Beijing FC strolled to a convincing 3-1 win against Melbourne Victory in Group E of the 2020 AFC Champions League yesterday.
Bruno Genesio’s men went into the game with a 100% record from two games, while the Australian side had won their opener in February, going on to lose their second game a week later.
Renato Augusto (pictured below) opened the scoring midway through the first half after he had initially played teammate Jonathan Viera in, the Spaniard dribbled through the defence before cutting back to Augusto and the latter made no mistake placing the shot to keeper Matthew Acton’s left far to put Beijing FC in front.
Alan doubled the score just over 10 minutes later with a magnificently placed header after Augusto whipped in a cross from the left flank from a blistering counter-attack by the Chinese Super League side.
The Melbourne-based team looked to claw back straight after through Leigh Broxham, who managed to let fly with a volley from outside Beijing FC’s 18 yard box though it didn’t present much in the way of danger.
Acton was called into action again five minutes into the second half when Viera tested him from range with a placed shot from outside the area after he had received a pass from Augusto, which the Australian keeper fisted out for a corner kick.
Victory upped the ante just past the hour mark with substitutes Gianlica Ianucci and Jay Barnett having their shots blocked, while Nicholas Ansell hit the post with a header a minute later as Jake Brimmer put in a number of exceptional passes to create those chances – and Chinese keeper Hou Sen doing well to keep the ball out of his net.
The game was killed off as a contest when substitute Wang Ziming fired a low shot into the bottom left corner just four minutes after coming onto the pitch, after receiving the ball from Ba Dun, who had also come on a few minutes earlier, to make the score 3-0 a little over 15 minutes from time. Substitute Elvis Kamsoba managed to intercept the ball and start an attack for Melbourne Victory, culminating in Ianucci firing a shot in from range that was deflected by Kim Min-jae into his own net.
The result leaves Beijing FC at the helm of Group E with nine points from three games, while Melbourne Victory remain in third place on three points with the two teams facing off again in three days.
Beijing FC’s Renato Augusto (left) in action during the AFC Champions League Group E match against Melbourne Victory at Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium yesterday. PICTURE: Noushad Thekkayil
