SAFF Championship 2023: India Beat Lebanon 4-2 In Penalties, To Face Kuwait In Final

Gurpreet Singh Sandhu was India's star on the night, as he saved Maatouk's penalty and forced Bader's error later to send India into the final.

In a closely-contested match, defending champions India emerged victorious against Lebanon, a team they had faced just a fortnight ago in the Intercontinental Cup final.

Though India beat their opponents 2-0 back then, the story in Bengaluru was quite different, as Lebanon went toe-to-toe with the hosts all the way through 120 minutes of play.Both teams played the game intensely, but neither could find the back of the net at any point

Sunil Chhetri in action against Lebanon in the SAFF C'ship SF on Saturday.

The atmosphere only intensified with the match going into the much-dreaded penalty shootout.India captain Sunil Chhetri gave his team the lead by sending the ball past Lebanon goalkeeper Mehdi Khalil.

Lebanon skipper Hassan Maatouk was then denied by India's stopper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu.The Blue Tigers held on to the advantage, as Anwar Ali and Mahesh converted their respective penalty kicks. For Lebanon, Walid Shour and Mohammad Sadek scored successful penalties.

Udanta Singh Kumam sent the fourth penalty kick in, while Khalil Bader missed his kick, sending it over the crossbar.Thus, India secured their win in a close contest that could have gone either side.India will now face Kuwait, who beat Bangladesh 1-0 earlier in the day, in the final on July 4.