Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Guangzhou: Coach Luiz Felipe Scolari declared himself satisfied with Guangzhou Evergrande’s performance against “one of the best teams in the AFC Champions League” after Wednesday’s narrow 2-1 victory over Japanese treble-winners Gamba Osaka in their semi-final first leg at Tianhe Sport Centre Stadium.
Coming into the tie unbeaten in their last eight games in the competition, 2008 winners Gamba took the lead on 12 minutes through Feng Xiaoting’s own goal only for Guangzhou to respond strongly and score an equaliser as Huang Bowen netted his third of the tournament before the interval.
The hosts continued to look the stronger in the second half and took the lead 12 minutes after the re-start through captain Zheng Zhi, who scored his first of the 2015 continental campaign with a header from Elkeson’s cross.
No further goals were forthcoming, despite Guangzhou’s best efforts, and the tie is delicately poised ahead of the return visit in Osaka on October 21.
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