Tue, 30 Nov, -0001
Melbourne: Melbourne Victory handed defending champions Guangzhou Evergrande a second straight defeat in Group G of the 2014 AFC champions League at Docklands Stadium on Tuesday as Mark Milligan and James Troisi struck to condemn Marcello Lippi’s side to a 2-0 defeat.
The loss follows on the heels of a 1-0 reversal against Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors on Matchday 4 and leaves the 2013 winners and reigning Chinese Super League champions needing to win their final game against Yokohama F Marinos to have any hope of a place in the knockout phase.
Milligan gave Melbourne the lead after just 80 seconds while Troisi struck in stoppage time at the end of the game to secure all three points and move Victory on to seven points alongside Guangzhou, while both teams are level on the head-to-head record after Guangzhou’s 4-2 win in their previous game at Tianhe Stadium.
Guangzhou, missing the injured Alessandro Diamanti and Gao Lin, who was suspended, struggled to find any fluency against a Melbourne side that harried and hassled them in midfield and fully deserved a win that was also secured thanks to an impressive display by goalkeeper Nathan Coe.
Milligan gave the home side the lead in the second minute when he stole the ball off Zhao Xuri inside the Guangzhou half before laying off to Jesse Makarounas, and his return pass into the area split the Chinese side’s defence and allowed Milligan to stab the ball beyond Zeng Cheng.
Kosta Barbarouses should have doubled the home side’s lead 11 minutes later when he beat the Guangzhou offside trap to race in on goal, only for Zeng to keep his shot out with his legs.
Midway through the first half Lippi hauled off Zhao Xuri, replacing him with Rong Hao in an attempt shore up the middle and the move introduced some stability for the champions. Within six minutes, Elkeson (Elkeson de Oliveira Cardoso) was in position to level the scores, only to see his miss-hit effort blocked by the defence.
Another gilt-edged opportunity went astray just after the half-hour mark when Muriqui (Luiz Guilherme da Conceição Silva) was denied by Coe, the goalkeeper using his feet to keep out the Brazilian’s effort as he raced in on goal.
At the other end, Zeng twice kept out efforts from Barbarouses as the half came to a close.
Guangzhou captain Zheng Zhi made way at half time for Mei Feng, but the change made little difference as the holders continued to struggle. Makarounas shot straight at Zeng eight minutes after the restart and, just two minutes later, Connor Pain fired his effort wide.
As Guangzhou grew increasingly desperate, Coe came to Melbourne’s rescue, once again denying Muriqui in a one-on-one situation in the 72nd minute and keeping out substitute Feng Renliang’s shot six minutes later.
Muriqui was again kept at bay in the 80th minute and, with the clock ticking into injury time, Troisi put the result beyond any doubt with a side-footed finish from close range to revive Melbourne’s hopes of a place in the Round of 16.
Photo: WSG