SINGAPORE: A Bart Ramselaar thunderbolt on a rain-slicked Wednesday (Apr 9) set the Lion City Sailors on course for a famous upset as they stunned Sydney FC 2-0 in the first leg of the AFC Champions League Two semi-finals.

The 18th-minute Ramselaar strike and a Lennart Thy goal mean that the Sailors remain on course to make the finals.

At a packed Jalan Besar Stadium, it was the away side that dominated proceedings early on as they dictated both the play and tempo, pegging the Sailors back.

Sydney had beaten South Korea's Jeonbuk 5-2 over two legs in the quarterfinals. But the Singapore side have shown that they can go up against the very best and almost went ahead in the 16th minute.

A Shawal Anuar flick-on found the onrushing Thy but he could not take it past the Sydney goalkeeper Harrison Devenish-Meares.

If that served as a warning, the away side clearly did not take heed.

Two minutes later came the moment of brilliance from Ramselaar, as he collected the ball from the wing, took one touch and hammered an unstoppable effort off the underside of the crossbar.

And it was the home side who looked the more likely to take the win as the half wore on. Full-back Diogo Costa, in particular, threatened with his pace and power, wrecking havoc down the left.

The closest Sydney came in the first 45 was a free kick from ex-Brazilian international Douglas Costa that whizzed over.

Speaking to reporters after the game, Sydney coach Ufuk Talay said that it was difficult for his team to break down the home side.

"Key passes in crucial moments when we got into the final third let us down," he said.

"With the two moments they had they scored two goals ... Overall we had a lot of the ball but we were quite ineffective in managing it today."

The Sailors came out of the break with the same hunger and were rewarded in the 53th minute as an immaculate ball from Diogo Costa found Thy and he rifled home from a tight angle to send the partisan home crowd into delirium.

Thy had the chance to make an impressive showing exceptional late on, as he latched on to a through ball, but his shot was well blocked by Devenish-Meares.

"We can be happy with the performance today at home," said Thy.

"We know our strengths, we did pretty good on the counter-attacks, kept the ball (and) could have scored more in the end. Going to Sydney with a 2-0 (lead) is a good result but there's still 90 minutes to go."

The Singapore side had progressed to the semis after beating Sanfrecce Hiroshima 4-1 on aggregate.

All seemed lost for the Sailors after they lost to the Japanese side in the first leg of the quarter-finals 6-1.

But the result was later chalked off and they were awarded a 3-0 win by the Asian footballing body, as Sanfreece had fielded a player who was supposed to be serving a three-match suspension. 

The Sailors then registered a 1-1 draw in the second leg at home.

Previously known as the AFC Cup, the ACL2 is the second-tier Asian club football tournament with a revamped format.

The last time a Singapore side reached the knockout stages of an AFC club competition was Home United, as the Sailors were previously known as, in the 2018 edition of the AFC Cup.

The Sailors booked their spot in the round of 16 this season after topping Group F, ahead of Thai side Port FC, China's Zhejiang FC and Indonesia's Persib Bandung.

In the round of 16, they beat Thailand’s Muangthong United 7-2 on aggregate.

The Sailors will face Sydney in the away leg of the semi-finals next Wednesday.

"This team (has) a lot of quality. To keep them out of the box was really good," said Sailors head coach Aleksandar Rankovic.

"We had a plan and executed (well). But like Lenny said, it's just the first half, (and we) expect a totally different game in Sydney."