Asian Champions League | Guangzhou Evergrande denied victory by late penalty

Big-spending Chinese club Guangzhou Evergrande was held to a 1-1 draw in the Asian Champions League this week after conceding an injury-time penalty against Japanese team Kawasaki Frontale.

Yu Kobayashi scored from the spot five minutes into injury time at Tianhe Stadium after Yu Hanchao had handled in the area.

Guangzhou, the six-time defending Chinese league champions coached by Luiz Felipe Scolari, took the lead in the first half of the Group G match when Brazilian midfielder Alan Carvalho scored from the edge of the area — his third goal in as many ACL games.

“Normally we could score two or three goals to win the match in such an occasion like tonight, but unfortunately we couldn’t score even one more goal to clinch the victory,” Scolari was quoted as saying by Xinhua.

Guangzhou and Suwon Bluewings each have five points in the group. The South Korean club beat Hong Kong team Eastern SC 1-0.

In a Group E match in Japan, Kashima Antlers beat Brisbane Roar 3-0, leaving the Australian club at the bottom of the standings with one point and a minus-9 goal differential. The three Australian clubs in the tournament have yet to register a win in this year’s competition.

Brisbane coach John Aloisi said that despite the score, he felt the Roar played well. AP

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