Daniel Colindres scored one and set up another for Nabib Newaz Jibon as Abahani moved into the final of the Riviera Independence Cup with a 2-0 win over Saif Sporting Club in the first semifinal at the Birshreshtha Shaheed Mostafa Kamal Stadium in Kamalapur yesterday.

The former Bashundhara Kings forward, who returned to the country at the start of season signing for Abahani, made the difference in a slugfest which lacked quality in the attacking third.

The Costa Rican will face his former club in the final on Saturday after defending champions Kings edged Bangladesh Police FC 2-1 in a highly-entertaining second semifinal later last night.

Abahani's win took them to their first Independence Cup final since 2016 as the Dhanmondi giants look for the title of the prestigious tournament for the second time in their history and first time since 1990.

The club's coach Mario Lemos, who will be standing in his first final since taking charge of the Sky Blues in 2018, was satisfied with the performance and especially those of Colindres, Jibon and player-of-the-match Raphael Augusto.

"Colindres is a quality player. He can make the difference in the attacking third with his movements and passing. He can also score important goals for the team," the Portuguese said at the post-match press conference.

Abahani found the going tough early on as Saif looked more threatening, especially down the flanks where Faysal Ahmed Fahim and Sunday Udoh were pretty impressive.

Sunday had a chance to break the deadlock when Nasurul Islam's long-ball found him in space down the right, but the Nigerian teed up the ball for Asror Gafurov, who spent too much time on the ball as the opportunity went begging.

Then on 25 minutes came a moment of magic from Colindres, who stepped up to take a free-kick from 22 yards out after Rakib Hossain was brought down by Saif defender Saddam Hossain.

The Costa Rican curled the ball past the wall and into the right corner of the net, giving no chance to Mitul Hossain at Saif's goal.

Rakib then got on the end of a through-ball from Jibon at the stroke of half-time but the national team winger blasted the ball over the bar with plenty of support waiting inside the box.

Meraj Hossain tested Abahani goalkeeper Mahfuz Hasan Pritom with a flick in the 68th minute before Emon Mahmud's stabbed effort was blocked by a Saif defender in the 74th minute.

Colindres wrapped up Abahani's victory with another free-kick in the 82nd minute, this time the Costa Rican teeing up Jibon with a floating effort to poke at the near post.

Meanwhile, Yeasin Arafat scored in the penultimate minute of extra time to lead Kings to their second successive Independence Cup final.

The national team left-back directed Mahbubur Rahman Sufil's downward header on a corner from Robson Robinho into the top corner of the net with one minute of extra time remaining as the game looked set for a tiebreaker following a 1-1 draw in regulation time.

Danilo Augusto had given Police FC an eighth-minute lead with a towering header on a free-kick from Adil Kouskous but Mohmmad Ibrahim brought the defending champions back in the game with a clever finish from inside the box on the half-hour mark.