Kolkata deluges in ecstasy as Atletico lift maiden ISL crown

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Incessant fireworks dazzled the Saturday night sky and loud cheers and claps filled the air as Kolkata soaked in ecstasy with city franchise Atletico de Kolkata defeating Kerala Blasters to lift the maiden Indian Super League (ISL) crown.

Despite being a weekend, the streets and the ever-so-crowded food joints wore a deserted look as Kolkatans remained glued to their TV sets, savouring each moment of the final that was billed as the duel between cricket legends Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly - the co-owners of Blasters and Atletico respectively.

As Mohammad Rafique netted the ball past Blasters' custodian David James in the 94th minute breaking the deadlock, soccer buffs in the city exulted in joy much like Ganguly who too threw up his arms in the air in celebrations and rushed to embrace his players at the D.Y. Patil stadium in Mumbai where the final was played before a capacity crowd.

If youngsters sporting their favourite ATK's jerseys took out a victory procession, others took to social networking sites to join in the frenzy.

"Yay! Atletico de Kolkata won... party time!!! Many many Congrats to the team and of course dada (Sourav)," tweeted Medha Chatterjee.

#Kolkata creates History again! 1st #ISLChamps @atletidekolkata !!! Dada's men defeat Sachin's Kerala to win the maiden ISL," tweeted Indrajit.

Celebs and film stars too expressed their delight over the city franchise success.

"I am so ecstatic it is a delight beyond words. Firstly it's about soccer mad Kolkata and secondly it's about our greatest sporting icon Sourav Ganguly. So it's a double delight for us," said National Award winning actress Rituparna Sengupta.

"It's a special moments for the city and entire Bengal. Winning the maiden crown happens only once so it's extra special and we are all proud of the prince of Kolkata - Sourav Ganguly," said famed Bengali filmmaker Srijit Mukherji.