Bengaluru FC 5, Aizawl FC 0: Daniel Segovia brace lights up BFC's last home game of season

Bengaluru, May 2: Aizawl FC coach Santosh Kashyap admitted it was extremely difficult to defeat Bengaluru FC at home at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium but was still optimistic of an entertaining end-to-end fixture. What turned out on Wednesday in their AFC Cup Group E match was a lopsided affair dominated from start to finish by Bengaluru FC, who struck five past the northeastern outfit.

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Goals by Daniel Segovia, captain Sunil Chhetri and Udanta Singh gave BFC the three points in their last home game. New Radiant, however, are still the favourites to qualify from the group as they beat Abahani Dhaka 5-1 in Male. New Radiant and BFC are locked on 12 points in five games, but the Maldivians have a better head-to-head goal differential record. Ali Fasir scored a hat-trick and captain Ali Ashfaq struck two for New Radiant. BFC now have to win their next match away in Bangladesh and hope the Maldivian side has to drop points against Aizawl FC in Guwahati.

80' Mawia gives Dodoz a sniff of the ball before tracking back to pick it up. 10 minutes of regulation time left to play here at the Fortress. 4-0. #BENvAIZ

— Bengaluru FC (@bengalurufc) May 2, 2018

At the Kanteerava, right from the word go, Bengaluru looked the more agile and aggressive side. In the early exchanges, Aizawl had a chance to take the lead but once they allowed Bengaluru to settle in, there was nothing they could do to stop them. The Aizawl goalkeeper often had to step out of his line to nullify one-on-one situations. Bengaluru lobbed over the shorter Aizawl defenders (only Masih Saighani was taller) and let their front three of Chhetri, Segovia and Udanta to control and dribble past the chasing pack. That's how they got their first goal too, or at least the spot-kick that led to the first goal.

Bengaluru were awarded a penalty in the 15th minute when Lalawmpuia tripped Sunil Chhetri inside the box during a one-on-one situation. Chhetri himself took the penalty, starting with a slow run-up and then rushing in to tuck the ball into the right corner and sending the goalkeeper the wrong way.

Daniel Segovia doubled the lead barely a minute later. Erik Paartalu gained possession in the midfield, powered through and delivered a pass straight to Segovia between two defenders. Segovia set himself up on the left side and struck a low right-footed shot into the bottom-right corner.

Chhetri's part of the starting eleven, but it's goalkeeper @thuammawia who dons the captain's armband and leads the Blues out for this @AFCCup encounter. #BENvAIZ

— Bengaluru FC (@bengalurufc) May 2, 2018

Udanta struck at the half-hour mark as Bengaluru continued the rampage. Chhetri gushed into the box with the younger Aizawl defenders tailing him after a long ball by Paartalu. Just near the left post, when the Aizawl defenders assumed Chhetri was going for goal, he connected with Udanta on the other side, who completed a routine tap-in.

In the 33rd minute, Paartalu played a chipped through ball to Chhetri but Aizawl defender Lalrosanga Chawnghlut headed it towards the goalkeeper for an easy collection. However, the goalkeeper had charged out of the box and Lalrosanga rescued his team by firing it wide for a corner.

Bengaluru dominated the second half too and had chances to further pile the misery on Aizawl. Segovia was brought down at the edge of the box by Jaryan in the 58th minute and from the resulting free-kick, Chhetri shot right into the Aizawl wall.

Segovia had his chance four minutes later. Subhasish Bose floated one in from the left and the unmarked Segovia rose high to glance the ball into the bottom-right corner. Segovia had a chance to complete a hat-trick in the 69th minute, but he took a touch too late and that was parried by Lalawmpuia.

Bengaluru goalkeeper Lalthuammawia Ralte wasn't part of the action much. When a ball came towards him in the 80th minute, he chose to slip it through like Bayern Munich's Sven Ulreich against Real Madrid, but recovered his footing to grab onto the ball before Zikahi Dodoz of Aizawl could do some damage.

A minute before time, substitute Daniel Lalhlimpuia, who came on for Boithang Haokip, tapped in after Chhetri won a duel with Lalrosanga and played it across to the centre of the box.

Results:

Bengaluru FC 5 (Sunil Chhetri 16 pen, Daniel Segovia 17, 62, Udanta Singh 30, Daniel Lalhlimpuia 89) bt Aizawl FC 0

New Radiant 5 (Ali Fasir 19, 51, 56, Ali Ashfaq 58, 88) bt Abahani Dhaka 1 (Seiya Kojima 46)