Captain Sunil Chhetri scored a brace of goals as he helped Bengaluru FC come back from 1-0 down to beat reigning champions Johor Darul Ta'zim (JDT) of Malaysia 3-1 in the second leg of the AFC Cup semi-final at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium, Bengaluru on Wednesday. Juan Antonio scored the other goal for Bengaluru, while JDT captain Safiq Rahim had scored the first goal of the match. Bengaluru's 4-2 aggregate win made them the first Indian club to advance to an AFC competition final.
Conceding a goal in the 11th minute spurred Bengaluru into mounting a memorable fightback. In the 17th minute Nishu Kumar converted a good spell of possession from the left flank into a corner. From the Eugeneson Lyngdoh corner, John Johnson got a strong header in which was saved by goalkeeper Izham Tarmizi, and the resultant ball fell to Nishu, whose shot was also easily saved by Izham. Bengaluru's first clear opening came in the 28th minute, when Lyngdoh's corner took a touch off Juan Antonio's head and fell for Chhetri. The Bengaluru captain's first shot was saved by Izham and the resultant ball came back to him, but this time his shot grazed the crossbar and flew over the goal.
The hosts' persistence eventually paid off in the 41st minute when a Chhetri shot took a deflection off Marcos Antonio and went for a corner. Lyngdoh sent in a perfectly weighted corner, which was headed into the near post by Chhetri.
JDT began the second half in earnest, with Amirulhadi Zainal looking to work a one-two with Safiq early in the 48th minute. Safiq found himself in a good position to go for a goal in the 59th minute, but failed to keep his shot on target. At the other end, Lyngdoh was working tirelessly, and kept right-back Kunanlan Subramaniam on his toes, outpacing his marker to meet a ball slopped through by Chhetri, but only winning a corner due to some quick work from Izham. A minute later, Chhetri found himself in space just outside the box after getting the ball from CK Vineeth, and he curled the ball into Izham's top right corner to put Bengaluru ahead for the first time on the night.
Lyngdoh then provided two moments of inspiration, first chasing what looked like a lost cause down the baseline to cut a ball back for Chhetri, but his attempt at completing a hat-trick was blocked by Marcos Antonio. Three minutes later, Lyngdoh floated in a free kick that was met by Juan Antonio perfectly, as the Spaniard scored his first goal in Bengaluru colours to put his team 4-2 ahead on aggregate.
From thereon, it was always going to be difficult for the champions to come back, though substitute Amarhan Eldstal tried a snapshot from inside the box in the 83rd minute and Mohammad Safee Sali tried his luck from distance in injury time, but both were comfortably thwarted by Amrinder Singh.
The match had started with Bengaluru coach Albert Roca making just one change in the starting XI from the team that started the away leg in Johor Bahru, with left-back Nishu replacing Salam Ranjan Singh. In contrast, Mario Gomez was forced to effect a few changes in the JDT side -- primarily due to suspensions to strikers Martin Lucero and Jorge Diaz -- opting to bring in an extra defensive player in Kunanlan, and midfielder Amirul and veteran striker Safee in to what appeared to be a more conservative 5-4-1 formation.
The first 10 minutes were dominated by Bengaluru, both in intent as well as possession. Vineeth was seen chasing every back pass towards goalkeeper Izham, while Chhetri, Lyngdoh, Nishu and right-back Rino Anto were all looking to get involved in movements forward.
It was JDT who drew first blood against the run of play though, as Safiq picked up a ball in midfield in the 11th minute and put a splendid through-ball for Safee, who pulled away from the chasing defenders, before unleashing a powerful right-footer. Amrinder in goal punched the ball up rather than collecting and the venom in the shot took it over his head and towards goal, where Safiq followed up and headed his team into a lead.
The semi-final win maintains Roca's unbeaten record as coach of Bengaluru FC, with all four matches having come in the knockout stages of the 2016 AFC Cup. His fifth match as coach will come on November 5 when Bengaluru will face Iraq's Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya (Air Force Club), with the venue for the final to be decided by a draw.