FC Arkadag came from behind to beat East Bengal 2-1 in their AFC Challenge League™ 2024/25 quarter-final second leg to advance to the semi-finals with a 3-1 aggregate win on Wednesday.

East Bengal got off to a dream start, drawing level on aggregate within a minute of the opening whistle after Arkadag goalkeeper Rausl Charyyev could only parry Dimitiros Diamantakos’ strike into the path of Messi Bouli, who gleefully tucked home the rebound.

The Turkmenistan champions were given a lifeline three minutes later when East Bengal went down to 10 men after Lalchungnunga was shown a second yellow card for a foul on Yazgylych Gurbanov.

Arkadag increased their intensity as the second half wore on with Shamammet Hydyrow forcing a finger tip save from Prabhsukhan Gill from a free-kick in the 76th as they chased an equaliser.

The home side’s persistence finally paid off in the 89th minute when Annadurdyyev converted from the spot after Tirkishov had been bundled over by Sauvik Chakrabarti.

Annadurdyyev made sure of the win when he made a lung bursting run in the eighth minute of added time to sweep home from 13 yards out to take Arkadag through to the semi-finals.