It will be contest between the Spanish flavour of Atletico de Kolkata (ATK) and the Dutch school of football that is followed by Delhi Dynamos FC at the Salt Lake Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Having won both its matches convincingly, ATK has gained an early impetus making it the team to beat. Dynamos, under coach Harm van Veldhoven, will be looking for its first win having played out a goalless draw in its first outing at home against Pune City FC.
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The big worry for the host will be the absence of its midfield mainstay — Borja Fernandez — who will have to sit out of the match having been red carded in the match against NorthEast United FC in Guwahati.
“It will be difficult as he has been an important part of the team,” Atletico Kolkata’s goalkeeping coach Deshi Bhaktawer said about the former Real Madrid player.
ATK’s Spanish coach Antonio Habas will have to find a good replacement as the team’s attacking efficiency depends a lot on Fernandez’s creative play.
Given the form and fitness of its marquee player — the former Liverpool attacking midfielder Luis Garcia — and the Ethiopian striker Fikru Lemessa in attack, Habas would be looking for a repeat of the previous good showing.
“We have a balanced team and have a nice dressing room atmosphere, which is reflecting in our performance. We hope to continue our good show,” said the team’s Indian defender Denzil Franco.
Meanwhile, Veldhoven, talking about Dynamos’ approach, said, “we have the quality to win games. We will try harder tomorrow and with a little luck get into a scoring rhythm.”
Dynamos put up a dominant show against Pune City in its first match but missed a number of openings, including one by marquee player and former Juventus striker Alessandro Del Piero.
“We played well but missed a lot of chances in our first match. We will look for more points tomorrow,” Del Piero said.
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