Hanoi: Leo Artur scored a hat-trick as Công An Hà Nôi FC moved to the top of Group B in the ASEAN Club Championship Shopee Cup™ after
powering past Singapore’s Lion City Sailors 5-0 at Hang Day Stadium on
Thursday.
The Brazilian broke the deadlock for the Vietnamese hosts on
the half hour before Nguyen Dinh Bac and Le Van Do made the game safe by the
midway stage of the second half.
Artur then added two more to complete his treble as Mano Polking’s Công An followed up their opening-day victory over Thailand’s Buriram United by maintaining their perfect record in the Shopee Cup to make it two wins from two games.
Having lost their opening match 3-0 against Borneo FC
Samarinda, Lion City were looking to bounce back in Vietnam and started
brightly, with star man Maxime Lestienne curling just wide from 20 yards inside
three minutes.
Công An had their first chance of note midway through the
half when Artur created space for himself towards the left corner of the box
before his fellow Brazilian Vitao was just inches away from connecting with his
dangerous shot-cum-cross.
The Vietnamese side then opened the scoring in the 30th minute following a brilliant flowing move that saw Le Pham Thanh Long thread an incisive pass into Vu Van Thanh, who played the ball across goal for Artur to tap into an empty net.
Polking’s team were now in full control and sought to
double their lead before the interval with Pham Thanh Long’s chipped free-kick
finding Jason Pendant, who did well to control with his first touch but fired
high and wide with his second.
Công An continued in the ascendancy after the restart with some
neat play from Nguyen Quang Hai on the left setting up Vitao, but his
side-footed effort from just inside the area was easily gathered by goalkeeper Izwan Mahbud.
Van Thanh was next to test Izwan after he cut inside Sailors skipper Hariss Harun before forcing the goalkeeper to get down low to save well with his leg.
And the second goal arrived as the hour approached, Quang
Hai threading a short ball to Dinh Bac just inside the left side of the box and
the young winger drilled low and hard into the bottom corner of Izwan’s near
post.
The one-way traffic ensued and Van Do was next to add his
name to the scoresheet in the 66th minute when he fired home from 10 yards
after Izwan had failed to deal with a Công An corner from the left.
Things went from bad to worse for the visitors as Artur added his second with a little over 20 minutes to play when he rocketed home an unstoppable effort from 25 yards that flew into the back of the net.
Artur then completed his hat-trick with five minutes
remaining when his shot from the edge of the area squirmed under Izwan to
complete a night to remember for the Brazilian and one to forget for Lion City.
The Shopee Cup will now take a break until early 2025, with Công
An next travelling to the Philippines to face Kaya FC-Iloilo on January 9 and
Lion City taking on Buriram in Singapore on the same night.
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