Mohun Bagan win 'away' Champions League tie

India's champion club Mohun Bagan took a huge step towards making it to the second round in the AFC Champions League when they beat Sri Lankan's Saunders 2-0 in their 'away' match of Zone II [East Asia], in Colombo on Wednesday night.

The three-time Indian National Football League champions scored once in each half to beat the Sri Lankan side, which lays claim to being the oldest club side in Asia.

India captain Baichung Bhutia put Bagan ahead in the 19th minute and Nigerian import George Ekeh added another goal in the 54th minute.

The victory gave the Kolkata side a two-goal cushion ahead of the second leg meeting in Kolkata on September 22.

The winner of the tie will face seeded team Valencia of Maldives next.

Bagan coach Subrata Bhattacharya was ecstatic after the victory, praising Bhutia, who he signed on only a month ago.

"What is really satisfying is that the team finally played as a unit," he said, adding: "Both Bhaichung and Brazilian Jose Ramirez Barreto contributed hugely to the victory. They moved up and fell back as well in defence, allowing me to have the extra man as and when necessary."

Saying the two-goal cushion should see the team to the next round, Bhattacharya added: "Our supporters are a discerning lot and I am pleased that we are taking a 2-0 lead back to Kolkata."

The new AFC Champions League, which offers US$500,000 in prize-money for the winners, has replaced the Asian Club Championship, the Asian Cup Winners' Cup and the Asian Super Cup and is the continent's premier club competition.

Fifty-one sides from 29 countries entered the tournament which rewards clubs with cash handouts of US$10,000 from the early stages.

With the exception of the eight seeded teams, all other teams play the preliminary round stage. There will be four preliminary rounds for Zone One (West/Central Asia) and three preliminary rounds for Zone Two (East Asia). Teams will play in a two-leg, home-and-away knockout format and the winning teams in each tie will advance to the next round and ultimately to the Group Stage in each respective Zone.

A total of 16 teams will qualify for the Group Stage - eight qualifiers and eight seeds. In the Group Stage there will be four groups each consisting of four teams. The four groups will be split into two groups containing teams from Zone One and Two. Each group will be played in a single round-robin league format at a centralised venue, the 'home venue' of one of the teams within that group. The winning team from each group will qualify for the Semi-Final stage.

The Semi-Finals will be played on a two-leg, home-and-away format. There will be a regional 'cross-over' whereby a winning team from a Zone One group will play a counterpart from a Zone Two group.

The winning team from each Semi-Final proceeds to The Asian Champions League Final, which is played on a two-leg, home-and-away format. The winning team, be it on aggregate score, away goals or penalty kicks, will be the winner.

Other results:

Qualifying Round Two (West) 1st leg
Al Ahli (UAE) 2 (Kelvin Sbwe 50th and 53rd) beat Al Kuwait (Kuwait) 0
Pakhtakor (Uzbekistan) 3 (Gochguly Gochculiyev 32nd penalty, Server Djeparov 56th, Zainitdin Tadjiyev) beat Al Wihdat (Jordan) 0
Jashtyk (Kyrgyzstan) 0 lost to Ahli Sana'a (Yemen) 2 (Al-Nono 16, Gaara 82).