AFC Challenge League: East Bengal FC advance to the quarterfinal

East Bengal FC registered their second consecutive victory at the 2024 AFC Challenge League with a 3-2 win against the Lebanese club at the Changlimithang Stadium, Thimphu, Bhutan on Friday.

They defeated Nejmeh FC to top Group A with seven points and booked their spot in the knockout stage of the continental competition for the first time in 11 years.

The Greek forward Dimitrios Diamantakos scored a brace for East Bengal, which included a 77th-minute winner from the penalty spot.

He is now leading the Golden Boot race with 4-goals.

East Bengal started the first half well and scored two quick goals in the first 15 minutes. The first was an own goal from the Ghanian defender Baba Musah of Nejmesh SC, which later doubled as Diamantakos tapped in from Mahesh's low cross.

The Lebanese club found a quick reply on a counter-attack as Collins Opare beat his marker Hector Yuste and scored an easy goal against Prabhsukhan Gill in a one-on-one situation.

East Bengal could not recover from this and decided to go for deep defending which allowed Nejmeh to put them under pressure. Eventually, this hurt East Bengal and Nejmeh won a free-kick from a dangerous position.

Hussain took this opportunity with both hands and with a brilliant free-kick, he found the top right corner to level terms with his team at halftime.

Nejmeh had a brilliant start to the second half also as they curated a lot of good chances and were dominating the midfield but a lack of finishing hurt their chances and East Bengal got the opportunity to score when Madih Talal was fouled by Ali Ismail inside the box.

Diamantakos came in to take the penalty and converted it easily in the bottom left corner to give East Bengal the lead which they maintained till the end of the game. They will now move to the quarterfinal stage which will take place in March 2025 in a home-and-away two-legged format.