DOHA (Qatar): Beijing FC almost confirmed their place in the last-16 of the AFC Champions League after a convincing 3-1 win against Melbourne Victory on Tuesday in a Group E match.
Bruno Genesio’s men extended their perfect record to three from as many games while while the Australian side had won their opener in February but lost their second game a week later.
Renato Augusto 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.
Another Chinese side Shanghai Shenhua also improved their chances of qualification from Group F with their second win in three matches, edging past FC Tokyo 1-0, courtesy of a late penalty.
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.
