Mumbai City FC won their match in the AFC Champions League with a scoreline of 2-1 against Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya on Monday. This result is the first victory for the Islanders in this competition.

Hammadi Ahmed (59’) gave the Iraqi side the lead but goals from Diego Mauricio (70’) and Rahul Bheke (75’) overturned the result in MCFC’s favour.

The match started off in fiery style. Mumbai City FC failed to create many chances in the opening exchanges however, in the eight-minute of the game, Phurba Lachenpa came off his line and brought down an opposition attacker but, fortunately, he got a touch on the ball and did not give away a penalty.

Just a minute later, Rahul Bheke nearly scored an own goal from an attempted pass to Phurba Lachenpa.

Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya continued to pile on the pressure on the Islanders as they had multiple opportunities to score from corners,  but they failed to convert those chances. 

MCFC had their first shot of the game in the 30th minute when Diego Mauricio found himself free in the box for a header, but the shot went over the crossbar.

In the 37th minute, Alaa Abbas’s header was expertly tipped over the bar by Lachenpa and soon after, Vikram Singh found himself through on goal, but his shot got deflected for a corner.

That brought an end to the action of the first half and the score remained at 0-0.

Lachenpa made a tidy save to begin the second half.

The Iraqi outfit had another incredible opportunity to score their first goal of the game, but they failed to hit the open goal.

But, in the 59th minute, Hammadi Ahmed scored from close range to give his side a deserved lead in this match. Minutes later, they nearly doubled their advantage but Mourtada Fall’s great defending prevented it.

Close to the midway point of the second half, Diego Mauricio was brought down in the Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya box and he brilliantly finished off the subsequent penalty to equalize the scoreline.

Des Buckingham’s team scored their second goal of the game through a Rahul Bheke header from another great Ahmed Jahouh corner. They scored two goals within five minutes and took the lead for the first time in the game.

In the process, Rahul Bheke became the first Indian to score in the AFC Champions League!

Also Read: Rahul Bheke interview: AFC Champions League will be the biggest challenge that I've faced in my career

Hammadi Ahmed got a chance to equalize the score for his team, but his header went wide of the target, in the closing stages of the game.

That was the last of the action and the Islanders earned a deserved win from this match.