Hello and Welcome to the highlights of the Indian Super League (ISL) match between ATK and Bengaluru FC at the Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata.
That's all we have for you today. Thank you for joining us. Until next time, it's goodbye . CIAO!
This is Bengaluru's first loss away from home.
This is the first time ATK has beaten Bengaluru FC. The H2H count now read 4-1 in BFC's favour.
ATK beats Bengaluru FC 1-0 to jump to the top of the table, replacing FC Goa on goal difference.
90+6' ARINDAM SAVES AND ATK WINS!!! The long whistle from the referee marks the end of an exciting game!
90+4' Desperate attempts by Bengaluru to find the equaliser. CORNER FOR BFC! Looping ball from the right is deflected backwards by Erik and the ball back in from the left is parried way by the keeper
90+1' What's happened here? Juanan gets into an aerial battle with Rathi and Sosa Pena and Rathi suffers a blow. He is down.
Four minutes have been added on to the second half!
90' SUBSTITUTION FOR ATK: Jobby Justin - IN | David Williams - OUT
89' YELLOW CARD FOR NISHU KUMAR! David Williams is brought down from behind with a jersey pull by Nishu Kumar.
87' UDANTA SHOULD HAVE DONE BETTER THERE! He is at the edge of the box on the right, has time and space but he tries to drill a low cross towards goal and the ball is blocked!
87' Not a lot of time left in the match for Bengaluru to score the equaliser here.
84' BRAVE SAVE FROM SANDHU! He charges off his line and does well to dive forward and pouch the ball.
83'SEMBOI OFF TARGET! Udanta is fed the ball from the right by Nishu Kumar and the former then plays it to Semboi. But the shot is off target.
81' INTO THE BACK OF THE NET BUT OFFSIDE!!! Oh, boy! You have to feel for Roy Krishna here! A peach of a through ball from the back by Agus and Krishna makes a brilliant run into the box. His first touch is of supreme quality and so is his finish. But the flag is up!
79' NOT ENOUGH VENOM! Williams' long-range effort is stopped by Sandhu. Sumeet Rathi passes the ball to David who tries to beat the keeper from distance.
78' FOUL! Ashique, who is already on a yellow card, brings down Jayesh Rane by running a little too hard at him.
76' Substitution for Bengaluru: Semboi Haokip -IN | Raphael Augusto -OUT
72' CORNER FOR ATK! Khabra blocks a cross from Javier! Nothing comes off the corner. On the other hand, Ashique breaks forward and Prabir Das does well to keep up with him and clear the ball.
71' YELLOW CARD FOR AGUS NOW!
68' YELLOW CARD FOR ASHIQUE! Horrible challenge on Agus, who is brought down with a sliding tackle from the back.
65' SANDHU PUNCHES DANGER AWAY! Javier Hernandez's corner is parried away by Sandhu, who comes off his line to clear the danger.
64' Corner for BFC! Soosairaj's cross is blocked by Udanta Singh and another set-piece for ATK. Nothing comes off the corner.
60' Substitution for Bengaluru- Ashqiue Kuruniyan- IN | Rahul Bheke - OFF
60' WHAT A CHANCE SQUANDERED! Bheke frees Khabra in the right, whose squares the ball in. But the cross is headed away by Agustin Iniguezand goes directly to Dimas, whose volley travels wide of the left post.
57' SERRANNNN WITH A GREAT INTERCEPTION! A great ball from the right flank is curled into the box, looking for Roy Krishna. He would have scored had Serran not timed his header to perfection.
55' CHHETRIIII, OFF TARGET! Rahul Bheke in the right backheels the ball to Chhetri, whose shot is off-target.
53' YELLOW CARD FOR ARMANDO SOSA PENA!
51' CHANCEEE!! Rahul Bheke whips a ball into the far post of the box from the right flank and Arindam spills the ball while attempting to catch it. The ball falls to Nishu Kumar but Arindam does well to block the shot.
49' INTERCEPTED! Roy Krishna with a surging run forward from the left flank and before he can play the pass, Albert Serran intercepts.
47' GOOALLLLLLLLLL! David Williams has broken the deadlock and that's just scrappy defending from Bengaluru. His fifth of the season. First shot on target of the night result into a goal. Bheke and Jayesh Rane get into a little tussle for the ball right outside the box and the ball rolls to David Williams at the right-hand side of the box. Williams takes the first touch and hammers the ball to the far, left post and the ball clips Sandhu's fingers before landing into the back of the net. Proper striker's goal, that.
