Arkadag : A 10-man East Bengal conceded two late goals to go down 1-2 to FC Arkadag of Turkmenistan and crash out of the quarterfinals in the AFC Challenge League here on Wednesday.
Messi Bouli put East Bengal in the lead in the first minute of the second leg quarterfinal match, but the Indian Super League side were reduced to 10 men in the 33rd minute when Lalchungnunga was sent off by the referee for his second yellow card offence.
Altymyrat Annadurdyyez then struck two late goals (89th and 90+8th) to seal the semifinal spot with 3-1 on aggregate.
They had won 1-0 in the first leg match in Kolkata on March 5. East Bengal had qualified for the third tier of men’s AFC club competition by virtue of winning the 2024 Super Cup.
They had topped Group A with seven points to make it to the quarterfinals. They got off to a dream start as Arkadag goalkeeper Rausl Charyyev could only parry Dimitiros Diamantakos’ strike into
the path of Bouli.