The Filipino club started the brighter at Tianjin Olympic Sports Center Stadium and had the best chance of the early exchanges when Stephan Schrock’s volley was well saved by Zhang Lu.
But against the run of play it was the home side who took the lead after 18 minutes. Axel Witsel’s shot from the edge of the box could only be palmed out for a corner, from which Modeste towered above the Ceres defence to smash home a powerful header.
All three of Tianjin Quanjian’s international stars were involved in their second, with Witsel’s header in midfield finding Alexandre Pato who expertly cushioned the ball over the top of the Ceres-Negros defence to play in Modeste, who made no mistake with just goalkeeper Toni Doblas to beat.
The win for Tianjin Quanjian sees them join Hong Kong’s Kitchee, Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors of Korea Republic and the winners of Japan’s Kashiwa Reysol and Thailand’s Muangthong United in Group E, with their first match at home to Kitchee in two weeks.