Former Liverpool forward Luis Garcia is thrilled to have lifted the inaugural Indian Super League (ISL) trophy as captain of Atletico Kolkata.
Kolkata, who are co-owned by former India Test captain Sourav Ganguly, beat Kerala Blasters 1-0 in Saturday’s final after substitute Mohammed Rafique scored a dramatic headed winner in added time.
More than 1.6m spectators have been to 61 matches during the 10-week competition, making it the fourth best- attended league in the world behind only La Liga, the Premier League and Germany’s Bundesliga.
“I’m so happy and excited to have won the Indian Super League,” Garcia told
Sky Sports.
“We’ve worked so hard as a team over the last three months. It’s been a hard competition with so many games and
we will enjoy this win so much because the ISL has been a great tournament.
“We struggled in the middle part of the competition. The team couldn’t find a way to win and we were drawing many
games but we believed in ourselves from the very beginning.
“Our main target was to win this trophy and now we have.”
Garcia, who also won the ISL’s Most Exciting Player of the Season award, played alongside former Liverpool team-mate Josemi for Kolkata. The 35-year-old defender, who missed the final through injury, believes the club’s rising stars can take a great deal of satisfaction from their ISL title win.
“I’m very happy for the city and all of the guys in the team,” he said. “We’ve been a good team and a strong team and this is a good reward for everyone’s hard work.
“I’m pleased for the younger players because they always ask me about football and for advice. They listen to me and we have supported each other and that has been so important.“
Ex-England goalkeeper David James was a losing finalist as player-manger of Kerala who are co-owned by Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar.
“It’s been wonderful to be in the final to start but when you play in a competition there are winners and losers,” the former Liverpool, Manchester City and West Ham stopper said.
“We wanted to be the competition’s first winners and we had chances to win the game. But in the past we’ve played better and lost and played worse and won.”
