Guangzhou’s Elkeson De Oliveira Cardoso celebrates after scoring a goal against Qatar’s Lekhwaiya during their AFC Champions League quarter-final match at the Abdullah Bin Khalifa Stadium in Doha, yesterday.
Doha: Two goals in two first half minutes effectively sealed Guangzhou Evergrande’s passage to the semi-finals of the AFC Champions League as Marcello Lippi’s side completed a 6-1 aggregate win with a comprehensive 4-1 success over Lekhwiya yesterday.
Dario Conca and Elkeson – who both also struck in the first leg in Guangzhou in August – scored in the 14th and 16th minutes to end the game as a contest and ensure Guangzhou become the first Chinese semi-finalists in the AFC Champions League since Shenzhen Jianlibao in 2005.
Muriqui added a third to claim his tournament-leading ninth goal of the campaign in the 31st minute as Guangzhou showed their class in the opening half before Nam Tae-hee netted a consolation for the home side five minutes into the second period and Elkeson claimed his second – and his side’s fourth – in the 72nd minute.
Guangzhou had few problems against a Lekhwiya side that struggled to match the quality of the Chinese side’s South American front three and Lippi’s team will go into next week’s semi-final in a confident frame of mind after a commanding performance.
Agencies
