KUALA LUMPUR: Defending champions Johor Darul Ta'zim were dumped from the AFC Cup after Bengaluru won the semi-final, second leg 3-1 to advance to the final 4-2 on aggregate in Bangalore on Wednesday.
With forwards Juan Martin Lucero, Jorge Pereyra Diaz and Amri Yahyah suspended, Darul Ta'zim struggled to make an impact as Bengaluru set up a final meeting with the Iraqi Air Force club.
Coach Mario Gomez handed Safee Sali a rare start while also bringing Amirulhadi Zainal and S. Kunanlan back into the side.
Malaysian Super League champions Darul Ta'zim took the lead in the 11th minute through Safiq Rahim, who headed in his eighth goal of the competition after Bengaluru goalkeeper Amrinder Singh failed to hold on to Safee's shot.
Bengaluru's Sunil Chhetri hit the crossbar from a narrow angle after the ball fizzed across the Darul Ta'zim penalty box several times but Bengaluru equalised five minutes before the break.
Chhetri found the target when he escaped the attention of Aidil Zafuan Radzak to head in Eugeneson Lyngdoh's corner-kick.
Shortly after Darul Ta'zim replaced Amirulhadi with holding midfielder Gary Steven Robbat, Bengaluru struck again to go up 2-1 in the 67th minute.
Receiving the ball with his back to goal outside the box, Chettri turned to unleash a dipping shot which gave Izhan Tarmizi Roslan no chance of saving it.
Chhetri was denied his hat-trick by a Marcos Antonio Santos block after the Darul Ta'zim defence was stretched before Juan Antonio's flicked header from Lyngdoh's free-kick flew past Izham for 3-1 with 15 minutes remaining.