AFC Champions League: Mohun Bagan vs Shandong Luneng in 2nd qualifier

I-League champions Mohun Bagan's ambitions of making it to the group stages of the AFC Champions League will go through a litmus test on Tuesday, 2 February, when they take on Shandong Luneng of China in the second qualifying round.

The Mariners, who defeated Tampines Rovers in the 1st qualifying round, are going into this game as the underdogs. To make matters worse, they are in the midst of a fixture congestion, with this being their second game in a series of five games inside 15 days, all in different cities.

Bagan to miss services of Cornell Glen

The Kolkata giants will miss the services of star forward Cornell Glen, after it was revealed that the player's documents still mentioned him as a player of Shillong Lajong, the club he played for till the end of last season.

The goof-up saw Glen miss out on a Chinese visa, meaning Bagan will have to take the field without their in-form striker.

The rest of the squad, however, is in China for the game, and will hope to become the first Indian side to make it to the final play-off round of the AFC Champions League.

In the case of a win, Bagan will face Australian outfit Adelaide United next week for a place in the group stages of the tournament.