The Western Sydney Wanderers will take a 1-0 aggregate lead into the second leg of their Asian Champions League quarter final after a remarkable match against ACL Champions Guangzhou Evergrande were beaten by a goal to Antony Golec, followed by finishing the match with just 9 men on the park.
Golec claimed the winner on the hour mark, cutting inside from the left flank before delivering a low cross that beat everyone including the Chinese goalkeeper, who was frozen by the run of Tomi Juric, before nestling into the bottom right hand corner.
Evergrande saw two red cards and their World Cup winning manager Marcello Lippi may face further sanctions as chaos reigned following the dismissals of Zeng Linpeng in the 88th minute and Gao Lin in the 90th.
Shannon Cole has the best chance of the first half, after Haliti stormed down the wing he put a wonderful cross that beat the leaping Evergrande defence, only to see Cole glance the header wide when he should have put his side in front. Liao Lisheng smacked a ball moments before the break that Covic turned away.
The second half was all Wanderers from the opening stages, Tomi Juric menacing the diminutive Chinese defenders and being the cause of the goal from Golec despite not getting a touch. Vitor Saba made his Parramatta Stadium debut and made an immediate impact, gliding around his opponents and drawing numerous fouls, while also showing an appetite for the hard defensive that he will require playing in the A-League for Western Sydney.
Chaos reigned in the last moments of the game, as Linpeng smashed La Rocca with an elbow and was shown a straight red, followed minutes later by compatriot Lin who kicked Vitor Saba in the face and quickly joined Linpeng for an early shower. At that point Lippi stormed onto the pitch and confronted the referee, who eventually regained control, denied Juric a penalty in the final seconds then ended the match.
The result means any draw or win for the Wanderers will see them through to the Semi-Final, while even a 2-1 loss would be enough to progress on away goals.
The Wanderers next match is Leg 2 of the Asian Champions League quarter finals against Guangzhou Evergrande, in China, played on Wednesday the 27th of August.
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