The 2016 Indian Super League final was a football match between ATK and Kerala Blasters on 18 December 2016 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi, Kerala. It was the final match of the 2016 Indian Super League, the third season of the Indian Super League. The match was the second time these two teams played against each other in the Indian Super League final, the previous one was when both sides met in the inaugural 2014 final. ATK won that final 1–0.
Kerala Blasters reached the playoffs after finishing the regular season in second place. ATK finished their regular season in fourth place. In the semi-finals, Kerala Blasters took on the Delhi Dynamos while ATK played against Mumbai City. ATK hosted Mumbai City in the first match of the finals at the Rabindra Sarobar Stadium. Helped by a brace from Iain Hume, ATK won the first leg 3–2. The team then secured their place in the final after a 0–0 draw in Mumbai. The Kerala Blasters hosted Delhi Dynamos in their first match of the finals at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium and won 1–0. In the second leg, the Blasters were defeated 2–1 and thus the score remaining 3–3 on aggregate the match went to a penalty shootout as away goal rule was not applicable in case of Indian Super League. The Kerala Blasters won the shootout 3–0 to qualify for the final.
Watched by a crowd of 82,324 even though officially another figure of much lower number is given which was even less than some normal league matches conducted here in Kaloor Stadium during 2014–2016 time, the Kerala Blasters took the lead in the 37th minute through Mohammed Rafi. The Kerala Blasters lead only lasted for seven minutes before Henrique Sereno equalized for ATK. At halftime the score was 1–1. The second half did not see any goals scored and thus the match went into extra-time. The first half of extra-time was goalless and so was the second half. With the score still remaining1–1 after extra-time, the match went into penalties.
Penalty shoot out drama saw Graham Stack saving the first shot for ATK which gave a temporary lead for Kerala but Ndyoe blasted the ball over the bar and finally Cédric Hengbart saw his shot getting saved by the trailing leg of ATK keeper Debjit Majumder, ATK won the shoot-out 4–3 as Jewel Raja scored the winning penalty and they won the Indian Super League Final for the second time in three seasons.
Match
GK 1 Graham StackRB 21 Sandesh Jhingan CB 6 Aaron Hughes (c) CB 5 Cédric Hengbart LB 11 Ishfaq Ahmed RM 13 C.K. VineethCM 14 Mehtab HossainCM 88 Azrack MahamatLM 20 Mohammed Rafi SS 9 Kervens BelfortCF 78 Duckens Nazon Substitutes:GK 24 Sandip NandyDF 19 Elhadji Ndoye FW 7 Mohammed Rafique FW 10 Antonio German MF 2 Pratik ChowdharyMF 8 Vinit RaiFW 12 Thongkhosiem HaokipMF 16 Gurwinder SinghMF 27 Michael ChopraFW 31 Rino AntoMF 57 Didier KadioManager: Steve Coppell GK 24 Debjit MajumderRB 12 Pritam Kotal CB 2 Henrique Sereno CB 4 TiriLB 80 Keegan Pereira RM 11 Sameehg DoutieCM 10 Borja Fernández (c) CM 8 Jewel RajaLM 20 Lalrindika Ralte SS 9 Hélder Postiga CF 7 Iain HumeSubstitutes:GK 14 Dani MalloGK 22 Shilton PaulDF 33 Prabir Das MF 15 Javi Lara MF 23 Ofentse Nato DF 6 Kingshuk DebnathMF 13 Bikramjit SinghMF 17 Bidyananda SinghMF 25 Stephen PearsonMF 34 Abhinas RuidasManager: José Francisco Molina Hero of the match Henrique Sereno (ATK) Emerging player of the match Lalrindika Ralte (ATK)Match rules 90 minutes. 30 minutes of extra time if necessary. Penalty shoot-out if scores still level. Seven named substitutes. Maximum of three substitutions.
References