ATK claimed their third title with a 3-1 win in the final. (Source: PTI Photo)
ATK claimed an unprecedented third Indian Super League (ISL) title victory after beating Chennaiyin 3-1 at an empty Fatorda Stadium in Margao, Goa on Saturday.
𝙃𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮 𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙!@ATKFC are the #HeroISL 2019-20 CHAMPIONS 🏆#HeroISLFinal #LetsFootball #TrueLove pic.twitter.com/GfYxm1Vyzu
— Indian Super League (@IndSuperLeague) March 14, 2020
Although the summit clash didn’t have the usual verve of the presence of the fans’ voice, the action on the pitch made up for it as it was end-to-end stuff. After Javier Hernandez opened the scoring in the 10th minute, ATK doubled the lead through an Edu Garcia goal in the 48th minute.
Chennaiyin’s Nerijus Valskis pulled one back in the 69th minute and invoked some hopes for the Machans, but Javier Hernandez sealed the deal for ATK with an injury-time third goal for ATK.
The final saw drama on the pitch in the form of injuries, hitting the woodwork and outstanding saves too — ATK’s captain Roy Krishna limped off towards the end of the first half with a thigh issue and Arindam Bhattacharya was in fine form with multiple saves keeping the Golden Boot-winning Lithuanian at bay.
With this title win, Antonio Lopez Habas became the first manager to win two ISL titles, who saw his team beat defending champions Bengaluru FC 3-2 in the semi-final. ATK also bagged an AFC Cup spot.
In the awards ceremony, FC Goa’s Hugo Boumous (11 goals, 10 assists) bagged the Hero of the Season award, while Chennaiyin’s Nerijus Valskis (15 goals) won the Golden Boot award. Bengaluru’s Gurpreet Singh Sandhu (11 clean sheets) won the Golden Glove award again, and ATK’s Sumit Rathi won the Emerging Player of the Season award.