46' PENALTY??? NO, OFF-SIDE GIVEN! The late whistle from the referee got everyone, including the fans in the stadium, got excited for a moment. It was an early free-kick for ATK and the ball was drilled in from the left wing to inside the box, but the ATK player is brought down inside the box before being deemed off-side.
The players are back out on the field! The host ATK gets us underway! Will this match also follow suit and witness more second half goals? Let's find out
Don't go by the scoreline, folks! This match has had everything, from good block and goalkeeping blooper (that almost resulted in goal) to numerous chances gone begging.
45+1' The whistle from the referee ends the first half. No goals and no short on target, but a very competitive first half nonetheless.
Only one minute has been added to the first half.
44' ANOTHER BLUNDER FROM SANDHU! Second time at this end and third time tonight. Sandhu takes too long to clear the ball after receiving a back pass. David Williams sprints forward in an attempt to steal the ball and sticks his leg out. The ball ricochets off his foot and goes out for a goalkick.
40' Corner for Bengaluru! But nothing comes off it.
BFC has score 55% of its goals from set-pieces!
39' IMPORTANT BLOCK! Sumit Rathi comes to the rescue for ATK. Udanta Singh is threaded a beautiful ball in the left flank and he bursts forward. Sunil Chhetri also makes his way into the box, waiting for the cross. When Udanta supplies the ball in, Sumit Rathi intercepts the ball with a header and ATK keeper pouches it to end the move.
Just three attempts on goal so far, 2 from ATK and 1 from BFC. But none on target.
34' OVER THE TOP FROM AGUS! Agus meets the corner kick from the left post with an angling header at near post, but fails to keep it down on target.
34' CORNER! Another counter-attack from ATK catches BFC off guard. Armando Sosa Pena frees Soosairaj in the left flank with a beautiful through ball from his own half. And this time, Soosairaj cuts in early and find himself one-on-one with Juanan and tries to find Roy Krishna with a small chip, whose block is enough to steer the danger away and concede a corner.
31' THREATING! Soosairaj is freed with lots of space in the left flank as ATK counter-attacks. He takes it deep and slings the ball square, but the ball flies over a jumping Sandhu and past Roy Krishna.
30' PEACH OF A BALL! An inch-perfect lob through is played from the back and Udanta successfully break the outside trap. But he is slow to collect the ball and that gives ATK keeper Arindam to charge off his line and clear the ball.
26' FREE-KICK for Bengaluru! The ball is drilled into the box from the left flank by Dimas and Chhetri leaps to head the ball inward, but its cleared away by Prabir Das. It falls back to Dimas, who once again chips the ball into the box and this time finds Harmanjot Khabra. The defender lobs the ball deep into the box, but the ball is cleared away.
25' YELLOW CARD FOR PRITAM KOTAL! First one of the night and it was a brutal one. Udanta Singh, in the left flank is one-on-one with Kotal and the former goes left. Kotal is late on the challenge and sticks his leg out late, bringing down Udanta.
NO ATTEMPTS ON GOAL FROM EITHER SIDE SO FAR
22' BFC FREE-KICK! Agus pushes down Erik Paartalu while trying to win an aeril ball and it's in a very threatening position. Real chance for BFC to cause some damage here. WIDE! Dimas Delgado, from the right, whips the ball across to the far, left post but the ball is wide.
18' SANDU SECURES! David Williams is fed with a lovely ball from the back and he bursts forward. He then cuts right and plays another of his delightful chips into the box from 25 yards. Jayesh Rane sprints forward to collect the ball but Sandhu comes off his line to get there first.
16' FREE-KICK! Dimas takes a short free-kick, passes it to Augusto and the ball is intercepted by Williams. Wasted chance. Surprisingly, he didn't drill it inside the box.
10' GOOD TACKLE! Javier is fed a lovely through ball by Armando Sosa Pen and he decides to take it all the way himself. But at the edge of the box, Juanan pulls off a timely tackle and clears the ball away from danger.
ATK has scored eight goals from through balls this season, most by any team.
8' LOVELY DELIVERY! Javier Hearnandez curls it inside the box from the left wing with utmost precision, but Augustin Iniguez fails to get his head and the ball bounces out of bounds for a goal kick.
7' FOUL! Prabir brings down Dimas Delgado while fighting for a header in the right flank. Free-kick to ATK.
