By: Rajeeb Mukherjee

Those were the early days of the Indian Super League and Atletico de Kolkata were having a ball. Two wins from their first three matches and with an array of attacking options at their disposal, things were looking pretty at the top. Then FC Goa happened, a bruising, hard-fought win away from home and by the end of it, something had snapped.

Coach Antonio Lopez Habas and the team’s Ethiopian striker Fikru Teferra were banned for two matches each for violent conduct. It had an impact on the team’s rhythm and from leading the charts at the half-way stage, Kolkata have now dropped to third with three matches to go. In between, the Sourav Ganguly co-owned team has lost two of their last seven matches and drawn four.

Fikru, who scored the inaugural Indian Super League’s first goal, is not the striker that he used to be, managing just two goals in losing causes since coming back from his suspension. In fact, it’s the entire team which seems to be suffering the after-effects of that ban, something akin to a crisis in confidence. It’s as if the suspension has robbed them of their game, which had a strong element of physicality to it.

Habas said as much. “We were affected by the ban, our performance has gone down,” the Spaniard admitted on the eve of Kolkata’s away game against Delhi Dynamos at the Capital’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.

A win on Tuesday is crucial for both. For Kolkata, it will all but confirm their entry to the semi-finals. For Delhi currently fifth in the league, it will keep their hopes alive of making it to the last four, which till a couple of matches ago was only a distant dream. Kolkata will once again depend heavily on their marquee player Luis Garcia. What made him come out of retirement and play in India — money, adventure or simply the chance to play ball — is anybody’s guess. But now that he has, he is proving to be a vital cog in the team’s shape and fortune. His assists and goals are what’s propping up the team and a few more star turns and Kolkata, like Liverpool, might be singing songs for him.

How Delhi would have loved to see Alessandro del Piero do all these and more. World Cup winner, Juventus legend, ISL ambassador and marquee player, Del Piero has plenty of expectations to live up to. But at 40, it doesn’t get any easy and more than anybody else, Del Piero would be aware of it the most. He would also be awake to the fact that the team, of which he is the captain, has won the last two matches without him.

So, as Delhi prepare to play their final home game before hitting the road for the last two matches, Del Piero is busy getting in shape. He has known and answered critics throughout his career. On Tuesday, Delhi will hope he does it one more time.