East Bengal FC's AFC Champions League Two Rival Watch: Al-Shorta

East Bengal will face Group Leaders Al-Shorta SC in Match 2 in AFC Champions League 2 East Bengal FC will face group D leaders Al-Shorta SC after settling for a draw in match week 1 of AFC Champions League Two against Al Hussein. East Bengal's first continental home night in over a decade arrives with some logistical noise.

The fixture falls close to Durga Puja, and security concerns raised before the tournament put the Salt Lake staging in question. The domestic champions have been handed a stage they haven't occupied for a long time.

This is their ninth appearance in an AFC group stage and their first since 2015, when the competition was still called the AFC Cup. The stakes are structural as the top two in each four-team group advance to the Round of 16.

East Bengal opened with a 2-2 draw with Al Hussein, so they are on one point. Their remaining home games are against the Omani and Jordanian sides Al-Shorta & Al-Seeb respectively.

They will travel to Baghdad on 8 December. Dropping points here would leave them chasing the group before the halfway mark.

Al-Shorta are among Iraq's most successful clubs, with eight league titles. They have also played in the AFC Champions League Elite in each of the last two editions.

That tournament hasn't treated them kindly, but it has given them a depth of continental experience that East Bengal's squad can't match as a group. Recent Form Al-Shorta won their first match in the AFC Champions League Two, 1-0 against Al-Seeb.

Al-Shorta come in leading Group D. They beat Al Seeb 1-0 in Baghdad, with Hussein al Saedi scoring in the 51st minute from a Cristian Barco delivery.

The result was less comfortable than the scoreline suggests. Seeb defended in a compact block and conceded possession, and the breakthrough came only after Al-Shorta raised their ball speed and widened the pitch in the second half.