Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Tashkent: ACL quarter-finalists Bunyodkor played an entertaining 1-1 draw in the first leg of the Uzbek Cup semi-final against traditional rivals Pakhtakor at the Jar Stadium on Wednesday.
The draw left the tie hang in balance as the return leg of the semi-final will be played at the Pakhtakor Stadium on November 25.
The visitors took the lead in the 21st minute through Stanislav Andreev penalty only for Bunyodkor’s Anvar Soliev to peg one back for the hosts in the 42nd minute.
Referee Ravshan Irmatov, who flashed five yellow cards in the match, pointed at the spot when Artom Filiposyan appeared handling the ball inside the penalty area. Andreev took the charge and sent Bunyodkor’s Uzbekistan number one goalie Ignatiy Nesterov the wrong way to score a precious away goal.
In one of the sublime moves by the hosts, veteran Viktor Karpenko played one-two with Yan Kozak who released a perfect ball to unmarked Soliev who did not miss a chance to put the ball inside the empty net to offer his side a great psychological boost for the November’s cross-town trip to Pakhtakor.
The winner of this tie is most likely to meet 2012 ACL participants Nasaf in the final who defeated Bukhoro 2-0 in the first leg on the same day.
Bunyodkor will meet Australian outfit Adelaide United in the double-header ACL quarter-final. They had finished second in Group E in their ACL campaign, below leaders Adelaide United of Australia and then beat Korea Republic outfit Seongnam Ihlwa Chunma 1-0 in the Round of 16.
But then, a ‘rematch’ is now in order as they were again drawn against Adelaide for their quarter-final encounter on September 19 at Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide, and in Tashkent, Uzbekistan on October 3.