ATK, Chennai eye title
Margao, March 13: ATK and Chennaiyin FC will seek a hat-trick of ISL titles here on Saturday when they meet in the 6th edition’s final, which will be played without spectators owing to the COVID19 pandemic.
Though for a different reason, this is the second time that an ISL match will be played in an empty stadium after the league stage game between NorthEast United FC and Bengaluru FC was held behind closed doors in Guwahati in the wake of the protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act in Assam.
The season has been a landmark one in many ways. While it has produced high quality football, the sport’s governing body AIFF has granted ISL the top-tier domestic competition status.
The league phase winners of the ISL, FC Goa will become the first Indian side to directly play in the group stage of the AFC Champions League, the top club league of Asia.
ATK (2014 and 2016) and Chennaiyin (2015 and 2017-18) have both won the ISL twice already and are looking to become the first side to win it three times.
But, in an anti-climax of sort, there will be no spectators to witness the historic moment as the final will be played in front of an empty stadium. This is in line with a sports ministry directive to all national federations to follow the health ministry’s advisory and avoid large gatherings in sports events.
The two teams were brilliant in the play-offs with Chennaiyin getting the better of FC Goa in a thrilling two-legged tie that finished 6-5 on aggregates, while ATK produced a second leg turnaround to send defending champions Bengaluru FC packing with a 3-2 win on aggregate.
This is the first time that these two clubs are meeting each other in the final. Interestingly, neither club has lost an ISL final.
The two sides are also on equal footing this season. In the league stages, ATK defeated Chennaiyin in Chennai before the team from the south returned the favour in Kolkata. While ATK have been one of the most consistent sides this season, Chennaiyin were left to produce a miracle to reach this stage after Owen Coyle took charge of them at the start of last December. In the six matches before his arrival, Chennaiyin had won only once and scored just four goals. Since he took charge, Chennaiyin went on to win eight matches, a tally bettered only by FC Goa.