Mohun Bagan rout Valencia

Mohun Bagan secured a berth in the third round of the Asian Football Confederation championship, thrashing Valencia FC 3-0 in their 'away' match in Male, Maldives, on Tuesday.

The teams had drawn the first leg match 2-2, in Kolkata.

Mercurial striker Baichung Bhutia, George Ekeh and Brazilian Jose Ramairez Barreto were the scorers.

Mohun Bagan are likely to take on the Korea Republic's Taejon Citizen, who thrashed Monte Carlo 5-1 in Macau and play the return fixture at the Daejeon World Cup Stadium on Wednesday.

Bhutia opened the scoring in the seventh minute, latching on to a pass from Basudeb Mondol and beating the Valencia goalkeeper with a neat placement.

The teams took the breather with the Kolkata side leading 1-0.

Immediately after the breather, Bagan increased their tally through George Ekeh. Bhutia laid the ground for the goal with a neat pass and Ekeh beat the rival keeper with a stiff long shot.

Soon after the goal, Barreto came in as substitute for Ekeh and got his name on the scoresheet. After playing a quick wall-passsing bout with Mondal, the Brazilian ace bulged the net from the top of the box.

Thereafter Bagan held possession and goalkeeper Rajat Ghosh Dastidar was hardly tested.

Mohun Bagan secretary Anjan Mitra was ecstatic after the victory.

"The players are really happy. But we are also keeping in mind that the team we are likely to face is Korean Taejon Citizen. So the seriousness and dedication has to be maintained," he said.

A tired Bhutia and Barreto expressed happiness over the team's performance, saying the are happy to have scored important goals.

Coach Subrata Bhattacharjee said: "We should have scored many more, but we are very happy with the win."

Mitra said he would request the AFC to reschedule the first leg home match against their next opponents for Saturday, November 16, instead of November 13, as they could get more spectators for the match.

Another Indian side Churchill Brothers faces Saigon Port in Ho Chi Minh City on Friday. Although Churchill enjoy a 2-0 advantage from the first leg, the Vietnam team will be hard to beat at home.

Four qualifiers from East Asia and four from the West will join eight seeded teams in the group stage in March.

The AFC Champions League, which was launched in August, replaces the Asian Club Championship, the Asian Cup Winners' Cup and the Asian Super Cup. The winning team will take home a first prize of US$500,000.