Staying away may have saved Postiga career

UPON POSTIGA’S RETURN, FOR A MONTH AND MORE, THE ONLY QUESTION THAT DID THE ROUNDS WAS WHEN WOULD RETURN TO THE PLAYING XI

KOLKATA: Considering Helder Postiga has played all of 74 minutes in ISL 2, he has to be the most expensive player to have been ignored since a hamstring strain ruined a dream debut. Those two goals should have been talking point of the 3-2 win against Chennaiyin FC in this season’s first match. Instead it was eclipsed with talks of his unavailability for the rest of the season.

The talks weren’t unwarranted. The Portuguese international has a long and well-documented history of hamstring problems. It started with the European Championships in 2012 when he was ruled out of the tournament after their 1-0 win over the Czech Republic. A similar injury saw him giving the 2014 World Cup a miss after playing just 16 minutes. ATK striker Iain Hume said the damage was huge. “Postiga is irreplaceable. To lose somebody like him was a blow,” said Hume after Wednesday’s match.

Postiga went home for treatment and did return on November 11. But for the next one month and more, the only question that did the rounds was when would he finally make an appearance? It reached a point that left Atletico de Kolkata coach Antonio Lopez Habas visibly irritated. It was finally answered on Wednesday evening when Postiga was seen sitting in the VIP enclosure, far away from his teammates who were preparing for a desperate comeback at home. The stakes couldn’t have been higher but Habas didn’t flinch for one minute.

Never for a single moment over the last month did Habas indicate that his marquee player could make an appearance. Or was even fit to. “Any other player would have been out for months. But at least he is here,” Habas had said before their departure to Pune for the first leg of the semifinals

A 0-3 loss hadn’t forced a change of minds either, despite the scrutinising pressure. “You think I’m stupid that I wouldn’t play Postiga if he was fit,” he said on Tuesday.

Though Postiga resumed train ing with the team and even took penalties on Tuesday, there were reports that he might have sus tained the injury again. Sources in the team said Postiga was 80-85% fit and wanted to play but Habas didn’t want to risk him Since this is the coach who had given ATK the inaugural title, few tried to question his decision. It may have left ATK poorer on the day but it possibly saved a player’s career.