The legend of Teerasil Dangda continues to grow, this time with maiden ASEAN Club Championship goal

For more than the past decade, Teerasil Dangda has been widely regarded as the deadliest striker in Southeast Asian football.

With 25 goals, he is the top scorer in the history of the ASEAN Championship -- the region's premier international tournament where he is also a five-time golden boot winner.

Earlier this month, he scored his 145th goal in Thai League 1 to become the competition's second-highest scorer -- now trailing record holder Heberty by 14.

He is also behind just one other -- the legendary Kiatisuk Senamuang -- in the list of Thailand's all-time top scorers, with a respectable tally of 64 goals from 128 caps.

He has scored in FIFA World Cup qualifiers, at the AFC Asian Cup, and even has a goal in Europe during a year-long loan at then-LaLiga outfit Almería.

On Wednesday, he added another milestone to his undeniably stellar career -- a first goal in the ASEAN Club Championship.

There is an obvious reason why he has never done so in the past.

With the ASEAN Club Championship returning after a 20-year hiatus, Teerasil was merely 17 when the tournament was last held -- in the debut season of his professional career.

Even then, he would score three goals in six appearances for the now-defunct Air Force United in the second tier of Thai football to give the first hint of the prolific scorer that was to come.

Two decades on, and now a less-sprightly 36-year-old, Teerasil continues to do what he does best.

Having sat out BG Pathum United's campaign opener last month -- a 0-0 draw with PSM Makassar -- Teerasil marked his ASEAN Club Championship debut on Wednesday by popping up with a 63rd-minute winner to seal a 2-1 victory over Preah Khan Reach Svay Rieng.

From unstoppable long-range strikes to mesmerising solo efforts and towering headers, he has scored far more spectacular efforts in his career.

This was not one of those. In fact, it might even be the scrappiest.

As Chanathip Songkrasin found space down the left and slid a pass back across the six-yard box, Teerasil had a covering defender right in his face. Even if he got to the ball first, there was virtually no imaginable path or angle which he could get a shot away that could possibly beat Preah Khan Reach goalkeeper Vireak Dara.

Still, inside the penalty area, Teerasil sees things that others do not.

Instinctively sticking out his left foot, he not only managed to reach the ball a split second before Takashi Odawara could slam the door shut in his face but also found the one route to guide the ball past Dara -- by scuffing the shot that trickled agonisingly slowly on the ground but still made its way over the line.

By the time the ball had nestled into the bottom corner, Teerasil had landed face first onto the turf -- highlighting how awkward a position he had contorted his body just so he could divert the ball home.

There have been far more glamorous sights of him, yet -- as he gingerly got back on his feet and celebrated seemingly in relief rather than in joy -- he had done it again.

He may no longer but the force of nature that he once was, and it is obvious that his story has entered its final chapters.

When his team needs it the most, however, Teerasil almost always manages to put the ball into the back of net in whatever way possible.

It is an uncanny ability that has seen him score goals in every competition he plays in. And it is a legacy that has now carried on into the ASEAN Club Championship.