In the 5th round of the AFC Champions League, Guangzhou Evergrande, who had suffered four consecutive defeats, faced Sakura Osaka and lost 0-5, suffering an unprecedented five consecutive defeats and failing to hit the target in three consecutive matches. Evergrande followed Beijing Guoan into the ranks of big losses!
In the 32nd minute, Osaka Cereals' Rikuji Kato made it 1-0 with a clever shot from outside the box, and at the start of the second half, Taiji Matsumoto scored unassisted to give Osaka Cereals a 2-0 lead. In the 66th minute, Guangzhou Evergrande's back line made another mistake and Pagnusat scored with a header to extend Sakura Osaka's lead 3-0. Immediately after, in the 71st minute, Taishi Matsumoto added another goal to give Cerezo Osaka a 4-0 lead over Guangzhou Evergrande.
As the match entered extra time, Guangzhou Evergrande lost an offside foul and Rikuji Kato took advantage of the situation to score twice in a single goal, resulting in Guangzhou Evergrande losing to Sakura Osaka by a score of 0-5. Although Guangzhou Evergrande had previously lost four consecutive matches, two of them were by scores of 0-1, 0-2 and 0-3, which is not too much of a loss, relatively speaking. However, Beijing Guoan suffered big losses like 0-5 and 0-7, and Guangzhou Evergrande seems to be on par with Guoan.
The only two Chinese Super League (CSL) teams in this season's AFC Champions League have made it to the main round, but both have been eliminated so far, and both have suffered big losses. Both teams have played nine matches so far, with only Guoan earning a point in the first round. Although both teams have fielded young squads to make way for the Top 12 and the Chinese Super League, the results have been disappointing, and will have an impact on the allocation of places in the AFC Champions League for subsequent Chinese Super League teams.
