BENGALURU: ISL champions Bengaluru FC crashed out of the AFC Cup after losing the playoff 3-4 in sudden death to Maldives club Maziya Sports & Recreation. The two teams were level at 3-3 after the first five penalty kicks.
Earlier, skipper
Sunil Chhetri, who came on as substitute in the second half, scored in the dying minutes of extra time to help Bengaluru to a 3-2 tally with a brace and push the match into tie-breaker with the aggregate score reading 4-4. Maziya had won the first leg 2-1 last week.
It was a heartbreaking defeat for the hosts and young Parag Shrivas, who wasted the first kick in sudden death was inconsolable after the loss. Substitute
Hussain Nihan
then stepped up for Maziya and scored without any fuss to sent his team through.
After
Erik Paartalu
and Kean Lewis converted their penalties, misses from Sharif, Bheke and Ahmad meant
Deshorn Brown
was given the chance to score what could have been the deciding goal for BFC. The Jamaican, however, blasted wide, allowing Maziya the chance to push it to sudden death.
Maziya seemed headed into the next round when prolific striker Cornelius Ezekiel put his side ahead in the 102nd minute but Chhetri kept the Blues in the hunt, scoring the third goal off a free kick from the edge of the box.
The match came alive in the second half after Chhetri's arrival in the 52nd minute when BFC striker Deshorn Brown superbly connected a pass from young Suresh Singh Wangjam. It was brilliant run by young Wangjam as he scorched down the right flank and sent in an accurate pass.
But if the ISL champions thought they had things under control it was not to be as Maziya found the equaliser in the 74th minute. The visitors now had the away goal and it was back to square one for Bengaluru.
Chhetri put his team in the front again in the 80th minute, tapping in a rebound after Maziya goalkeeper
Ovays Azizi
made a fine block. BFC pressed hard for the next 10 minutes and four minutes of added time but to no avail.
Earlier, Maziya seemed intent on using their 2-1lead from the first match and played the waiting game. After several attempts misfired badly, Bengaluru thought they had the lead in the 30th minute when Erik Paartalu sent in a powerful shot that sailed toward the near post. But they were denied by an alert Maziya goalkeeper Ovaiz Azizi who dived full length to fist away the shot.
Three minutes later, Brown skied from close after being fed by the overlapping defender
Nishu Kumar
who combined nicely with
Udanta Singh
. The hosts continued to press, forcing back-to-back corners in the 36th and 39th minutes but there was no success as the Maziya defence thwarted the attempts of Paartalu and Juanan.
As the first half veered to an end through the two minutes of added time, Brown waded in and won a free kick on the top of the box. It was the perfect invitation for BFC, who have scored many goals from free kicks, but only that there was no Dimas Delgado in their ranks. The onus was now on another Spaniard Francisco Borges but his shot, though powerful, went straight to the goalkeeper.
Result: Bengaluru FC 3 (Brown 58, Chhetri 80, 120) bt Maziya 2 (Hassan 74, Cornellus 102). Aggregate 4-4. Maziya win 4-3 in sudden-death.
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