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Bengaluru, August 22: The hour of reckoning has finally come for Bengaluru FC as they take on North Korean club April 25 in the AFC Cup inter-zonal semifinal's first leg at Sree Kanteerava Stadium here on Wednesday. The match will be played at 7pm local time.
The return leg will be held in Pyongyang on September 13.
The Blues had defied the odds to reach the AFC Cup final last year where they lost by a solitary goal to Iraq's Air Force Club.
The Albert Roca-coached squad have a decent record in AFC Cup competitions, winning 14 and losing 11 of the 25 games with the remaining two ending a stalemate.
We're all set for the @AFCCup Inter-zonal semifinal. 🔵🔵🔵#OneDayToGo #BENv425 #WeAreBFC pic.twitter.com/hbImcJHa8T
— Collin Abranches (@collinabranches) August 22, 2017
Nothing less than a victory in the opening leg will give Roca and his boys the much-needed confidence in a long-season ahead.
"We want to get a good result in the home game and that's all we want to focus on as of now," the Spaniard had told the club website said after the pre-season camp.
Skipper Sunil Chhetri, who netted the winner against Maldives side Maziya that helped the Blues make the semifinal cut also sounded upbeat about the team's prospects in the AFC Cup.
"We've got a really good set of players that I'm confident will turn into a unit with time. There's a nice blend of experience and youth and it's going to be an exciting season ahead," said Chhetri.
April 25 are one of the youngest squads in the AFC Cup, with their average age being less than 23. Their 22-year-old striker Kim Yu-Song is the tournament top-scorer so far with nine goals from four matches.
His battle against Bengaluru FC's new goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu will be one of the sub-plots in the match which is expected to be a high-voltage one.
The Blues have good home record, winning nine of their eleven AFC Cup matches played here and with a large number of fans expected to turn out at their fortress a victory would just be the icing on the cake.
