Atletico de Kolkata have booked their place in the inaugural Indian Super League (ISL) by edging FC Goa on penalties.
The Antonio Lopez Habas-coached Bengal Tigers will play off for the very first ISL cup this weekend after a thrilling 4-2 penalty shootout triumph over Zico's Goa side after the two-legged semi-final ended 0-0.
After the intense first leg in Kolkata ended 0-0 on Sunday, another exciting stalemate was witnessed, this time at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Goa.
Josemi, Mohammed Rafi, Jofre and Borja Fernandez were all successful from the spot for Atletico - who are part-owned by Indian cricket great Sourav Ganguly and Spanish side Atletico Madrid - while Goa's Tolgay Ozbey and Clifford Miranda hit the back of the net but Andre Santos and Zohib Amiri were unable to score.
Despite his miss, Santos was named 'Hero of the Match' in a contest which Kolkata skipper Luis Garcia feels showed just how hard his team is to score against.
"We were leading for 10 games in a row," he said.
"It is true that we struggled a bit in between, but we have shown that we are a hard side to beat. It wasn't only now, we showed it long back."
The former Liverpool and Barcelona midfielder added the following on Twitter:
Congratulations to @atletidekolkata . We are in the Final. We'll deserve it. Saturday will go for it. Amazing #atk Support. #LetsFootball
— Luis Garcia (@LuchoGarcia14) December 17, 2014
Atletico de Kolkata will now meet Kerala Blasters, owned by Ganguly's former teammate Sachin Tendulkar, in the 2014 ISL final at the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday, December 20.
