Guangzhou: Former winners Guangzhou Evergrande secured a return to the semi-finals of the AFC Champions League after an entertaining 1-1 draw with Japan’s Kashiwa Reysol in Tuesday’s quarter-final second leg sealed a 4-2 aggregate victory for the Chinese Super League champions.
Kashiwa reduced Guangzhou’s 3-1 advantage from last month’s first leg in Japan after just 13 minutes at the Tianhe Sport Centre Stadium courtesy of a header from Brazilian striker Cristiano.
But after midfielder Huang Bowen equalised for the 2013 champions with a stunning volley 15 minutes before half-time, Luiz Felipe Scolari’s Guangzhou set up a semi-final meeting with either Japan’s Gamba Osaka or Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors despite the best efforts of the hard-working Japanese visitors.
Looking to defend a significant advantage from last month’s first leg, Guangzhou coach Scolari made just one change to his side with Elkeson replacing Gao Lin after the Brazilian striker made a scoring return from injury in the Chinese Super League at the weekend.
And needing to score three goals to keep their qualification hopes alive, Kashiwa coach Tatsuma Yoshida made two changes from the first leg defeat with captain Hidekazu Otani and defender Ryosuke Yamanaka recalled at the expense of Yuta Nakayama and Masato Fujita.
And it was Yoshida’s side who opened the scoring after just 13 minutes as Cristiano guided Akimi Barada’s right wing free-kick into the bottom corner with a glancing downward header from inside of the penalty area.
Guangzhou pressed for an instant response and went close through Zheng Long seven minutes later, although Scolari’s side were still in possession of a two-goal cushion after netting three away goals in Japan.
But the home side levelled the scores on the night in spectacular fashion 15 minutes before half-time as Zheng Zhi’s cross found Huang just outside of the penalty area and the midfielder unleashed an unstoppable volley into the top corner past Kashiwa goalkeeper Takanori Sugeno, although it still left Kashiwa needing to score twice more to force extra-time.
And Kashiwa came close to halving that deficit seven minutes into the second half through Yusuke Kobayashi only for captain Zheng and defender Zhang Linpeng to block on the edge of the six yard box after Guangzhou had struggled to clear the ball out of their own penalty area.
Cristiano then headed over just before the hour mark having been left unmarked inside the penalty area before Guangzhou goalkeeper Zeng Cheng had to be alert soon after to push Daisuke Suzuki’s header over the crossbar.
But still needing to score two goals inside the final half an hour, Kashiwa coach Yoshida introduced striker Ederson at the expense of midfielder Kobayashi as the Brazilian joined Masato Kudo and Kosuke Taketomi in a three-pronged attack to add pressure to a Guangzhou defence now without regular right-back Zhang who was forced off due to injury.
Kashiwa goalkeeper Sugeno was forced into a sprawling save from Guangzhou substitute Yu Hanchao with just over 10 minutes remaining to keep the visitors in the contest before Cheng maintained Guangzhou’s advantage by unconvincingly pushing Cristiano’s ambitious long-range effort pushed around the post.
The visitors were handed five minutes of extra-time at the end of the second half, but Kashiwa were unable to find a way back into the contest having been knocked out in the 2013 semi-finals by eventual champions Guangzhou.
SCOLARI SATISFIED WITH HARD-FOUGHT DISPLAY
Guangzhou: Coach Luiz Felipe Scolari lauded a hard-fought display as former winners Guangzhou Evergrande secured a place in the semi-finals of the AFC Champions League following a 1-1 draw with Japan’s Kashiwa Reysol in Wednesday’s quarter-final second leg.
Chinese Super League champions Guangzhou were already in a strong position ahead of kick-off at Tianhe Sport Centre Stadium having won last month’s first leg 3-1 in Japan, although Kashiwa quickly set about their task of reducing that advantage as Brazilian striker Cristiano headed home after just 13 minutes.
Midfielder Huang Bowen did restore parity on the night with another goal of the tournament contender with a stunning 30th minute volley having netted an equally eye-catching strike in May’s Round of 16 first leg defeat by Korea Republic’s Seongnam FC.
That left Kashiwa still needing to score two more goals to just force extra-time, and despite several nervous moments, Guangzhou sealed their progress after completing a 4-2 aggregate victory with either Japan’s Gamba Osaka or Korea Republic’s Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors awaiting in the semi-finals.
“The game went exactly as we expected,” said Scolar (pictured)i, having seen Guangzhou also move to the top of the Super League following a 3-0 win over Shanghai SIPG at the weekend.
“The quality of the game was good as Kashiwa are a strong team.
“We only played Shanghai SIPG at the weekend and we were struggling with our stamina, but Kashiwa still played very well and with quality and their performance was great.”
Scolari, though, did confirm defender Zhang Linpeng will require five to six stiches to a leg injury which forced the right-back off just after the hour mark.
Guangzhou will host the first leg of their semi-final tie with either 2008 champions Gamba or 2006 winners Jeonbuk, who meet in their second leg in Japan on Wednesday with the tie currently level on aggregate following a goalless draw last month, in two weeks.
And Guangzhou will be hoping for more of the same from midfielder Huang after the midfielder stood out in a strong central midfield trio also containing captain Zheng Zhi and Brazilian midfielder Paulinho.
Having unleashed an unstoppable vicious strike from 30 yards in May’s defeat by Seongnam, which represents the last time Guangzhou tasted a loss in any competition, Huang’s effort against Kashiwa was equally as impressive as the midfielder volleyed into the top corner from the edge of the area following a cross from Zheng.
“It was a difficult match against a respected opponent and we played a wonderful game,” said 2013 AFC Champions League winner Huang.
“Now we have qualified for the next round we will look to perform better in future games.”
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