Former Swiss youth international Oliver Buff was the man of the hour for Selangor FC as his brace led the Red Giants into a comprehensive 3-1 victory over Sri Pahang FC in their 2021 Liga Super Malaysia Matchweek 1 encounter at the Petaling Jaya Stadium on Saturday. Former Perak FC man Shahrel Fikri also impressed in the match, opening his Selangor account with a goal of his own.
Despite dominating proceedings, Selangor had to wait until the first minute of stoppage time to take the lead, with Buff scoring an absolute screamer from outside the area to leave Pahang goalkeeper Helmi Eliza utterly beaten.
With the Red Giants’ spirits elevated thanks to that goal at the stroke of half-time, the second half saw Selangor upping up the ante as they try to squash any chances of a Pahang fightback. And in the 54th minute, Selangor managed to go two goals up – a Buff corner was headed into Helmi’s goal by Shahrel, extending the Red Giants’ advantage over the Tok Gajah.
Nor Azam Azih threatened a comeback for Pahang with a well-taken free-kick that pierced its way into Khairulazhan Khalid’s goal in the 69th minute, however Buff restored Selangor’s two-goal cushion with a powerful shot from inside the Pahang penalty area in the third minute of injury time. Danial Asri had his initial shot being deflected away from the penalty box by Pahang defender Mamadou Wague, however the ball fell into the possession of Aliff Haiqal who passed it short towards an unmarked Buff, who slammed home the insurance goal past Helmi.
Saturday’s other Matchweek 1 results saw Penang FC edging out Kuala Lumpur City 1-0 in the battle between the newly promoted sides at the City Stadium in George Town, with David Rowley scoring the only goal for the Panthers. At the UiTM Stadium, hosts UiTM FC failed to retain their advantage as Terengganu FC recovered from a goal down to beat their opponents 2-1, with former Persebaya Surabaya man David da Silva opening his Turtles account with a debut goal. Last but not least, both Melaka United and Sabah FC shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw at Melaka’s Hang Jebat Stadium.
Sunday’s only Matchweek 1 game sees Perak FC hosting Petaling Jaya City at the Perak Stadium in Ipoh.
Saturday’s results meant that Selangor are the early Liga Super pace-setters, sitting on top of the league above defending champions Johor Darul Ta’zim on virtue of goals scored. Both teams had goal differences of +2, however Selangor had scored 3 whilst JDT had scored only 2, meaning that the Red Giants were given the right to become league leaders for at least the time being.