AFC Champions League
The Malaysian champions, instead of collapsing, bounced back in style as a brace from Arif Aiman, Bergson and Juan Muniz secured them a 4-2 win, the first time they have won an AFC Champions League group stage match after going behind.
The win took the Southern Tigers, who lost their opening game to Kawasaki Frontale, to second in the standings with a trip to Korea Republic to face former champions Ulsan Hyundai up next on October 24.
#ACL - Group I | BG Pathum United (THA) 2-4 Johor Darul Ta'zim (MAS)
Solari was full of praise for his team’s fighting spirit against the Thai League 1 2022-23 runners-up, saying they would build on the win.
“It was an important game for us,” said Solari. “Second game for us in the ACL, we were looking forward to playing after we lost to Kawasaki because we knew that we could perform better.
“Today was a test for us and I think the team made a fantastic game, I'm so proud. Even if we were playing good football in the last game, we were missing this character that you need to win in the ACL.
“We have a will to perform like this in every game and we will go to Korea with this determination to win because we want to go to the next round.”
The Argentine tactician was happy his plans worked, particularly as both of Arif’s goals came from counter attacks.
Having identified BG Pathum’s weakness during transitions, Solari was looking for JDT to make full use of the space available whenever they recovered possession.
“We knew that when we have the ball, we have the space and the players to create problems for BG.
“They have quality players but sometimes they struggle to run back and we knew that we can exploit the spaces, especially with Arif on the side, with Heberty and Juan creating the space in the middle.”
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