AFC Cup 2017: Bengaluru FC, denied a last minute penalty, lose 1-0 to FC Istiklol away from home

BENGALURU FC PUT ON their hardest fight in a long time when facing FC Istiklol away from home in the first leg of the AFC Cup 2017 Inter-Zonal final (overall semi-final).

The Blues lost the match 1-0, with a very plausible penalty shout being denied to them in the last few moments of the game.

FC Istiklol were missing 3 of their regular starters but the side they fielded had no shortage of experience and match time. With almost a full house of loud fans backing them in the Hisor Central Stadium, the Crowns took on the Blues, who fielded pretty much the usual suspects save for Harmanjot Khabra being benched in favour of Collin Abranches.

Istiklol showed dominance from early on. Bengaluru FC were seeing enough of the ball, and the home team was okay with that. But the moment the Federation Cup winners advanced past the midway mark the superior pace of the Tajik League champions came to the fore, with the entire midfield descending quickly to vastly outnumber the attackers in the final third.

Meanwhile, Istiklol were looking for their own chances with fearsome striker Manuchekhr Dzhalilov leading the charge backed up by Fatkhullo Fatkhuloev, who was in charge of most of the set pieces. 

After the first ten minutes, the Crowns upped the intensity looking for a break through, but some good defending from Juanan and Rahul Bheke and a couple of full-stretch saves by Gurpreet Singh Sandhu kept them at bay. At least at first.

But one particular run from Fatkhuloev saw him get a good cross going towards Dmitri Barkov. The Russian sent a bullet of a header goalwards that Gurpreet could not follow. 26 minutes in, Istiklol were 1-0 ahead.

Towards the end of the first half Ehsoni Panshanbe got a good shot on target but this one did not escape Gurpreet's pounce.

Early in the second half, Bengaluru FC spent some tense few minutes under pressure as Istiklol earned back to back set pieces near the box. Fatkhuloev led all of them complete with feints and false starts, but Gurpreet stood firm to deny any extension to the lead.

As the minutes wore on, both sides elevated the tempo of the game. Istiklol wanted a second goal to grab a definitive advantage ahead of the second leg, and Bengaluru FC were chasing the holy grail of an away goal that could turn the tables on Istiklol.

Udanta, one of the only BFC players who could outpace the opponent defenders, tried to set Sunil Chhetri up multiple times but the skipper was guarded heavily and never got the room necessary to be able to precisely target the net. 

Things reached a crescendo in the final ten minutes. First Fatkhuloev set up Dzhalilov inside the box and the striker, who had scored 7 goals in Istiklol's AFC Cup campagin, failed to get the finisher on target. And deep into the added time Bengaluru FC almost made the home team pay for that mistake.

Launching into a desperate last-ditch counter, Bengaluru FC caught the Istiklol defence off guard by rising in numbers. As the whole home side tried to come down to defend, a chaotic situation was created inside the Crowns' box. Amidst all of that, Sunil Chhetri got the ball and let fly. The ball hit the hand of Tabrezi Davlatmir, which changed its direction altogether. All the Bengaluru FC players near the area immediately appealed to the referee who seemingly did not spot it at all. Bengaluru FC were denied a clear penalty.

Davlatmir's hands were stretched out when the ball connected. Clear penalty. @bengalurufc were robbed. #indianfootball #ISTvBEN #AFCCup2017 pic.twitter.com/p8doM34NwJ

— Chiranjit Ojha (@ChiranjitOjha) September 27, 2017

Moments later, the match ended with Istiklol winning thanks to the first half goal. But BFC would consider themselves extremely unlucky tonight, having put on a great fight to contain a technically superior opponent, and even cornered them towards the end to force a handball upon them. Had they got that penalty, they would have left the Tajikistani city of Dushanbe with a crucial away goal that they deserved.

The second leg takes place on 18th October at Bengaluru's Sree Kanteerava Stadium. BFC will be chasing the game, being a goal down, and they will be under pressure not to concede because an away goal to Istiklol will make it almost impossible to win this tie.

Deprived of a draw by a bad refereeing decision, the Blues must now prepare for an even higher mountain to climb.

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