ISL: Mumbai’s Ralte rattles Athletico de Kolkata
Win keeps Mumbai City's faint hopes of semifinal berth alive
Mumbai: Mumbai City kept their faint hopes of semifinal berth alive after beating Atletico de Kolkata 2-1 in their penultimate game of the Indian Super League at D.Y. Patil stadium here on Sunday. Lalrindika Ralte and stand in skipper Friedrich Manuel scored their first ISL goals for the home side while Baljit Sahni scored in between for the visitors.
Substitute Arnal Carbo thought he had equalised in the dying moments but he was ruled off-side and seconds later referee blew the final whistle to end the pulsating clash.
This was fourth home win for Mumbai City who has failed to register any away win so far.Desperate for a win to stay alive, the home side lost skipper Syed Rahim Nabi due to hamstring injury for the third time in the tournament. Nabi was replaced by Asif Kottayil in the 16th minute.
Ralte broke the deadlock in the 40th minute after Deepak Mondal played a through ball to Tiago Ribeiro who made a decisive run from the right flank and cut in back pass to unmarked Ralte in the box. The Mizoram winger had ample space available to side-foot the ball into the net. Kolkata striker Fikru Teferra had a couple of chances but wasn’t able to cash on.