Melbourne Victory head coach Kevin Muscat rued the early goals his side conceded in a 4-0 loss to Guangzhou Evergrande in the AFC Champions League.
Anderson Talisca scored a brace inside 10 minutes in the Group F clash at Tianhe Stadium on Wednesday, putting Victory on the back foot.
Yang Liyu struck before half-time and an unfortunate Leigh Broxham own goal sealed Guangzhou’s win.
Speaking at a post-match news conference, Muscat discussed Victory’s defeat and the remainder of its campaign.
on the performance…
“We have no complaints. We were beaten by the better team on the night. To concede two goals in the first 10 minutes, it became very, very difficult from there.”
on Guangzhou and Talisca…
“In this competition, you play against some very good individuals. Guangzhou is a good team, but they also have some very talented individuals. The first goal, with the header, he’s scored this season a few goals from the same action, we were aware of this, such was the quality, we didn’t deal with it. His second goal was world class and after that, it was going to be a long night, very difficult night for us.”
on the rest of the AFC Champions League…
“We will still compete, we will still fight. Of course, it becomes very difficult to qualify now, but we’re also playing at the end of our season so we have important domestic games, but we will respect the Champions League and fight.”
