Bangladesh champions Bashundhara Kings took a solo lead in four- team Group D of the AFC Cup Football’2021 after a goalless draw with Bengaluru FC in a hard- fought match at the National Football Stadium in Male on Saturday.
The match was evenly contested in the first half, but the Blues led by Sunil Chhatri, dominated the Bangladesh champions in the 2nf half, especially the last 20 minutes.
Kings national colour goalkeeper Anisur Rahman Zico displayed his brilliance again and helped his team snatch an important point fending off the opponent’s huge pressure.
Zico made two brilliant saves in the 72nd and 83rd minutes during Bengaluru’s hurricane of attacks, apart from another lucky save in the 74th minute.
Bengaluru’s Cleiton was causing the worry as Costa’s header comes off from the bottom of the horizontal. The Blues were nearly celebrating but the ball is deemed to have bounced in front of the goal-line for Anisur, who eventually saved it.
Kings coach Oscar Bruzon was disappointed, particularly in the day’s performances of his boys considering ATK Mohun Bagan – who later this (Saturday) evening face Maziya – can go two points clear atop the group standings before the Bangladeshi side and the Mariners face each other in the final match that day.
After the match, fresh BPL champions Badhindhara Kings dominated the group D with unbeaten run securing four points from two matches with one win and a draw and will face Indian champions ATK Mohun Bagan FC on Tuesday (August 24) at 5 pm (BST) at same venue to decide group title.
Despite day’ s draw, Indian captain Sunil Chhatri-led Marco Pezzaiuoli’s Bengaluru FC eliminated from the meet with one point from two matches and will play Maziya SRC of the Maldives in the last match on Tuesday (Aug 24) at 10 pm (BST) but stand no chance of making it to the single leg Inter-Zone Semi-Final.
Earlier, Bashundhara Kings also made a good start in their first AFC Cup campaign outplaying another Maldivian side TC Sports Club by 5-1 goals in last year’s cancelled tournament ,featuring gout goals by former Argentina international Hernan Barcos.
In this year’ s AFC Cup, Bashundhara Kings also started the Group D campaign beating Maldives champions Maziya Sports & Recreation Club by 2-0 goals while Indian league champions ATK Mohun Bagan of Kolkata made a good start beating Bengaluru FC by 2-0 goals, both at the National Football Stadium in Male last Wednesday (Aug 18).
Source: United News of Bangladesh