AFC Champions League Elite
The match, which produced seven goals in the first half, ended Port’s three-match losing streak as Beijing lost their unbeaten record.
Michael Falkesgaard gifted Beijing their opening goal in the fifth minute when the keeper let Bai Yang’s attempt from the right slip through his fingers and into Chadrac Akolo’s path, who tapped the ball into an empty net.
Port’s equaliser came from out of nowhere in the 16th minute when Jude Soonsup-Bell, after a lay up by Bordin Phala, evaded a challenge by Guilherme Ramos and clipped his shot past keeper Hou Sen but had to wait for the goal to be confirmed by VAR before celebrating.
The Englishman was not done yet, netting his second three minutes later when his glancing header off a corner crashed into the bottom left past a rooted Hou Sen.
An unfazed Beijing leveled in the 23rd minute through Dawhan, who came in from behind the defence and threw himself at the ball to head home Zhang Xizhe’s set-piece, the midfielder’s goal also then verified by VAR.
Port refused to sit back, and claimed the lead again when Phala pounced on a rebound following a save by Hou Sen off Soonsup-Bell’s strike in the 29th minute to volley the ball into the bottom left past the lunging keeper.
The China PR outfit restored parity for the second time after Jeremy Dudziak’s well-struck shot from the left took a deflection off defender Noboru Shimura and looped over Falkesgaard.
The goalfest continued in the 41st minute when a disastrous pass by Erik Sviatchenko saw Dahwan robbing the ball off midfielder Sittha Boonhla on the edge of the area and belting it into the right corner.
MD4: Port FC (THA) v Beijing FC (CHN)
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More drama followed in the second half as Ramos’ yellow card in the 54th minute was changed to red following a VAR review for a tackle on Soonsup-Bell, leaving Beijing to contend with 10 men against a pumped-up Port.
Hou Sen stood his ground to pull off five critical saves as the home side pressed their numerical advantage, but finally conceded in the 78th minute when Phala’s superb strike from the edge of the area curled past him into the top left.
Phala secured his hat-trick three minutes later with another sensational strike, this time from the left of the box, that again flew beyond the lunging Beijing keeper’s reach.
Soonsup-bell then thought he had found his third goal but his 85th-minute header was overruled following a VAR review but Port were not to be denied their sixth when Teerasak Poeiphimai, who stepped on in the 71st minute, came down the middle a minute into stoppage time, evaded the defence and side-footed past Hou Sen into the bottom right.
Teerasak netted his second in the dying seconds when he latched on to a pass from Jakkaphan Kaewprom and drilled the ball on the turn to seal an emphatic first win for Bozidar Bandovic’s side.
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