Urawa Red Diamonds 2-0 Guangzhou Evergrande: Fabricio stunner seals semi-final advantage

Urawa Red Diamonds took control of the second AFC Champions League semi-final on Wednesday with a 2-0 first-leg win over Guangzhou Evergrande.

A stunning first-half strike from Fabricio set the home side on course for a deserved win in Saitama before Takahiro Sekine doubled their advantage 15 minutes from time.

Fabio Cannavaro’s Guangzhou mustered only one shot on target throughout the match, although they saw an away goal ruled out for offside after Paulinho stylishly set up Wei Shihao.

Fabricio’s thunderous finish from 25 yards out gave Urawa a first-half lead that they could have added to before the break had Ewerton and Sekine been more clinical.

An ambitious but wayward effort from Anderson Talisca summed up the efforts of the Chinese Super League leaders and they were 2-0 down when Sekine buried a fine finish into the bottom-left corner after Huang Bowen failed to clear a corner.

Wei’s potentially key away goal was chalked off for offside, leaving Guangzhou with a sizeable task in the second leg in three weeks.

It’s party time in the stands for @REDSOFFICIAL supporters after that Sekine rocket!#URAvGUA #ACL2019 pic.twitter.com/zkEvIfQEqa

— AFC Champions League (@TheAFCCL) October 2, 2019