REUTERS – Chennaiyin FC dealt a major blow to Atletico de Kolkata’s title defence when Marco Materazzi’s team romped to a 3-0 victory in the first leg of their Indian Super League (ISL) semi-final on Saturday.

After Bruno Pelissari’s curling free kick put them ahead in the 38th minute, the team coached by Italian 2006 World Cup winner Materazzi scored twice in the second half to take a sizeable advantage into Wednesday’s second leg in Kolkata.

Forced to play their home leg at Pune’s Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex Stadium following a devastating flood in Chennai, they went into the match seeking their first win against Kolkata who had beaten them twice this season.

After Pelissari opened their account in the first half, Jeje Lalpekhlua and Stiven Mendoza combined to score two more to take the match away from Kolkata.

Mendoza darted into the box near the hour mark and rounded the goalkeeper before sending a pass to Jeje who tapped the ball into an empty net.

The roles were reversed 11 minutes later when Colombian Mendoza scored his 12th goal of the tournament from Lalpekhlua’s chipped pass to cement his position as the highest scorer this year.

Delhi Dynamos, coached by Roberto Carlos, registered a 1-0 home win against FC Goa, managed by fellow Brazilian Zico, in the first leg of their semi-final on Friday.

(Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty in New Delhi; editing by Rex Gowar)