Two of Indonesia’s representatives in this season’s AFC club competitions go head-to-head on Friday’s Liga 1 Indonesia action, with Bali United hosting PSM Makassar at the Kapten I Wayan Dipta Stadium. The match itself was a dramatic five-goal thriller, with Bali United recovering from going 2-1 down to edge out the Juku Eja 3-2 thanks to an inspired performance by Ilija Spasojevic in the second half.
2019 and 2021 Liga 1 champions Bali United welcome current defending champions PSM to the Dipta knowing that a win would set the Serdadu Tridatu nicely for their AFC Champions League qualifier away at Hong Kong’s Lee Man FC on August 16th.
However, despite Bali United starting the match off aggressively, it was PSM who managed to drew first blood in the 5th minute. A Yuran Fernandes ball was lapped up by Rizky Eka Pratama, who fired home past Adilson Maringa in the Bali United goal.
Seven minutes later, the hosts, who intensified their pressure on the PSM defense after conceding the first goal, managed to drew themselves level. Jean Befolo Mbarga managed to beat a well-placed PSM offside trap before finally getting the better of the Juku Eja goalkeeper Reza Arya Pratama in a one-on-one situation.
PSM were forced to play with 10 men after half an hour, after an awful foul on Novri Setiawan earned Safrudin Tahar a straight red card from the referee.
Despite this disadvantage it was PSM who managed to nick the lead ten minutes before half-time, courtesy of a sublime free-kick from Yance Sayuri.
The second half saw PSM being forced to sit back, being a man down clearly preventing the Juku Eja from venturing forward too much with the team prioritizing on defending their slender lead. Bali United capitalized on this as they aggressively tried to find a way into the PSM defense.
Substitute Spasojevic finally found the breakthrough in the 75th minute, heading an Eber Bessa corner into Reza’s goal to make it 2-2.
PSM tried to retaliate swiftly through a solo effort from Yakob Sayuri, however former Arema FC goalkeeper Maringa was on-hand to prevent the Indonesia international.
Spasojevic then struck again in the 85th minute, once again beating Reza with a thumping header, this time off a Muhammad Rahmat cross from the left flank.
With the lead now Bali United’s, PSM tried their best to spoil the party by scoring a late equalizer, however Maringa was alert to Wiljan Pluim’s injury time effort and performed a huge save as Bali United managed to defend their slender lead into full-time.
The three points shot Bali United straight into the Liga 1 summit, giving Stefano Cugurra Teco’s men some sense of relief after a rough start to the season. The Serdadu Tridatu will now head out to Hong Kong for their continental commitments, while PSM won’t be returning to South Sulawesi anytime soon. The Juku Eja will travel to Surabaya to take on Persebaya Surabaya on August 18th, before returning to the Dipta for their AFC Cup play-off match on August 23rd, where they will host either Myanmar giants Yangon United or Brunei side DPMM FC.