Bengaluru FC ready for Istiklol challenge

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Bengaluru, September 26: Bengaluru FC have their task cut out as they take on FC Istiklol in the first leg of the AFC Cup inter-zonal final at the Hisor Central Stadium in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, tomorrow (Wednesday).

The match will be held at 7pm local time (7.30 PM IST) and will be streamed live on AFC's Media Channels (Facebook and YouTube).

The return fixture will be held at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium on October 18 when the teams battle it out to see who will take their place in the 2017 AFC Cup final.

The winners will face either Syria's Al Wahda or Iraq's Air Force Club in the 2017 AFC Cup final on November 4.

The battle between the two AFC Cup runners-up promises to be an exciting one.

BFC, who reached their maiden AFC Cup final last year showed that it was no flash in the pan by reaching the penultimate stage of the 2017 edition.

Recently crowned Tajik League champions for a fourth consecutive season, FC Istiklol made headlines throughout Asia when they reached the final of the 2015 edition in their tournament debut.

BFC will be pinning their hopes on Gurpreet Singh, who has excelled between the posts since his much-heralded arrival while 21-year-old Udanta Singh is another player to wath out for.

As ever, it is captain fantastic Sunil Chhetri who remains both the team's creator-in-chief and most likely source of goals.

For the hosts, key player is Maunchekhr Dzhalilov who is the club's leading scorer in this year's AFC Cup with seven goals.