A purpose remained elusive for Bengaluru FC regardless of a late assault as they performed out a 0-0 draw with Bangladesh’s Basundhara Kings of their second group match within the AFC Cup on Saturday.
Bengaluru thought they’d scored the deciding purpose within the 74th minute, solely to see Alain Henrik Costa’s header over the crossbar.
With only one level from two matches, the Sunil Chhetri-led facet at the moment are in a troublesome place to advance to the knock-out stage, with solely the group winners making the grade.
Bashundhara ought to now be on 4 factors because of her goalkeeper Anisur Rahman for a save late within the match to assist the Bangladesh Premier League champions safe a probably essential draw.
In a match the place either side had sufficient probabilities to assert all three factors, Rahman and his Bengaluru each proved unbeatable towards Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, with Bashundhara’s share of the spoils proving to be much more worthwhile within the group standings.
Bashundhara got here into the match on the premise of his early win over Maziya Sports and Recreation, whereas there was no room for failure after their loss towards ATK Mohun Bagan in Bengaluru, and neither facet scored a cage opening interval. given something.
An odd run from Basundhara’s Brazilian star Robinho gave a glimpse of the Bangladeshi champion’s brilliance, nevertheless it was Bengaluru defender Yrondu Musavu-King who had the sport’s first actual scoring likelihood when his header was nicely saved by Anisur Rahman. had gone.
Gurpreet, reverse Rahman, was referred to as up for the primary time when he held out one other try from Basundhara’s Brazilian Fernandes within the thirty third minute earlier than Bengaluru ahead Vidyasagar Singh volleyed over the crossbar on the different finish as the primary half ended. occurred. aimless
The sport got here to life within the 56th minute with an exhilarating sequence when Robinho acquired right into a penalty and was compelled to avoid wasting from Gurpreet, Roshan Singh Narom launched himself to create a looping goal-line clearance.
While Robinho was on the heart of all issues constructive from Bashundhara, Bengaluru regarded to Chhetri for inspiration, and the veteran striker was not removed from breaking the impasse when he tried narrowly over the crossbar after the hour mark.
Basundhara was denied within the first Golmouth scuffle, and it was Bengaluru’s flip within the drama-filled 74th minute, when a determined Chhetri strike was saved by a determined Anisur.
The Indian facet went even nearer when Alan Costa’s header from the ensuing nook entered the crossbar and went over the goal-line with out going inside.
Bashundhara regarded exhausting, took a superb low save from the good Anisur and stored Silva’s chubby effort out of Clayton with eight minutes to spare.
Danish Farooq’s volley went excessive and huge three minutes later and hung Bengaluru’s knockout hopes by the thinnest thread.
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
