BG Pathum United, club from Thailand has qualified to round of 16 by champions of the group after Melbourne City, club from Australia win over United City, the club from Philippines with a score of 3-0 in the AFC Champions League 2022 group stage, Group G at Pathum Thani Stadium.
United City’s post was rattled with seven minutes following a touch from their defender Alan Robertson, and goalkeeper Anthony Pinthus got down impressively to deny Tilio but it took until the 22nd minute for the Australians to open the scoring through Rodrigues, who had simple task of tapping home Stefan Colakovski’s low cross after the winger found himself in acres of space down the right hand side.
A Melbourne City line-up missing some of their best attacking players had their first goal on the board, but any assumptions that United City’s resistance had been broken were quickly dispelled as the Filipino side continued to play preferred possession game when possible, occasionally giving their opponents moments of panic in the defensive third.
Jason Withe’s side showed they weren’t going to lie down, but Melbourne City arguably still should have been further ahead at half time; often showing a lack of composure in front of goal, with Tsubasa Endo and Scott Galloway among the culprits.
United City had a purple patch after the break but were guilty of an even worse miss in the 57th minute, with Hikaru Minegshi blasting a golden chance over the crossbar from close range, and Melbourne City boss Patrick Kisnorbo has clearly seen enough when he introduced star forwards Maclaren and Andrew Nabbout introduced shortly after.
Nine minutes after that double substitution the duo showed their worth, with Nabbout’s pass sending Maclaren through on goal, and the Socceroos striker easing the ball home to bring Melbourne City closer to their target with just over 20 minutes remaining.
Maclaren had an effort pushed into the crossbar less than a minute later, and the pendulum looked to have swung further in his side’s favour when he was hauled down in the penally area by the already yellow-carded Robertson, leaving United City a man down, only for Maclaren to slam his penalty kick against the crossbar with 16 minutes remaining.
Things may have ended differently for Kisnorbo’s side if that effort had gone in, and they did add another goal in the dying moments through the energetic Tilio, but the result means the Australian side must now wait for tomorrow’s matches to determine their fate once and for all.
Credit Photo : AFC
