A number of their young and talented players have also been retained, including Ashique Kuruniyan and, most importantly, the high-quality Udanta Singh. Besides two-time Golden Glove winner Gurpreet Singh Sandhu and ISL's highest Indian goal-scorer Sunil Chhetri, the Spanish head coach has also managed to tie down defender Juanan and midfielders Erik Paartalu and Dimas Delgad. Cuadrat has ensured that his key players from their 2018-19 title-winning squad are still around. Former winners Bengaluru FC, under Carles Cuadrat, will be among the perennial favourites with an array of top Indian players and proven foreigners. They have, though, also added a few quality players and their knowledge of the home conditions will come handy in their bid to at least reach the play-offs stage. Both these players established themselves as feared goal scorers in the ISL over the years. FC Goa, who won the League Winners Shield last season to become the first side from India to qualify for the group stage of the AFC Champions League, will be hit hard by the departure of star forwards Ferran Corominas and Hugo Boumous. He was named captain in the final as ATK cruised to their third ISL title and will return as skipper of the newly-formed ATK Mohun Bagan outfit. Roy was last season's joint-top scorer with 15 goals from 21 matches while also providing six assists. They have roped in some quality players like star India defender Sandesh Jhingan while retaining the core of last season champions ATK side such as Fijian international Roy Krishna who was on rampage against opposition defences. ATK Mohun Bagan, playing in their first tournament after the merger of last season champion sides of ISL and I-League into one club, will start as the frontrunner for the title in the seventh edition of the lucrative franchise-based tournament. But the season's first biggest game will undoubtedly be the one between ATK Mohun Bagan and SC East Bengal in Fatorda on November 27, the two heavyweights renewing their more-than-a-century-old rivalry in a new avatar. Former champions ATK Mohun Bagan and Kerala Blasters will start the proceedings with what is expected to be a blockbuster clash at the GMC Stadium here.
BAMBOLIM (Goa): Behind closed doors and with a raft of health safety measures in place, football's Indian Super League (ISL) will kick off here on Friday and become the country's first major tournament to be organised since the enforcement of a COVID-19 lockdown eight months ago.