Melbourne Victory held Chinese giant Guangzhou Evergrande to a 1-1 draw in the AFC Champions League on Tuesday.
Summary
A much-changed Victory produced a fine performance at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, earning its first point in Group F.
Jai Ingham cancelled out Huang Bowen’s opener in the first half as the teams played out an entertaining draw.
Victory made a bright start and went close twice in the opening 12 minutes.
Storm Roux had a header tipped over the crossbar by Guangzhou goalkeeper Liu Dianzuo inside a minute, before Kenny Athiu put a Terry Antonis pass wide.
Victory continued to enjoy the better of the opportunities, Antonis forcing Liu to push away a 25-yard strike in the 17th minute.
Somewhat against the run of play, Guangzhou took the lead in the 24th minute, Huang tucking away a cutback from former Barcelona and Tottenham midfielder Paulinho.
However, Victory equalised just two minutes later through Ingham’s third AFC Champions League goal.
Antonis’ pass was cut out but fell to Ingham, who finished calmly past Liu from inside the area to make it 1-1.
Anderson Talisca squandered a great chance for Guangzhou on the half-hour mark as the teams went into the break level.
Victory produced some desperate defending to begin the second half as Guangzhou pushed.
But there were few clear-cut chances, although Victory goalkeeper Lawrence Thomas did push away a Huang effort in the 66th minute.
Victory was inches away from taking the lead 11 minutes later, Antonis’ 30-yard effort flying just wide after Ingham’s good work down the left.
Jack Palazzolo, 18, made his senior debut off the bench for Victory, while both teams had late chances.
Paulinho headed a Huang set-piece wide before Athiu was denied by a last-ditch challenge after an Elvis Kamsoba through ball.
Player in focus
Key moment
Result
AFC Champions League 2019 Match Day 4
Melbourne Victory 1 (Jai Ingham 26′)
Guangzhou Evergrande 1 (Huang Bowen 24′)
Melbourne Victory: Thomas (gk); Roux, Donachie, Deng, Brown; Kamsoba, Hope (Akbari 80′), Valeri (c) (Lesiotis 73′), Antonis, Ingham (Palazzolo 85′); Athiu.
Guangzhou Evergrande: Liu (gk); Zhang, Browning, Park, Gao Zhunyi (Li 77′); Huang; Talisca, He (Yan 68′), Paulinho, Gao Lin (c) (Yu 61′); Yang.
Yellow cards: Roux 63′, Lesiotis 80′
Red cards: Nil
Attendance: TBA
Venue: Melbourne Rectangular Stadium
Next up
Victory plays its final game of the Hyundai A-League regular season against the Western Sydney Wanderers at ANZ Stadium on Saturday, April 27.
