New signing Ronaldo Henrique Silva lived up to his first name in football when he fired a brace to give Perak a 2-1 win over PKNP (Perak SEDC) and place in the FA Cup semi-finals 2-1 on aggregate in the return-leg quarter-final at the Perak Stadium in Ipoh on Saturday.
The first-leg in Manjung ended in a scoreless draw and PKNP coached by former international Abu Bakar Fadzim were on the verge of knocking out the Malaysia Cup champions on away goal when Giancarlo Lopes fired in the equalizer on 73 minutes.
A 1-1 draw would have sent PKNP through to the semis on away goals and an upset was on the cards as Perak struggled to keep their momentum against the hardworking visitors who gave all.
However, all that disappeared when Ronaldo, making his Malaysian debut sent a glancing header off a corner by Firdaus Saiyadi in the 88th minute. It was his second goal on the night but was duly booked for taking off his shirt in celebration.
Earlier Ronaldo made a grand start to his Malaysian debut when opened the scoring for his new team in the 23rd minute. A through pass by Shahrel Fikri and the Brazilian showed his ‘samba” as he made his way into the box and drilled a low right-footed shot into the far corner.
Meanwhile, Felda United battled to a scoreless draw against Kuala Lumpur in another return-leg FA Cup tie played at the Tun Razak Stadium in Jengk to advance to the last four on away goals from the 3-3 draw in the first-leg in Cheras.
In semi-finals, Perak will play defending champions Pahang while Felda will meet Kedah. – BY RIZAL ABDULLAH
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