Already through to the play-offs, defending champions Atletico de Kolkata will look to end the league stage of the Indian Super League football on a high when they take on Mumbai City FC here tomorrow.
The match was given the go-ahead late in the day as Mumbai players were left stranded in Chennai after playing their previous game because of torrential rains in the southern metropolis.
The Mumbai players were to reach here yesterday but could not do that as the Chennai airport was shut in the aftermath of the flooding of a large part of that city. No flight has taken off or landed at the Chennai airport since Tuesday evening and the operations are shut till Sunday.
ISL issued a press release late in the evening saying that Mumbai players (and Chennai players who are to take on Pune City FC in Pune on December 5) have travelled by road to Tirupati air base from where they will take a chartered flight to Mumbai. The players will fly in to here from Mumbai tomorrow morning.
"Mumbai City FC and Chennaiyin FC teams today travelled by road from Chennai to Tirupati Air Base and are scheduled to reach Mumbai tonight by charter flight. Further, the Mumbai City FC will now take a morning flight tomorrow, ie 4th December to reach Kolkata in time to participate in Match # 54 with Atletico de Kolkata, while Chennaiyin FC will head towards Pune for their Match # 55 with FC Pune City scheduled on 5th December," the release said.
'Earlier, due to uncertainties over the last 24 hours and facing the Force Majeure situation, the Hero ISL had offered Mumbai City FC a future reserve day to play the game. However the management of Mumbai City FC insisted on having the match as scheduled, as they didn't want to disappoint fans in Kolkata who had bought tickets in advance."
With Mumbai already out of contention for a last-four berth, the only interest in tomorrow's match will be for the defending champions as a win will guarantee them a top-two finish in the league stage.
With 23 points from 13 matches, ATK are one point clear of FC Goa, while Mumbai are occupying the seventh place in the eight-team table with 13 points from as many matches.
ATK have been on an unbeaten run since their turnaround
in Kerala where they won 3-2 on November 10.
After coming back home, ATK have secured a hat-trick of wins with 10 goals from three matches with their forward Iain Hume being at the centre of their attacks. The former Canadian international has nine goals from 13 matches to be second behind Stiven Mendoza on the goal scorer's list.
With a spirited Sameehg Doutie of South Africa and Jaime Gavilan of Spain behind Hume, the trio have been unstoppable, while captain Borja Fernandez is also adding his rich experience into count.
ATK's strong attacking performance means that their backline which has been struggling in the absence of Josemi is not exposed as it's one area Habas would like to reinforce ahead of the knockout leg.
Mumbai, who had three back-to-back wins in the first half of the season, have struggled when it mattered the most.
Their off the field happenings -- Andre Moritz parting ways, while assistant coach Oscar Bruzon was asked to leave -- did not help the cause as they are yet to taste a win in seven matches.
Former Chelsea star and marquee player-cum-manager Anelka has admitted that the season was a "failure".
"It's a failure when you don't reach your target of making last four. We started off well but a lot of stuff happened just before the second half of the ISL that's why we're here today," the Frenchman has said after their loss to Chennaiyin on Tuesday.
Chennaiyin fired in three goals in the first half as a lacklustre Mumbai could not find a way to goal, missing a few half-chances, while Sunil Chhetri was denied by the post in their rain-soaked match.
