Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Malang: Roman Chmelo Musafri and Ahmad Amiruddin each scored a brace as Indonesia’s AFC Cup 2012 quarter-finalists Arema Indonesia recorded a 4-0 victory over neighbours Persema in a Malang derby that was rained with 11 yellow cards in the Indonesian Premier League at the Stadium Gajayana, Wednesday.
Roman Chmelo Musafri’s header opened the scoring for Arema in the 26th minute, seven minutes after which, Musafri added his second goal. The game’s tempo got quicker with another goal just a minute into the second half through an Ahmad Amiruddin strike. After 73 minutes, Amiruddin completed his brace after obtaining a beautiful feed from fellow brace maker Musafri.
Having gained 28 points from 18 matches, Arema are now at eighth position in the league’s standings which are topped by Semen with 46 points from 22 matches. Arema are four matches behind due to commitments in three competitions including the AFC Cup, necessitating reschedule of some of the their local leagues’ matches.
Arema finished second behind Kelantan of Malaysia with seven points from three matches in AFC Cup 2012 Group H and went on to beat Hong Kong’s Kitchee 2-0 in the Round of 16, clinching their passage to the last eight.
Arema will host Al Ettifaq, one of the two teams remaining in the tournament who have yet to taste defeat, when the AFC Cup quarter-final begins on September 19, before travelling to Saudi Arabia for the second-leg match a week later.