Big spending Guangzhou playing for Champs League survival

Guangzhou Evergrande has spent over USD100 million since 2010 on Italian coaches like Marcello Lippi and Fabio Cannavaro and on South American talent such as Dario Conca and Ricardo Goulart, so leaving the 2015 Asian Champions League at the second round stage is certainly not part of the plan.
Cantonese club, which has won the last four Chinese Super League titles and the 2013 continental crown, said goodbye to Lippi in November 2014 as the World Cup-winning coach returned to Europe after two and a half years of success. Cannavaro, the 2006 World Cup-winning captain was hired as his replacement.
Under Cannavaro, Guangzhou topped a tough group in round one of the Asian Champions League, eliminating the 2014 champion Western Sydney Wanderers along the way.
The first leg of the knockout stage did not go to plan however as, last Wednesday, the cashed-up Chinese club lost the first leg to South Korea’s Seongnam FC 2-1. The mid-table K-League team won the game thanks to a controversial penalty in the 96th minute after Guangzhou had a player sent off earlier in the second half.
At home on Wednesday, Guangzhou needs a win to stay in the competition. After reaching at least the quarterfinals in all three of its previous appearances, bowing out at this stage would be perceived as failure in Cannavaro’s debut season as a head coach.
The former defender has told his players to channel the disappointment and frustration of the first leg in front of what should be a crowd of over 40,000 at the Tianhe Stadium.
“They are angry because it was a tough match and we had a red card and a penalty, but I trust they will use this anger in the second match when we play at home in Guangzhou,” Cannavaro said. “We scored an away goal and that is very important, and we will look to prepare and we will see who passes to the next round.” AP