missed by all the Atletico players including Nato who attempted to get a touch of the ball with his head.
This followed with several shots from Czech Republic forward Miroslav Slepi?ka, but his weak attempts were far too easy for Atletico de Kolkata Edel to block. One of his shots included an exquisite set-up from former Arsenal left-back Andre Santos who found the Czech inside the penalty box with a cheeky scoop pass.
Arguably, the best chance in the match came from Romeo Fernandes in the 69th minute when he was close to putting the ball past Edel following a defence-splitting pass from Slepicka. However, the goalkeeper got to the ball first.
Cavin Lobo, who had earlier scored twice against Goa the first time Atletico de Kolkata took on them, was brought in as Rakesh Masih’s replacement, and his presence on the pitch was felt soon after Kolkata looked more alive and threatening in the later stages of the match.
But, perhaps it was already a bit too late as both the two teams failed to break the deadlock, playing out a goalless draw in the first leg of the semi-final.
Statistically, FC Goa had the upper hand throughout the match with 60% of the ball possession and 10 shots on target, but it was the brilliance of Edel who kept Kolkata’s chances of progressing into the final still plausible.
