BURIRAM, Thailand: Selangor FC coach Kim Pan-gon has vowed to send his team out to attack in the second leg of the 2025/26 Asean Club Championship Shopee Cup final on Wednesday as the Malaysian club looks to overturn a 1-0 deficit against defending champions Buriram United FC.
The teams face off at Buriram Stadium with the Thai League 1 side holding a slender advantage following Suphanat Mueanta’s 25th-minute header in the opening leg at MBPJ Stadium last week.
“We still have another 90 minutes, and anything can happen,” said Kim. “We must stand firm, recover well, and correct some things. I want to encourage the players because I can feel their confidence growing. We will be strong.”
Kim’s side were unfortunate not to find the back of the Buriram United net in the opening encounter last Wednesday, with both Noor Al-Rawabdeh and Hugo Boumous hitting the woodwork as Selangor slipped to their first loss in the 2025/26 Shopee Cup.
The defeat was only Selangor’s second in 22 matches in all competitions since Kim was appointed as head coach in January, and just the third time the team has not scored under the South Korean.
“I have no regrets,” said Kim. “We are looking forward now. Rather than regretting, we must focus on correcting things. Technically and tactically, our technical team will work on it over the next few days, and we will prepare very professionally.
“I want to encourage our players to gain more confidence because confidence is very important. We will go there and attack them.”
Buriram United will have forward Guilherme Bissoli available for the match after the club’s leading Shopee Cup scorer served a one-match suspension during the first leg due to his sending off for a second bookable offence in the semi-final win over Johor Darul Ta’zim FC.
The Brazilian has scored six times so far in this season’s competition for a Buriram United attack that has found the net on 19 occasions in eight matches, more than any other team in the Shopee Cup.
“It will be important for us to have him back,” Buriram United head coach Mark Jackson said of the 28-year-old. “It will be a big boost for the team to have Bissoli back, and I know he will be eager to play.”
The Englishman is anticipating a fresh challenge in the return fixture as Buriram United look to complete back-to-back title wins to reinforce their reputation as kings of Asean club football.
“From our point of view, we think the second leg will be a different game,” said Jackson. “We know how to manage the recovery process and prepare the boys physically and mentally for the game because this tie is not over.
“We still expect a really tough challenge, but the way we navigated the away game has given us a lot of confidence, and we will take that into the home leg.”
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