Bengaluru: Cheered on by a sparse yet vocal weekday crowd of a few hundred, Bengaluru FC booked their passage to the group stage of the AFC Cup 2018 with a 5-0 (8-2 on aggregate) hammering of Maldivies’ TC Sports Club in the second leg of their play-off encounter at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium on Tuesday.
Midfielder Antonio Dovale scored a hat-trick, becoming the first to achieve such a feat in an Asian competition and only the second overall for the club.
The Blues won the first leg 3-2 away and it took 12 minutes for Albert Roca’s side to make a mark here as Dovale slammed his left-foot drive from 25 yards out.
Dominating play from the Blues saw a number of attacks negated before Dovale struck again in the 35th minute. A Subhasish Bose throw-in was headed by the imperious Erik Paartalu into the path of the Spaniard who blasted home. The tie was all but sewn up by Paartalu as he made it 3-0 with an audacious chested volley from 40 yards out.
The visitors struggled to cope with the tempo of the game and conceded 30 seconds after the restart. A poor clearance from Nadeem saw Udanta Singh carrying the ball to the by-line before crossing for a Dovale tap-in.
Things went from bad to worse for the Maldivians as they had Alaaeldin sent off for a foul on Udanta in the 61st minute.
Rahul Bheke wrapped up the goal fest after nearly taking the roof off from close range in stoppage time, as BFC cruised into Group E where they will be joined by Abahani (Bangladesh), Aizawl FC and New Radiant (Maldives).