5' FOUL! Pritam Kotal brings down Chhetri from the back in the mid-field. Free-kick to Bengaluru. The nudge from the ATK defender was too strong there.
Play resumes
3' KRISHNA AT IT AGAIN! Rahul Bheke plays a back pass to Bengaluru keeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu and he takes too long to get rid of it. The delay allows Roy Krishna charges to the keeper and almost gets the ball. In the process, he steps on Gurpreet's boots and the Indian national team keeper is down for a while.
2' HOW DID ROY KRISHNA MISS THAT? David Williams with an absolute peach of a chip over the Bengaluru defence to ATK skipper Roy Krishan, who was on-side and only had the keeper to beat, but the striker hit the side-netting . EARLY ACTION IN KOLKATA!
1' Bengaluru begins with high pressing, forcing ATK to play constant back passes. The pass to ATK keeper
Arindam Bhattacharja was almost intercepted by Sunil Chhetri.
Bengaluru FC to get us underway! Let's football!
The players and match officials have made their way out to the middle for the national anthem.
Unbeaten streaks:
While ATK is unbeaten at home this season, Bengaluru FC is unbeaten away from home.
ATK at home:
Beat 5-0 Hyderabad FC
Beat 3-1 Jamshedpur FC
Drew 2-2 with Mumbai City FC
Bengaluru on the road:
Drew 1-1 with FC Goa
Drew 0-0 with Jamshedpur FC
Drew 1-1 with Hyderabad FC
Beat 1-0 Odisha FC
Beat 2-0 NorthEast United
Head-to-head
ATK and Bengaluru have played four matches since the inception of the former and Bengaluru has emerged victorious in all four.
In this head-to-head, Bengaluru has scored six goals, while ATK has only scored one.
Whichever teams win today, will leapfrog to the top of the table, replacing FC Goa.
A draw means Bengaluru and ATK will remain second and third, respectively.
Present position in table:
ATK- Third - 4-wins, 3-draws, 2-losses, 15-points
Bengaluru- Second - 4-wins, 4-draws, 1-losses, 16-points
Starting XIs of the night!
ATK : (3-5-2) Arindam Bhattacharja (GK), Sumit Rathi, Agustin Iniguez, Pritam Kotal, Prabir Das, Armando Sosa Pena, Javier Hernandez, David Williams, Jayesh Rane, Roy Krishna (C), Michael Soosairaj
COACH: Carles Cuadrat
Bengaluru FC : (3-5-2) Gurpreet Singh Sandhu (GK), Rahul Bheke, Albert Serran, Juanan, Harmanjot Khabra, Nishu Kumar, Erik Paartalu, Raphael Augusto, Dimas Delgado, Udanta Singh, Sunil Chhetri (C)
COACH: Antonio Lopez Habas.
MATCH PREVIEW:
The Indian Super League (ISL 2019-20) is becoming unpredictable by the day as the gap between the opponents are getting narrower feel the head coaches of host ATK and defending champion Bengaluru FC, who meet in a League fixture at the Salt Lake Stadium on Christmas Day.
Assessing why his team has hit a trough after remaining unbeaten for six matches, ATK head coach Antonio Habas said, “The competition is getting a bit complicated now as almost all the teams are showing similar characteristics.”
With his team riddled by a host of injuries, Habas been unsuccessfully searching for the right shape that would help his team regain its winning rhythm. This was evident in the manner ATK slipped to a 2-1 loss to FC Goa.
And it narrowly escaped with a 2-2 draw against the bottom-placed Hyderabad FC in the previous match at the latter’s home. “We can’t play every match perfectly. We play against different opponents and they have their strengths as well. I can say one thing is that if the team is disciplined, does good work, then we can remain competitive,” Habas said.
Unlike its opponent, Bengaluru FC made a sedate start with three successive draws but regained its shape later by winning four of the next six matches. With 16 points in its kitty, Bengaluru sits in the second spot at the league’s halfway stage while ATK is a point behind in the third spot.
“I think every game is equally difficult in ISL this season. It’ll very interesting to see the tactics of the two teams and see which one has the control of the game tomorrow. It is Christmas Day and we hope to gift something special to all the football fans in India,” Bengaluru FC head coach Carles Cuadrat said.
Match details
ATK vs Bengaluru FC will telecast LIVE on the Star Sports network and can also be streamed live on Hotstar. Kick-off is scheduled for 7:30 PM IST.
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