Guangzhou pegged back by late strike
Print Edition
A LATE equalizer from Dejan Damjanovic gave host FC Seoul a 2-2 draw against Guangzhou Evergrande of China in the first leg of the Asian Champions League final yesterday.
With Marcello Lippi’s Guangzhou heading for a crucial away victory, the Montenegro international leveled with eight minutes remaining in front of 55,000 fans in the South Korean capital.
Damjanovic was also involved in Seoul’s opener after 11 minutes, setting up Sergio Escudero to coolly roll the ball past goalkeeper Zeng Chang.
Guangzhou pulled level in the 29th when Brazilian striker Elkeson headed home a corner. The big-spending Chinese champion continued to attack and took the lead on the hour as China international Gao Lin poked home from close range.
Evergrande is trying to become China’s first winner of the region’s premier club tournament,
Lippi, looking to become the first coach to win the premier club competitions of both Europe and Asia, was satisfied with the outcome.
“It was the right result for this game,” said the Italian 2006 World Cup winning coach. “It was a well-fought game. Seoul is a good attacking team. We caused Seoul problems and created opportunities that we would usually expect to score from but this time we could not.”
The two away goals leave Guangzhou in a strong position heading into the November 9 second leg in China.
“Those two goals are very important and we can’t deny that,” Lippi said.
Seoul is trying to become the fourth Korean team to lift the trophy in five years.
“It was the kind of game you want to see in the Asian Champions League final though we didn’t the result we wanted,” Seoul coach Choi Yong-soo said.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
