MELBOURNE — Brazilian striker Cesinha inspired a dream debut for Daegu FC in the AFC Champions League Tuesday while 2018 winners Kashima Antlers got their new campaign off to a winning start.
Cesinha scored a spectacular equalizer and had a hand in two more as the South Korean side came from behind in its first ever group stage match to stun Melbourne Victory 3-1 at Aami Park.
Reigning Asian champion Kashima prevailed 2-1 against a spirited Johor Darul Tazim of Malaysia, which was also making its debut at this level.
The home side’s goals came either side of half-time from Taiki Hirata and Serginho, who atoned for a first-half penalty miss with a fine curled left-foot finish in the 56th minute of the Group E encounter.
Diogo Luis Santos got Johor off the mark in the Champions League with a close-range finish on 80 minutes which prompted an unnecessarily nervy finale for Kashima, which had wasted a host of chances in front of goal to put the game beyond doubt.
Melbourne Victory took a first-half lead through big Swede Ola Toivonen after good work from Keisuke Honda and Kosta Barbarouses.
It took just two minutes for Cesinha to level when he thumped home a volley from outside the box after being set up by fellow Brazilian Edgar’s cushioned header.
Man of the Match Cesinha’s mazy run from half-way in the 51st minute found Hwang Soon-min on the left whose deflected shot looped over the stranded Lawrence Thomas in the Melbourne goal.
And Cesinha turned provider again 10 minutes later when his cross from the right was poked home as the tall Edgar snaked out a long right leg to stun the home fans into silence.
Emirati club Al-Wasl recorded its first Asian Champions League win in more than a decade when Fabio de Lima’s 62nd minute penalty helped them beat Saudi Arabia’s Al Nasr 1-0 in Dubai Tuesday.
The host was awarded the spot kick when striker Yousef Ahmed was brought down by Abdullah Madu inside the box, and Brazilian de Lima scored the only goal of the Group A match.
Al-Wasl had nothing to show for its campaign in last year’s tournament as it crashed out of the group stage in its first appearance in the competition since 2008.
However, it had the better of the exchanges the Zabeel Stadium and came close to scoring on a few occasions, de Lima himself firing high over the post early in the first half.
An attempt by Salem Al-Azizi from inside the box was saved by Al-Nasr’s Australia goalkeeper Brad Jones, before de Lima again missed the target late in the second half.
Elsewhere in the same group, Iraq’s Al-Zawraa grabbed a valuable away point with a goalless draw against Iran’s Zobahan.
Al-Zawraa’s appearance marked the first time an Iraqi club were taking part in the tournament since 2008 due to on and off-field issues and it acquitted itself very well against the vastly experienced Iranians.
In Group B, Lokomotiv of Uzbekistan beat the UAE’s Al-Wahda 2-0 in Tashkent.
Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ittihad, sounded an early warning by thrashing Qatar’s Al-Rayyan 5-1 in Tuesday’s second Group B match.
Gonzalo Viera had put Al-Rayyan ahead in the 23rd minute but Fahad Al-Muwallad equalized in the 45th minute and Abdulaziz Al-Aryani netted in first-half stoppage time to put the hosts ahead in Jeddah.
Ziyad Al-Sahafi and Abdulrahman al-Ghamdi added two more goals in the second half before Saudi Arabia international Al-Muwallad struck his second goal in the 78th minute to complete the rout for the two-time former winners. — Agencies
