Dos Santos steals lucky win for 10-man Delhi over Atletico

Roberto Carlos made two changes to the Delhi Dynamos starting line-up along with a change in formation from a defensive 4-4-1-1 to a more attacking 4-3-3. Interestingly, the Brazilian manager decided to drop Dos Santos to the bench and started with Richard Gadze upfront.

Atletico de Kolkata made only one change with Sameehg Doutie making his first start in the ISL with Javi Lara dropping down to the bench.

In what turned out to be an uneventful first half, the first chance of the match came in the 15th minute when Sameehg Doutie's cross from the right wing was headed straight at the goalkeeper by Iain Hume.

Delhi's first opportunity arrived nine minutes later when Arnab Mondal's clearance was blocked by Robin Singh and the ball deflected towards Gadze, who blasted over the crossbar.

However, the best chance of the first half fell to Atletico forward Baljit Singh Sahni in the 36th minute. Gavilan slipped in a free-kick from the left wing at the near post and Sahni was first to the ball. But the 28-year-old couldn't keep his shot on target.

Delhi goalkeeper Toni Doblas had some nervy moments in the first half and made a lot of mistakes while dealing with crosses and long balls as Atletico looked the better side till half-time at 0-0.

Atletico continued to look the better team in the second half and Delhi had to resort to physical play to contain them. Anderson Chicao miraculously escaped a card despite going studs up during a challenge on Doutie and following through to strike his chest.

Four minutes later, Delhi center back Anas Edathodika challenged Hume in an aerial battle and in the process bust open the Atletico forward's head with his elbow. Habas continued to fume at the sidelines as Delhi were clearly looking to stop Kolkata from gaining any momentum by continuously fouling them.

In the 59th minute, Delhi created a rare chance in front of the goal as Robin Singh drifted to the left wing and drilled in a low cross across the goal. Gadzie reached it at the near post, but once again, failed to hit the target.

The big talking point of the match arrived in the 80th minute when Souvik Chakraborty, who has made a name for himself for making reckless challenges, made a high tackle on Gavilan. The right back received his second yellow card and was sent off.

Despite going down to 10-men, the arrival of Dos Santos made them more potent in attack. In the 83rd minute, Florent Malouda came close to scoring when he blasted Dos Santos' cross from the byline. But Arnab Mondal put his body on the line and blocked the shot from going in.

However, deep into extra-time, Dos Santos snatched the winner as Florent Malouda set him up at the far post. The Brazilian drilled it home into the bottom corner providing Delhi with a 1-0 win.

Roberto Carlos would have counted his stars after this win on a day when Delhi committed 26 fouls in the game and received five bookings but ended up losing only one player. However, he won't complain about the outcome as these three points take them up to second place, level on points with league leaders, FC Pune City.

For Antonio Habas and his men, this was the their third defeat in a row and they have failed to score in all of these three matches. Habas needs to sort out his attack quickly, or they could soon find themselves out of the title race.