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Diamanti sparkles as Guangzhou rallies to Victory
Print Edition
New signing Alessandro Diamanti starred with two magical strikes as AFC Champions League title-holder Guangzhou Evergrande fought back from two goals down to beat Melbourne Victory 4-2 last night.
In a dream debut, the 30-year-old Italian international inspired a rousing second-half comeback as the Marcello Lippi-led Chinese champion opened its trophy defense in style.
The departure of influential midfielder Dario Conca had raised questions about Guangzhou but his replacement, Diamanti, quickly settled those doubts with a memorable performance at a packed Tianhe stadium.
First-half goals from Pablo Contreras and Leigh Broxham threatened a huge upset in Group G but after the break, Guangzhou scored four sparkling goals in 26 minutes through Huang Bowen, Elkeson and Diamanti.
With the home crowd still in a state of shock, Lippi’s men returned from the break fired up. Diamanti had a hand in Guangzhou’s first goal when he fed Luo Jiacheng for a cross which was emphatically volleyed into the net by Huang, a goal which was every bit the equal of Broxham’s strike earlier.
And the Italian made it 2-2 when, after timid defensive work from Victory’s Adama Traore, he turned and hammered a fierce shot on his favored left foot past static goalkeeper Nathan Coe.
Brazilian Elkeson put the champion 3-2 ahead when he brilliantly controlled a long, high ball from the halfway line on his chest and squirmed a low shot through the legs of Nicholas Ansell.
Victory looked a beaten team but Diamanti made sure of the win when he effortlessly shimmied past Contreras and prodded a pin-point strike.
Earlier, Australian debutante Western Sydney Wanderers had a harsh welcome to the competition when it threw away an early lead to lose 1-3 at home to 2012 champion Ulsan Hyundai.
Also in Group H, Brazilian midfielder scored from a first-half free-kick as Japan’s Kawasaki Frontale kick-started its campaign with a 1-0 home win over Guizhou Renhe of China.
And in the other Group G game, 2006 winner Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors scored three times in 10 second-half minutes to beat Japan’s Yokohama F Marinos 3-0.
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