ATK wins 3-0 via 'fatafati' football

Twenty-three minutes into the game Denzil Franco sells a floater to Luis Garcia, he controls the ball, looks up for a moment and in a blink Ethiopean Fikru Tefera Lemessa was flying down the middle-- Mumbai City FC goalie Subrata Paul had to come out of his charge only to see Fikru dunk the ball over his head to the lusty cheers of the 70,000 odd supporters. Atletico de Kolkata 1, Mumbai City FC 0.

The first goal of the inaugural ISL was now in the record books.

The second goal came in the 68th minute when Borja Fernandez latched on to a lose ball and from the top of the penalty box let go an angled volley to which paul had no answer.

With two goal cushion the game was in the bag for Mumbai City FC.

The boistrous enthusiasm of having become a part of something new was evident throughout the first game. There was electricity in the air as the 70,000 odd fans egged on the Kolkata side.

Avishek Bachchan and Ranvir Kapoor remained tense onlookers throughout the match. Sourav Ganguly did not bite his nails as the home team looked comfortable for most parts of the game.

The third goal came in the added time when Arnel Carbo, who replaced Luis Garcia in the 85th minute, made a ghost run into the box and placed the ball past a diving Paul.

Atletico looked a better side right from the first whistle. The defence led by Jofre Mateu Gonzalez looked rock solid as the attacks were built from the midfield by Garcia. The first chance came as early as the eighth minute when Baljit Singh and Garcia played a wall before the Atletico skipper let Baljit loose with a perfect through ball. However, the Indian forward failed to lob the ball over Paul. Mumbai City FC keeper came to the side's rescue again within four minutes when off a corner kick, Luis Garcia's snapshot was kept at by the goalie.

The second half saw ATK continue their attacks. Baljit came very near to scoring. But his header was kept out by a diving Paul. Paul was again called for assistance when Fiukru was let lose inside the penalty box.

The last touch from the striker was a little heavy and Paul made sure no further damage was done. Had it not been for Paul, Mumbai would have been in far worse situation.

Mumbai City Fc made little impression in the first half with a distinct lack of cooperation between the midfield and the forwards. Moreover, frayed tempers and a slwe of yello cards spoiled the rhythm of the game. With Fredrick Ljungberg out and Nicolas Anelka not playing, Mumbai had another setback when skipper Rahim Nabi limped of the the field 8 minutes before half time.

The Mumbai side's attack was few and far in between and one such effort from Andre Moritz who came in as a substitute for Tiago Ribero was kept away by Subhasish Roychowdhury. In the 80th minute a long ranger from Pavel Cmvos bounced awkwardly before Subhashis bringing out his best.

The match never rose to great height, but did give glimpse of what could come with the season progressing. It was certainly a new dawn for Indian football.

(Reporting by Arindam Basu)