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7th placed FC Pune City hosted 2nd placed Atletico de Kolkata in hopes of making it into the top-4 of the Indian Super League. The match ended in a 1-1 draw and that was a fair reflection of the game.Luis Garcia crossed the ball in early for Podany to score in the 11th minute to give Atletico de Kolkata the lead. Pune then started dominating the match and got their reward in the final minute of the first half when Katsouranis scored a brilliant volley from the inside of the box to beat Edel to take the teams level heading into halftime.Pune tried to get a second goal but were unable to breach the Kolkata defense and the game ended in a stalemate which did not help either team in their quest of confirming their place in the top-4.Here are the 5 talking points from the game
#1 Luis Garcia, the man for Atletico de Kolkata
Luis Garcia was the star player for Atletico de Kolkata, yet again. The former Liverpool attacker was at the heart of all the attacks for the Kolkata team and was the player who was causing problems for the Pune City defense at the start of the game.
It was his cross that allowed Podany to rise well and score a brilliant header to give Kolkata the lead. Garcia, along with Elano have been the two marquee signings who have shone the brightest in the league and Atletico de Kolkata will be hoping the star player keeps contributing to the team in the next few games.
He was substituted for Joffre after 66 minutes, just after it was looking that he was going to reignite Kolkata’s attack. Maybe Habas wanted to rest him for the next 3 crunch games.
#2 Edel kept the teams level
Although Kolkata got the early lead, it was Pune City who did most of the attacking and were kept out for most of the first half by Atletico de Kolkata goalkeeper Edel. The former PSG goalkeeper was brilliant in between the sticks for Atletico de Kolkata and kept out attack after attack from Pune City.
One moment of the match which will stay in memory was in the 35th minute when Edel pulled off a couple of amazing reflex saves in the space of a minute to keep Atletico de Kolkata in the lead, later on in the second half he tipped another shot over the bar when the ball was destined to go in the back of the net.
Atletico de Kolkata should thank their stars and Edel for helping them get a point from this game.
#3 A brilliant attacking display from Pune
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Pune City might have been 7th in the league coming into the game and were having a goal difference of -5 before the game started, but they were absolutely brilliant in attack, especially in the first half. Apart from conceding the opening goal, they were attacking the Atletico de Kolkata goal relentlessly.
Partly due to conceding the opening goal, they might have loosened their reins and were on the rampage to equalize and were often thwarted by the impressive Edel. Davide, Dudu and Pennant were at their best in the attacking third and only some poor finishing and great goalkeeping kept the score line close enough for Pune to equalize through a stunning volley in time added on in the first half.
Pune should take great pride from their display and this should provide them some confidence going into the final games of the league campaign.
#4 Atletico de Kolkata dont have a plan B
After scoring the goal to go into the lead, Atletico de Kolkata did what they have done all season, they sat back and decided to hit Pune constantly on the counter. They were dependant on long balls being hit and were hopeful of Fikru making something out of the chances being created or at least the lack of chances.
Then the inevitable happened, they conceded after a lot of pressure from Pune City and were stuck in a rut. Atletico de Kolkata could not bring back the attacking impetus into their game and were left to only play in the counter, this has hurt them often in the league and has shown that tactically the team still needs to have other options when taking on teams.
They cannot keep on playing on the counter and expect to win games, this is exactly what happened today, and they just could not kill the game by playing counter attacking football.
#5 Both teams still to confirm their place in the last 4 with 3 games remaining
The ISL is heading into the final stretch and both teams could have cemented their place in the top four or at least staked a claim for the top 4 place, instead neither team could get the second goal to win the game.
It left Kolkata with 17 points and Pune City with 13 points, with Chennaiyin FC leading the table with 19 points from 11 games. Each team now has only 3 games left and will be looking to finish in the top 4, Atletico de Kolkata are second while Pune are still 7th on 13 points. The last 3 games will be very interesting for all the clubs to make it into the semi-finals of the ISL.
