Kolkata: Boosted by the presence of the legendary Pele, defending champions Atletico de Kolkata will look to open their home campaign on a winning note when they face Kerala Blasters FC in the Indian Super League (ISL) on Tuesday.
The three-time World Cup winner is on a week’s visit to India and he will be the guest of honour at the first home match for ATK, who will be missing several of their key players against a team they beat 1-0 in the last year’s final.
Having guided their team to a 3-2 win in Chennai with two dazzling goals in the opening match of the second edition, ATK’s marquee player Helder Postiga is back home recovering from an injury.
In his absence, ATK drew 1-1 in Goa in a match where Baljit Sahni was shown the first red card of the season for head-butting rival player Gregory Arnolin.
There were more setbacks in store, as the midfielder from Punjab was handed a two-match ban and fine of Rs 500,000 (Dh28,329), while coach Antonio Lopez Habas was served a warning and fined Rs 50,000 by the All India Football Federation disciplinary committee.
Also missing will be Oftense Nato, a Botswana midfielder, and Indian defensive duo Arnab Mondal and Rino Anto, who are representing their respective countries in 2018 World Cup qualifiers.
In the absence of the mercurial duo of Postiga and Baljit up front, the onus will be on Canadian forward Iain Hume and Japanese-born Indian Izumi Arata to get past the Blasters’ defence, which is solidly manned by captain Peter Ramage.
The former Newcastle United centre-back was at the helm as they kept a clean sheet, warding off Nicolas Anelka’s Mumbai City FC for a draw at home in their last outing.
