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Asian Champions League: Holders Al Ittihad draw opener [Thu Sep 15th, 2005]
Kuala Lumpur (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's Al Ittihad earned a 1-1 draw away to China's Shandong Luneng in the first leg of their Asian Champions League quarter-final.
Playing for the first time in the competition having been given a bye in the preliminary rounds, defending champions Al Ittihad took the lead in the 48th minute through Mohammed Noor, only for Li Xiaopeng to equalise six minutes later.
South Korean side Pusan I-cons thrashed Qatar's Al Sadd 3-0 at home in their first leg encounter to maintain their 100 percent record in the 2005 competition.
Pusan, who won all their preliminary group matches under English coach Ian Porterfield, scored two goals in the final minutes to give Bora Milutinovic's side a mountain to climb for the second leg in Doha in a week's time.
Brazilian Da Silva opened the scoring for Pusan in the 20th minute by heading home Denis Laktionov's cross.
The Koreans continued to press forward after the break, with the Qataris happy to defend and take a 1-0 deficit back home for the second leg.
HOPES DESTROYED
But their hopes were destroyed in the final stages as Pusan took advantage of the 80th-minute dismissal of Al Sadd's Ali Nasser Saleh, sent off for showing his studs to Popo.
With two minutes left, Da Silva made it 2-0 and defender Yoo Hee-jun added a third in injury time.
Saudi Arabia emerged winners over China a second time after Al Ahli beat Shenzhen Jianlibao 2-1 in a match that featured two own goals in Jeddah.
After Rogerio had given Al Ahli a 63rd-minute lead, a headed own goal from Naif Al Qadi in the 76th minute levelled matters for the Chinese. However, skipper Yang Chen put through his own net three minutes from time to hand victory to the Saudis, who will not be relishing their trip to Shenzhen next week.
An own goal was also the highlight of the other quarter-final in which United Arab Emirates' Al Ain grabbed a 1-1 home draw against Iran's Pas.
Arash Bohrani gave Pas the lead after 10 minutes, but fellow Iranian international Mohammad Nosrati handed 2003 champions Al Ain a lifeline when he sliced an attempted clearance into his own net three minutes before the break.
Pas had goalkeeper Hassan Roudbarian sent off 10 minutes into the second half for handling outside the box, but the home side failed to take advantage of their numerical superiority.
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