Atletico look to stretch purple patch

Luis Garcia's boys have played delightful football both home and away, on artificial turf and natural grass and looked like a cohesive unit that gets on to the field with a plan. In contrast Delhi have shown the exuberance of 11 men coming together for a common goal without a plan.

 

The results have shown too. While the Kolkata outfit blanked out Mumbai City FC 3-0, they scored a facile 2-0 win with 10-men over North east United FC. In contrast Alessandro del Piero's men are yet to fire and looked to have little gameplan in the attacking third against Pune City FC.

 

Most of the teams have so far struggled to weave together as a team, even though every side consists of big names. But Kolkata franchise, with its rich Spanish flavour but no world cuppers and only lesser known players, has surprised many with strong team bonding, something the team think-tank should get the credit for. A month-long pre-season training at Atletico's base camp in Madrid seems to have done wonders for the team under the able tutelage of Antonio Lopez Habas.

 

It's their UEFA winner and former Liverpool star Garcia who has been the centre-piece  of their raids. Fikru Teferra, after scoring the opening goals in both their matches, will once again be the cynosure of all eyes. The strongly built footballer, who is known for his agility, has shown great anticipation skills and positioning sense. The 28-year-old has so far been a nightmare for the opponents and a delight for the lensmen for his brilliantly executed goals---be it controlling an overhead ball or chest trapping a dunk and hammering it with a bang--- as well for his post-goal celebrations a la Miroslav Klose.

 

It will be interesting to see how Dynamos with their Belgian defender Wim Raymakers and Indian Anwar Ali in the central defence contend Fikru. The Kolkata side will surely miss Borja Fernandez, out with a red card. It is to be seen how Habas deals with it. But that apart going by current form Kolkata seems to have the upper hand.  

 

(Reporting by Arindam Basu)