Atletico de Kolkata's first home game of the ISL season has been overshadowed by the arrival of the greatest footballer of all time – Pele – and understandably too, considering the stature of the man and the following he has around the country.
However, taken in isolation, without the dazzle of all that stardust, Atletico de Kolkata vs Kerala Blasters in itself should be a match to behold in the Indian Super League.
A rematch of last season's final, both Kolkata and Kerala have made strong starts to the new season, picking up four points each in their first two matches.
Atletico de Kolkata will be a little happier with those points, considering theirs came in away matches, but both teams have shown enough already to suggest they will be there or thereabouts for a place in the semifinals.
Sourav Ganguly's side opened up the ISL 2015 with an impressive 3-2 win over Chennaiyin FC, before playing out a battling 1-1 draw against FC Goa, despite going down to ten men for large parts of the second half.
What is clear is that, like last season, ATK's defence will be difficult to breach, and that back-four will be the cornerstone of their success in ISL 2015.
Having said that, the Kerala Blasters also have a pretty mean defence, having conceded just one goal in their first two matches. While their opening game, against NorthEast United FC, was pretty impressive, the second, against Mumbai City FC, was a little disappointing, as wholesale changes made by Peter Taylor made the attacking unit a little disjointed.
Taylor insisted he must use the bulk of his squad if his team are to survive the unrelenting nature of the ISL, but the likes of Josu and Mohammed Rafi, who caught the eye in the opening match, scoring a goal apiece, should return to the starting lineup for the match at the Salt Lake Stadium on Tuesday.
"Four points in two games in any league at the start is a good result," Taylor said. "We're talking about 14 games here, in a short span. If we play the same players all the time, they get tired.
"After the last match, they only got three days' time and I believe in fresh legs and everyone should get a chance."
While most of the attention will be grabbed by the Brazilian legend Pele on Tuesday, when that opening whistle is blown by the referee, expect a fascinating contest between the champions and last season's finalists.
ISL 2015 schedule: Atletico de Kolkata vs Kerala Blasters.
Date: Tuesday, 13 October.
Time: 7 pm IST (2.30 pm BST, 9.30 am ET).
Venue: Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata.
TV listings: Star Sports 2/HD, Star Sports 3/HD, Star Gold, Star Utsav, Asianet Movies (Malayalam), Jalsha Movies (Bengali), Suvarna TV ( Kannada), Jaya Max (Tamil) in India. Star Gold in UK. Fox Sports in USA and Australia. SuperSport in South Africa and Sub Saharan Africa. OSN in Middle East and North Africa. EuroSport in Europe and South East Asia.
