Atletico de Kolkata beat Kerala Blasters in the ISL final: How twitterati reacted

Atletico de Kolkata played at one of the most hostile environments in the country and came out on top.

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Jose Molina has managed to guide Atletico de Kolkata to victory in his very first term as manager. (Source: PTI)

Atletico de Kolkata have lifted the Indian Super League trophy a second time by beating Kerala Blasters once again in the final. Bot teams toiled hard and as Iain Hume said in the end, it is unfair that there has to be a loser.

Unlike the semi finals, both teams showed played the game in good spirits. It may have been partly due to fines that were slapped on them recently due to incidents in previous matches. It may also have been due to the fact that both sides recognised the difficulty of getting to this stage of the tournament had a certain amount of mutual respect because of that.

Kolkata came back from behind twice in the match. Once was in normal play when Rafi scored the goal for Kerala Blasters that put them ahead. Only minutes later, ATK equalised with Sereno heading the ball in from the corner. The second time was in the penalty shootout itself.

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Iain Hume was the first man to take the penalty for Atletico de Kolkata after Antonio German had buried Kerala Blasters’ first spot kick. Hume took the shot and it was saved brilliantly by Kerala Blasters goalkeeper Graham Stack, thus opening a one goal deficit for ATK to chase. That deficit was closed down when Ndoye missed for Kerala and Hengbart’s miss put Jewel Raja’s kick the decisive one. He took the kick and made no mistake with it and ATK began their celebrations.

Here is how twitterati reacted to their victory:

Congratulations @atletidekolkata. Well done for winning a second time. Best wishes to all participating teams#ISLFinal

— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) 18 December 2016

Congratulations @atletidekolkata for winning the @IndSuperLeague 🏆 & well played @KeralaBlasters 👍
One team won the trophy, other the Heart!

— Nirmal Chettri (@nirmalchettri03) 18 December 2016

Congratulations to Atletico De Kolkata on winning the ISL

— StephenConstantine (@StephenConstan) 18 December 2016

Congratulations, @atletidekolkata for your second title in the Indian Super League. Great job! pic.twitter.com/ltg3nDEqwo

— Atleti English (@atletienglish) 18 December 2016

Congratulations to @atletidekolkata for the 2nd @IndSuperLeague trophy. Great work!!! #FatafatiFootball pic.twitter.com/m1Xlk7F7s6

— Luis Garcia (@LuchoGarcia14) 18 December 2016

Devastating! @KeralaBlasters went so close! Well done @atletidekolkata , 2016 @IndSuperLeague Champions! #letsFootball

— David James (@jamosfoundation) 18 December 2016

Euphoria of #HeroISL! @atletidekolkata emerging victorious in #ISL2016. Brilliantly played, Congratulations! #KERvATK @IndSuperLeague

— Praful Patel (@praful_patel) 18 December 2016

Iain Hume was on the losing side when Atletico de Kolkata had won against Kerala Blasters in the finals of ISL 2014. This time he is on the right side of the scoreline.