Indonesia's Persija Jakarta have already broken a series of records in this year's AFC Cup - twice setting attendance records in the Group Stages - but the milestone that the club would most like to achieve is becoming the first Indonesian side to lift the continental title.

To do so, they will need to overcome several hurdles, the first of which being Singapore's Home United in the ASEAN Zone semi-finals with the first leg coming at Jalan Besar Stadium on Tuesday, before the return meeting on May 15.

The-AFC.com spoke to Persija's top scorer in the tournament, Marko Simic, to get his thoughts on the tie as well as his experiences of the competition so far.

The visitors were in control of the match throughout the 90 minutes and scored four goals in a game for the third time this campaign as they made it four wins from six in one of the competition's most hard-fought groups.

AFC General Secretary Dato’ Windsor John said the attendance for the ASEAN Zone Group H match was reflective of the continued improvements undertaken to enhance the prestige and standards of the competition.

Dato’ Windsor said: “The AFC, as envisaged in our Vision and Mission, is committed to improving the quality of our competitions for our players, fans and teams. This objective is reflected in this season’s AFC Cup with a record-breaking 44 clubs competing for the highest-ever prize money in the history of the competition.

“This record demonstrates the ever-increasing interest and wide appeal of the AFC’s competitions. I congratulate Persija Jakarta and I would also like to thank all our clubs and Member Associations for their commitment to improve the AFC Cup.

“It is particularly impressive this milestone was achieved in the group stages of the AFC Cup and I am confident, as we work closely with our Member Associations, we will continue to witness even more thrilling matches, which will engage and excite more passionate fans as the competition progresses into the knockout stages.”

The home side fans enjoyed a spectacular victory and had much to celebrate as Persija claimed a comprehensive 4-1 win over the visitors, courtesy of Marko Simic’s hat-trick and a thunderbolt from Rezaldi Hehanusa.

The match on Wednesday ranks third overall in terms of AFC Cup spectatorship history and is just shy of the Kingfisher East Bengal and Kuwait SC semi-final in 2013 which saw 50,000 spectators attend.

The Indonesian side was powered on by a raucous crowd of over 60,000 – the largest ever crowd for an AFC Cup match – and used the energy of the crowd to blitz the visitors in the opening half.

Persija went into the Group H game at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium level on points with their opponents and having lost 3-0 in the first meeting in Johor Baru. However, a stunning hat-trick within the game's opening 19 minutes from Simic ensured the match was effectively over before the midway point of the first half.

With expectation now high that Persija can reach the knockout stage, the-AFC.com caught up with club legend Bambang Pamungkas to find out the striker’s views on his side's chances in the continental competition.