Bashundhara Kings opened their AFC Cup 2023 campaign with a 3-1 defeat against hosts Maziya at National Football Stadium in Male, Maldives Tuesday.
Two outstanding goals in the either half paved the way for the reigning Maldives champions to claim their first victory over the four-time Bangladesh Premier League champions.
Kings won the previous two meetings against Maziya in the same competition but were nowhere near to extending the winning spree this time around.
Youngster Sheikh Morsalin started alongside Rakib Hossain and BPL’s top-scorer Dorielton Gomez up front as the latter squandered a couple of chances within the quarter hour mark.
Serbian forward Vojislav Balabanovic gave the home side the breakthrough with a long-range powerful strike in the 15th minute, giving Anisur Rahman Zico no chance.
Bishwanath Ghosh saw his header following a Rakib cross fly wide off the post in the 39th minute before Rakib’s own effort inside the box was blocked four minutes later.
Kings had two good chances in the 56th minute but Rakib’s shot was saved by the Maziya goalkeeper, followed by a goal-line clearance to deny Saad Uddin’s attempt on the rebound.
Hassan Nazeem doubled the lead in the 68th minute with a curved volley into the top-right corner from the edge of the box before Ali Fasir sealed victory after beating Zico with a neat finish in added time.
Mohammad Ibrahim came off the bench to score a consolation for the Kings when his header from Dorielton’s headed pass found the back of the net but it was too little, too late.
RESULT
Maziya 3 (Balabanovic 15, Nazeem 68, Fasir 90+1) 1 Bashundhara Kings (Ibrahim 90+3)