As per the findings of the Mumbai City FC medical team, Syed Rahim Nabi has a contusion over the Left Ankle/foot due to twisting of the ankle joint. The MRI reveals that there is neither a fracture nor a ligament/Soft tissue injury. There is a suspected partial sprain of one of the ankle ligament.

Nabi is currently under a knee cast and has begun his rehabilitation with the medical team saying that he could be out for up to three weeks.

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Atletico De Kolkata Vs Mumbai City FC

The evening game followed a lovely opening ceremony hosted by bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra.

Fikru Tefera Lemessa (27^th min), Borja Fernandes (69^th) and Arnal Llibert (90+) scored the goals for the hosts with the second and third coming against the run of play. As the match statistics prove, Mumbai City FC had more possession and more attempts on goal but just could not convert them into goals.

With the match being played on the artificial turf of the Salt Lake stadium, Mumbai City FC needed some time to settle down but their custodian Subrata Pal was on the ball from the very first minute and came to the rescue of the team twice in the first 10 minutes.

With Mumbai choosing to play an attacking strategy with a high defence line, it was clear that the goalkeeper would have a major role to play whenever the opposition managed to break the stranglehold and push forward.

Pal was called into action in the seventh minute itself when he left his line early to stop Baljit Sahni from converting a through pass from Luis Garcia. Three minutes later, India international was once again at the right place to block Garcia’s left-footed volley from the six yard box to keep Mumbai City FC in the hunt.

But the 27-year-old stopper failed to stop Fikru Teferra from giving the hosts the lead when he latched on to another through pass from Garcia to chip the ball over the advancing Pal.

The goal, however, did little to dampen the spirit of the Mumbai City FC players as they grew confident as the game progressed and the team earned a couple of free-kicks near the opponent’s citadel, before a twisted ankle forced skipper Syed Rahim Nabi to be substituted in the 39^th minute and forcing coach Peter Reid to re-arrange his troops.

The introduction of Brazilian born Italian midfielder Andre Moritz brought more bite to Mumbai City FC’s attack as they made a couple of threatening moves down the left flank. At this stage the visitors had more shots on goal than their opponents but an act of brilliance from Spaniard Borja Fernandez beat Pal from a long range to make it 2-0 for Atletico de Kolkata in the 69^th minute against the run of play.

Mumbai City FC continued to press forward to find their first goal of the game but Atletico de Kolkata custodian Subashish Roy Choudhary first deflected Cmovs’s long ranger that was deflected off a defender and then kept out a close range header of Manuel Friedrich to keep the hosts in the driver’s seat.

And the injury time goal from Arnal Llibert on the counter ended Mumbai City FC’s hopes of a later turnaround.

Coach Reid looks at positives

Mumbai City FC coach Peter Reid gave full credit to opponents Atletico de Kolkata and said he was confident of his team fighting back next week. “The first one didn’t go our way, but I am hopeful we will turn things around next week. Credit to our opponents for the way they played today, especially Louis Garcia, the way he led them.”

Mumbai City FC goalkeeper Subrata Pal also said that the the atmosphere in the team was quite positive after Sunday’s game, and the team is confident of doing well in the future games.

Result: Atletico de Kolkata 3 (Fikru Tefera Lemessa 27, Borja Fernandes 69 Arnal Llibert 90+) beat Mumbai City FC 0

Hero of the Match: Borja Fernandes; Amul Fit player Award: Denzil Franco; Swift moment of the Match: Fikru Tefera Lemessa; Emerging player of the Match: Subhashish Roy Chowdhury.

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Mumbai, 8^th October, 2014: Hero Indian Super League title aspirants Mumbai City FC warmed up in style for the tournament’s opener against Atletico de Kolkata with clinical victories in their four friendlies in the city so far. The Mumbai City FC team flies to Kolkata on 9^th October to prepare for the inaugural match of Hero ISL tournament against Atletico de Kolkata at Salt Lake Stadium, on 12^th October 2014.

Promoted by Bollywood star Ranbir Kapoor and Chartered Accountant Bimal Parekh, the club is determined to make an immediate impact on the Hero Indian Super League and the squad has been undergoing an extensive pre-season camp and playing friendlies to gauge the progress by implanting some of the ideas they practice in training and helping the foreign and Indian players in the squad understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses in actual match conditions.

The team began with a 6-0 thumping of Union Bank at Father Agnel Ground, Vashi, before registering a 3-2 victory over former I-League club Air India. In their two friendlies, at the Cooperage, the team hammered DSK Shivajians 6-1 and then beat another former I-league team ONGC 2-1 with former French international Nicolas Anelka playing a starring role.

The idea of such friendlies is to help the players of different playing styles and countries to gel together and adapt to a system that the team would want to follow through the main tournament.

The purpose was definitely achieved as they not only won all their four matches, but manager Peter Reid would be particularly happy that the likes of Syed Rahim Nabi and Nadong Bhutia have turned provider for their foreign stars with Argentine recruit Diego Nadaya already showcasing what he is capable of with seven goals, including two hat-tricks, for the team in the four friendlies.

The Goal scorers include the former India international Subhash Singh and Lalrindika Ralte, the youngster with the best left-foot in Indian football, apart from the up and coming Bhutia.

But more than the goals and the victories what would have pleased Reid would be the numbers in the shots on target and crosses made inside the opponent’s penalty box. In the four matches, the average shots on targets went into doubles figures and the number of crosses and corners were double of the shots on target.

This clearly means that the mid-field and the forward line is complementing each other, which augurs well for the lung opener on Sunday.

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