Play-by-Play: Atletico de Kolkata beat Kerala Blasters in penalties, win 2nd ISL title

ATLETICO DE KOLKATA established their dominance over the Indian Super League once again when they overcame Kerala Blasters at their own home ground in penalties after a tightly fought ISL 2016 grand finale.

The game started with both teams playing a restrained game, with Kerala receiving an early blow when their marquee defender Aaron Hughes had to leave the pitch with an injury. But soon afterwards they got the lead through a corner kick that Mohammad Rafi headed in on the 37th minute mark. But within 7 minutes, ATK got back, through another corner kick, this time headed into the net by Sereno. The first half ended 1-1.

Soon after the second half began it became obvious that the game was slowing down and neither set of players could sustain pressure on the opponent defence. A stop-and-start game where rarely a team put together 3 passes followed all the way into the extra time, and the game went into penalties.

Kerala took a lead in the penalties when Graham Stack saved Iain Hume's penalty, but ATK got back in the game when Ndoye's shot wasn't even on target. Then ATK keeper Debjit Majumder sealed the deal by saving Cedric Hengbart's penalty. Jewel Raja slotted in the last penalty to ensure that ATK won the tournament by a 4-3 margin in the penalties.

Here's how the action unfolded, narrated through our blow-by-blow commentary...