A ten-man Bengaluru FC failed to make a second consecutive AFC Cup final after drawing 2-2 at home against FC Istiklol. BFC had lost the first leg 1-0 and their task was made that much harder on Wednesday after they conceded early.
BFC went behind in the fourth minute after a dubious penalty was awarded to Istiklol. The hosts then pulled one back when Rahul Bheke headed home his first goal for the team. However, they were dealt a huge blow when defender Harmanjot Khabra picked up a second booking just before half-time, reducing BFC to ten men.
Istiklol's second, scored by Dmitrii Barkov (56') had a hint of off-side but once again, BFC's protests fell on deaf ears. The hosts then won a penalty of their own that skipper Sunil Chhetri converted in the 65th minute, but couldn't find the two further goals that would've sent them through.
BFC's head coach Albert Roca made two changes to the starting XI with striker Daniel Lalhlimpuia and defender Harmanjot Khabra replacing Antonio Dovale and Collin Abranches from the team that took the pitch in Dushanbe.
Needing a win by a two-goal margin to progress, BFC got off to a horror start when Gurpreet Singh Sandhu was penalised by referee Khamis Al-Marri for an apparent foul on Fathullo. However, replays suggested that the Istiklol captain may have dived. Sandhu, who had kept a penalty out in North Korea, was beaten this time by Davronov Nuriddin as the Tajik side went up 1-0.
Midway through the half, Daniel capitalised on a miss-pass by David Mawutor and fired a grounder which was cleared for a corner by Stosic.
A corner played short saw Udanta send a cross in the box that Bheke nodded home to make it 1-1 in the 24th minute. Bengaluru almost took the lead in the game at the half-hour mark, only for Chhetri to be denied by the crossbar after a good move saw him gain possession in the rival box.
BFC kept the pressure on, creating chance after chance as Istiklol were restricted to a few counter attacks. Meanwhile, the hosts' task was made even harder in the 42nd minute when defender Khabra was given his marching orders by the referee for a second bookable offense after he brought down Dzhalilov Manuchher. The first half ended with the score locked at 1-1.
Needing two more goals to make it through, Bengaluru began pushing up right from the word go despite being a man down. Eight minutes in, Roca made the first change, throwing in attacker Antonio Dovale in place of midfielder Lenny Rodrigues. BFC were dealt another setback in the 56th minute when Barkov tapped in from close range breaking the offside trap to put Istiklol 2-1 up on the night.
Bengaluru went close to levelling the scores once again, when Udanta ran clear down the right before cutting in and floating a left-footed cross in the box to Daniel. The striker's flick-on landed for Chhetri at the far post but his effort was saved by the keeper.
Minutes later, BFC did pull level when the referee penalised Oleksandr Stetsenko for bringing down Daniel in the box after Dovale had played him through. Chhetri stepped up and made no mistake from the spot to make it 2-2 in the 65th minute. Into the final quarter, Roca made two more changes bringing in Alwyn George and Boithang Haokip in place of Daniel and Nishu Kumar.
BFC continued to put bodies up front and creating chances, but were falling short in the rival box. In the final ten minutes, BFC created a few close chances from set pieces, but once again Istiklol managed to somehow block the attempts as the game ended 2-2.