Hanoi: Vietnam’s Công An Hà Nội FC and Buriram United of Thailand played out an entertaining 2-2 draw in the first leg of the ASEAN Club Championship Shopee Cup™ final at Hang Day Stadium on Wednesday.
Leo Artur gave the hosts a 1-0 lead in the Vietnamese capital city with his fifth goal of the tournament before Curtis Good headed in the equaliser for the Thai League 1 champions in the 28th minute.
Alan Grafite once again pulled Alexandre Polking’s Công An ahead before the break but Peter Zulj’s second-half goal meant that the tie remained finely in the balance before the second leg of the final to be played in Buriram on 21 May.
Công An supporters were in full voice from the kick-off and their team matched that energy on the pitch in the first half, with Buriram goalkeeper Chatchai Bootprom having to come off his line to deny Grafite just seven minutes in.
Grafite then initiated a brilliant move that broke the deadlock as he found Nguyen Quang Hai down the right wing and the Công An captain slipped through Vitao who smartly squared the ball past Chatchai for Artur to open the scoring in the 18th minute.
With the goal, the Brazilian became the joint top scorer of Shopee Cup™ along with Buriram’s Lucas Crispim and Terengganu’s Safawi Rasid with five goal.
The visitors had to wait until the 25th minute to register their first shot as Supachai Chaided beat his marker with a drop of his shoulder and produced a good save from Công An keeper Filip Nguyen at his near post.
Buriram levelled the score at 1-1 three minutes later as Zulj’s corner kick was met with a precise header from Good with Nguyen a mere spectator as the ball nestled in the back of the net.
The first leg of the title clash continued to thrill as it was Công An who struck next through Grafite. Sasalak Haiprakhon and Good both failed to deal with an Artur cross allowing Grafite to beat Chatchai with a low left-foot shot into the bottom corner to make it 2-1 after 35 minutes.
The home supporters continued their celebrations through the half-time break as their side maintained their slender lead but Supachai had the chance to restore parity again three minutes after restart only for Nguyen to deny the Buriram forward again.
With the visitors a much-improved side in the second period, the Công An shot-stopper was once again called into action as he kept Crispim’s strike from distance which bounced awkwardly in front of him in the 70th minute before keeping out Good’s header from another corner soon after.
Osmar Loss’ side, however, came back from behind again in the 79th minute when Zulj scored from the rebound after Guilherme Bissoli’s initial effort from outside the box was kept out by Nguyen.
The V.League 1 side had chances to snatch a later winner two minutes later as Quang Hai saw his effort cleared off the line before Bui Xuan Thinh hit the woodwork from distance as the two sides shared the spoils in a thrilling first leg of the title showdown.
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