Atlético de Kolkata defeated Mumbai City FC 3-2 in the first leg of the first semi-final of Hero Indian Super League 2016 at the Rabindra Sarobar Stadium in Kolkata on Saturday. Lalrindika Ralte opened the scoring for Kolkata before goals from Leo Costa and Gerson Vieira helped the visitors turn things around. However, an Iain Hume brace minutes before half-time meant that ATK will go into the second leg on Tuesday with a goal advantage on aggregate.Kolkata head coach Jose Molina hailed his team’s performance on the night and stressed that his team deserved the win. “I think it was a great match. The first 45 minutes with five goals, and I think we dominated the match over 90 minutes and in the first half they scored two goals but they did not take the game away and I think my players did a great job and the Mumbai players were at their best. They came into the match with eight clean sheets and scoring three goals against them, I think we did a great job and I think we deserve the victory,” Molina told reporters after the game.Molina was happy to end their last match at home this season with a win having notched up a win, a loss and five draws from their previous seven. “I am really happy with the performance of the team here and maybe we could have won more matches here but sometimes you lose games by mistakes. The mistakes don’t allow you to win and we are trying to improve and now we are closer to our second aim which is to reach the final and our first aim was to qualify for the semi-final,” he said.“I always have confidence in my team and we have a long road ahead and we need to have agility and play with the same intensity in Mumbai.”Saturday’s win was the first time Kolkata scored three goals in Hero ISL 2016. When asked if it was their best attacking performance of the season, Molina said: “Of course, the more goals you score [the better], it seems like the best attacking performance. We did a great job in attack today and even against Goa and Delhi we did well in attack, and I understand if you don’t score goals it feels like something is missing.”The 46-year-old Spaniard also admitted that he was still not sure of his best 11, even though he was happy that his entire squad was contributing. “I don’t know. I think we don’t have a clear first eleven and I have 24 players working very hard and we could not play Mondal as he was injured and Keegan did well today. Borja has also done well in matches and you can’t say we have a clear first eleven and my aim is to have a great team and a great team of 24 players working together in the training session. It does not matter who plays and I am happy because we have great players and I try to choose the best eleven for the game,” Molina said.Molina also confirmed that defender Arnab Mondal will miss the second leg too.
