Saul Crespo playing for East Bengal against Altyn Asyr FC.© Twitter
East Bengal FC crashed out of the AFC Champions League Two preliminary stage after losing 2-3 to Turkmenistan’s Altyn Asyr FC in Kolkata on Wednesday. East Bengal will now play in the AFC Challenge League group stage. In overcast weather, Altyn Asyr FC won despite conceding an early goal.
Altyn Asyr FC came back quickly to take a 2-1 lead at half-time and scored another goal in the second half before East Bengal pulled a goal back.
East Bengal lost a bright start against a team that had no foreign players and was runner-up in the Turkmen league, Yokari Liga, last season.
East Bengal took the lead when David Lalhlansanga headed in a cross from the left by Nandakumar Sekar, but the wooden structure prevented the ball from going in. The rebound fell back to Lalhlansanga, who made no mistake in putting the ball into the net and put his team ahead.
But Altyn Asyr FC came back hard and equalised in the 17th minute through midfielder and captain Mayrat Annayev, whose volley caught East Bengal goalkeeper Prabhsukhan Singh Gill.
Altyn Asyr FC scored again 11 minutes later when Nurmiradov Selim’s brilliant presence put the East Bengal defence in deep trouble on multiple occasions. His free-kick from outside the area beat Gill perfectly.
Turkmenistan put more pressure on in the second half and extended their lead seven minutes into the game when Annayev’s cross from the right saw Mihail Titov find a perfect position to score from the left.
East Bengal reduced the gap in the 59th minute. Saul Crespo scored with his right foot but there was nothing more he could do on the evening.
Topics mentioned in this article