AFC Challenge League: East Bengal earn first draw of the season against Paro FC

The Red & Gold Brigade fought back to equalise twice and earn a point.

India’s East Bengal and Paro FC of Bhutan shared the spoils in a thrilling 2-2 draw in their AFC Challenge League 2024-25 Group A match on Saturday. Madih Talal put Bengal in front only for William Opoku to restore parity with his penalty before Paro took the half-time lead with an Evans Asante’s strike.

The Indian Super League (ISL) side fought back to earn a valuable point thanks to Dimitrios Diamantakos’ second-half equaliser.

The game started at a blistering pace with Bengal going ahead in the fifth minute when Saul Crespo broke through on the right and his cutback was perfect for Talal to sweep home.

Paro provided an almost immediate response, equalising three minutes later when Opoku beat Prabhsukhan Gill from the penalty spot after Asante had been fouled by Provat Lakra.

The home side drew confidence from drawing level as they created more openings with Koki Narita’s long-range curler just sailing over the bar, then a corner kick scramble saw Tomoyuki Unno’s deflected attempt gathered by Gill.

The Torchbearers end their losing streak with a valiant fightback 💪🏻 to share the spoils with Paro FC in their AFC Challenge League opener 🔴 🟡#IndianFootball #eastbengal #AFCChallengeLeague #AsianFootball pic.twitter.com/qVLdczLbcg

— Khel Now (@KhelNow) October 26, 2024

Paro’s pressure paid off in the third minute of first-half added time when a speedy counterattack following a Bengal corner kick ended with Asante running through from the halfway line to calmly slot past Gill.

The open nature of the game continued to be a feature in the second half with Kazuo Homma going close to adding to Paro’s lead with his header before Diamantakos smashed wide for Bengal from just outside the box.

Diamantakos would be more clinical with his next chance, the Greek forward netting the equaliser in the 69th minute as he finished off a great move from Nandhakumar Sekar who made a surging run on the right.

East Bengal play Bangladesh’s Bashundhara Kings in Matchday Two on Tuesday with Paro taking on Nejmeh SC of Lebanon.

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