Buriram United were crowned the inaugural Asean Club Championship (Shopee Cup) champions after a dramatic penalty shootout victory over Vietnam's Cong An Ha Noi at their rain-soaked Chang Arena on Wednesday night.
The Thunder Castle came from two goals down with just seven minutes remaining to force a 3-3 draw after extra-time, and 5-5 on aggregate, before prevailing 3-2 on penalties, with former Thailand goalkeeper Chatchai Bootprom making three stunning saves during the shootout.
After a 2-2 draw during the first leg in Hanoi last week, Cong An Ha Noi's Jason Pendant stunned the home fans as he broke the deadlock in the 15th minute when Nguyen Quang Hai played him in behind the Buriram defence, and the fullback calmly slotted a shot past Chatchai.
The visitors doubled their advantage from Leo Artur's 39th-minute penalty following a clash between Buriram's Peter Zulj and Hugo Gomes giving the Vietnamese side took a comfortable 4-2 aggregate lead by half-time.
Buriram fought back during the second half, with Austrian Zulj pulling one back for the Thunder Castle in the 83rd minute.
Lucas Crispim's stunning last-gasp free-kick took the game to extra time, with the Brazilian crashing his right-foot effort off the underside of the bar to beat Filip Nguyen.
Guilherme Bissoli's penalty in the 104th minute put the home side in front for the first time with a 3-2 lead but Alan Grafite levelled the score two minutes from time as the final went to penalties.
The 38-year-old Chatchai kept out spot-kicks from Pendant, Gomes and Bui Hoang Viet Anh to earn victory for Osmar Loss' Thai League 1 champions in front of their home fans.
"I have never had as dramatic an experience as this in all my career," said Chatchai.
"I feel very good because we won this trophy. We wanted to win this trophy because we wanted to be the number one in Asean.
"I never participated in such a dramatic match. It was really fantastic with the atmosphere and very exciting during the shootout.
"It was an amazing match. We would not have been able to come back without the fans behind us. Our goal was to become Asean champions and today we did it for our fans.
"Thank you to my teammates and the fans who came to cheer us today," he added.
"Today the team performed very well. Every player did a good job," said Buriram assistant coach Rafael Tolido, who attended the post-match conference instead of Osmar Loss who was red-carded during the match.
"We knew that we were two goals down and we had to change some tactics and adjusted to the condition of the pitch. Everyone adapted well and we came back in the second half."
Crispim was named the most valuable player of the tournament.
The Thunder Castle continue their quadruple bid tomorrow when they take on Thai League 1 rivals Muang Thong United in the FA Cup title showdown.
The match, at Thammasat Stadium, will kick off at 6pm.