Atletico de Kolkata players celebrate with the trophy after beating Kerala Blasters in penalty shootout in the final of Indian Super League (ISL) season 3 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi Sunday. PTIKochi: Cedric Hengbart, who played his heart out, missed a vital penalty kick in the shootout as Kerala Blasters went down to Atletico de Kolkata in the ISL final at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here Sunday night.
Jewel Raja Sheikh converted the final kick as ATK won 4-3 on penalties to regain the title and be crowned champions for the second time in the three-year history of the tournament.
Elhadj Ndoye and Cedric Hengbart missed for Blasters in the shootout, while former Blasters star Iain Hume was the lone ATK player to misfire as his attempt was saved by Graham Stack, who replaced Sandip Nandy under the Blasters bar in the big game.
The teams were tied 1-1 after extra time.
This was the second time ATK dashed Blasters' title dreams. They had beaten Blasters 1-0 in the final of the inaugural ISL in 2014.
Blasters' co-owner Sachin Tendulkar and ATK co-owner Sourav Ganguly were among the huge crowd who witnessed the hard-fought final.
As expected, the stadium turned a sea of yellow with the home fans entering the stadium hours before kick-off to cheer the Men in Yellow on and in the end, they were crestfallen.
Local star Mohammed Rafi's headed goal gave Blasters a 1-0 lead in the 37th minute before Henrique Sereno drew level for ATK in the 44th. Both goals came off corner-kicks.
Mohammed Rafi celebrates with his Kerala Blasters teammates after scoring a goal in the first-half of the ISL final against Atletico de Kolkata in Kochi Sunday. Photo: Josekutty Panackal/OnmanoramaThe second half proved to be a rather sedate affair. Helder Postiga tested Stack with a long-ranger in the 66th and the Blasters goalkeeper did well to parry it away for a corner-kick. Javi Lara replaced Postiga in the 68th.
Blasters coach Steve Coppell went for a double change in the 77th as Antonio German came on for Duckens Nazon and Mohammed Raffique replaced Rafi. But the breakthrough remained elusive.
The 30 minutes of extra time too failed to separate the two sides and then it was down to the lottery of penalties.
Atletico de Kolkata goalkeeper Debjit Majumder saves a penalty kick by Kerala Blasters' Cedric Hengbart during the penalty shootout in the ISL final at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi Sunday. PTIEarlier, the match began on a promising note, with both sides keen on seizing the initiative.
C.K. Vineeth failed to latch on to a pass from Kervens Belfort in the eighth minute and off the counter-attack, Iain Hume threatened the Blasters goal.
Belfort made a brilliant run couple of minutes later, but this time Rafi failed to get past the ATK defense inside the box.
Hume and Postiga combined beautifully in the 15th, but the latter shot wide from inside the box as Blasters heaved a sigh of relief.
Kerala Blasters fans cheer for the team at the Jawarhlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi ahead of the ISL final match against Atletico de Kolkata. Photo: Josekutty Panackal/OnmanoramaBlasters had another close shave soon as Stack pulled off a fine save to deny Sameehg Doutie.
Postiga continued to torment the Blasters defense and the home side were lucky that the Portuguese star failed to get his act together twice in quick succession.
Blasters had a tough time to keep the ATK attacks from the right wing in check and Hume's desperate lunge failed to make contact with a dangerous ball in the 32nd.
Blasters suffered a setback in the 35th as captain Aaron Hughes picked up an injury and had to be replaced with Ndoye.
Atletico de Kolkata's Henrique Sereno (No 2) celebrates scoring a goal in the first half against Kerala Blasters with his teammates during the ISL final in Kochi Sunday. Photo: ISL websiteHowever, the stadium erupted in joy soon as Rafi headed Blasters into lead. But Sereno silenced them with a fine header in the closing minutes of the opening half.
