Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Kashiwa: A late goal from Alexandre Pato earned a valuable point for Tianjin Quanjian against Kashiwa Reysol in a 1-1 draw on Matchday Two of the 2018 AFC Champions League on Tuesday.
The visitors, coming off a win against Kitchee on Matchday One, almost took an early lead at the Kashiwa Soccer Stadium when Anthony Modeste’s header from a Kwon Kyung-won long throw glanced just wide of the far post in the fourth minute.
Kashiwa Reysol’s Brazilian striker Cristiano should have opened the scoring midway through the first half when Liu Yiming caught Ataru Esaka with a high boot in the box, with the referee duly pointing to the spot. But the 31-year-old Brazilian saw his penalty well saved by Zhang Lu.
Paulo Sousa’s men were unlucky not to go into half-time with scores even after Pato, who started on the bench, saw his shot deflected by Kosuke Nakamura onto the crossbar with the last kick of the half.
After spurning his chance in the first half, Cristiano made no mistake with his next attempt, however, with a sensational volley early in the second half to fire the home side into the lead.
That looked like it would be enough for the home side to take all three points, but Pato had other ideas and fired the visitors level after Modeste’s shot was saved by Nakamura into the path of Pato who made no mistake with an open net in front of him.