ISL 2021-22: Kerala Blasters into the final after beating Jamshedpur 2-1 on aggregate

Vipin Pawar/Focus Sports/ ISL

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Kerala Blasters FC beat League Shield winners Jamshedpur FC 2-1 on aggregate and qualified for their first Indian Super League (ISL) final since 2016.

In the second leg of their ISL semifinal at the Tilak Maidan Stadium on Tuesday, Adrian Luna (18th) opened the scoring for Kerala with a stunning goal before Pronay Halder (50th) pulled one back for Jamshedpur. Owen Coyle's team needed one more goal to take the game to extra time, but another solid performance by the Kerala backline ensured the game finished 1-1.

In the first leg, Sahal Abdul Samad scored the only goal in a win for Kerala who made it to their third ISL final. They were the finalists in the inaugural 2014 edition as well.

The Blasters started the second leg without the injured Sahal but showed no signs of slowing down and almost took the lead inside the first two minutes. Alvaro Vazquez failed in his attempt to dink the ball over goalkeeper TP Rehenesh with the ball going wide of the far post.

Four minutes later, Vazquez got possession deep inside his own half to then set up Ayush Adhikari but Rehenesh was alert to the danger, coming out of his line in time. Kerala found a lot of joy as Jamshedpur full-backs pushed forward leaving a lot of spaces for their rivals to exploit.

Vazquez atoned for his miss earlier in the half soon after, flicking on a delightful pass from the left flank for Luna who darted in, dropped a shoulder and curled a side-footed effort past Rehenesh and into the right corner.

After the cooling break, Daniel Chima Chukwu thought he had pulled Jamshedpur back in the game but his shot from close range was ruled offside, albeit belatedly after keeping his flag down initially.

Prabhsukhan Gill was then at fault in Kerala goal as he punched a Greg Stewart free-kick over his head with Jamshedpur players all surrounding him, but eventually, the referee blew the whistle for a foul, much to the keeper's relief.

Five minutes into the restart, Halder nicked one in to get Jamshedpur back in the game, poking in a Stewart corner which was initially met by Chima whose header lacked power and fell to Halder who netted from two yards out.

One minute later, Vazquez could have all but sealed the tie for Kerala but Rehenesh was on hand to save from a chip after the Spaniard was one on one with him. The ball kept rolling goalwards but Eli Sabia did enough to clear it off the line.

Kerala kept pushing for more as Marko Leskovic, brilliant at the back again, dragged a header wide while Diaz had Rahul KP free in front of goal but instead lobbed the ball over the keeper trying to score himself.