FC Seoul scored a late equalizer to hold Guangzhou Evergrande to a 2-2 draw in the opening leg of the AFC Champions League final at home on Saturday.
At Seoul World Cup Stadium, striker Dejan Damjanovic scored the tying goal in the 82nd minute, saving the reigning K League Classic champion from the brink of a defeat.
The 2013 Asian club champion will be determined on the aggregate score after the second leg on Nov. 9 in Guangzhou. With Guangzhou ahead 2-1 on a second-half go-ahead score by Gao Lin, Damjanovic received a cross from Sergio Escudero and took a low shot as he fell to the ground, just past the diving goalkeeper Zeng Cheng.
Both FC Seoul and Guangzhou are seeking their first AFC Champions League title. FC Seoul is the fifth consecutive South Korean club to reach the AFC final. Guangzhou is trying to win China’s first Asian club title since Liaoning won the Asian Club Championship, the predecessor of the AFC Champions League, in 1990.
FC Seoul won the domestic K League Classic last year. Guangzhou secured its third consecutive Chinese Super League title earlier this month.
After the teams traded a goal apiece in the first half, Gao Lin netted the go-ahead goal for Guangzhou in the 58th minute, with a deft redirection on a Sun Xiang cross.
FC Seoul scrambled to draw even midway through the second half. In the 65th, Dejan Damjanovic took a feed from Sergio Escudero deep in the Guangzhou zone, but goalkeeper Zeng Cheng denied the FC Seoul striker from a point blank range. Nine minutes later, fullback Choi Hyo-jin penetrated on the right wing but his hard shot went off the right side of the net. (Yonhap News)
