Can Diego Forlan's absence cause any kind of a damage to Mumbai City FC as they look forward to their first ever Indian Super League final in three years? That remains to be seen in some hours as the Ranbir Kapoor co-owned Mumbai side take on former champions Atletico de Kolkata in the return leg of their ISL 2016 semi final match on Tuesday. LIVE UPDATES HERE...
ATK have a one-goal advantage coming into the game. The previous result in Kolkata ended 3-2 in favour of the inaugural ISL champions. Iain Hume remained the star for Atletico de Kolkata, while Forlan remained the inspiration behind the two of Mumbai's goals, until he made that one fault and received the red card.
"The players are excited to play in front of our fans and I hope we have the stadium filled to capacity to push our players and we know that we have to play very smart," mentioned Mumbai City FC coach Alexandre Guimaraes ahead of the game. "The situation is not desperate for us because it is only one goal [deficit], so we have to play better than the last game and I still believe that we are alive and we have our chance and we will fight hard to get to the final," the Costa Rican added.
While Forlan misses out of the clash, ATK defender Arnab Mondal misses out as well owing to injury.
Taking into account the strong attacking lineup of Mumbai City FC despite the absence of Forlan, the Atletico de Kolkata defence have to really be at the best of their form to thwart lethal moves from Sunil Chhetri, Matias Defederico and Sony Norde.
"We are going to play with the same mentality, the way we played in the first match and we will try to score goals and we will try to win and we will see how the match goes once it starts," mentioned ATK coach Jose Molina, not mincing any words. "We always try to play the same way and be good in defence and keep the ball and try to score goals," the Spaniard added.
Head to head record
ATK 3-3 Mumbai (one game drawn)
Schedule
Mumbai City FC vs ATK is scheduled to kick off at 7 pm IST (2.30 pm BST) on December 13.
Where to watch live
India: TV - Star Sports 1/HD1, Star Sports 2/HD2, Star Sports 3/HD3
Star Gold, Star Utsav (Hindi)
Jalsha Movies (Bengali)
Asianet Movies (Malayalam)
Asianet Suvarna Plus (Kannada)
Live streaming - Hotstar.
Europe: TV - Star Gold
Australia, USA: TV - Fox Sports
Canada: TV - CBN, ATN Bangla
Bangladesh: TV - Channel 9
South-East Asia: TV - Eurosport
Live score - Twitter