Kitchee brushed aside by Tianjin in their opening match of AFC Champions League
Hong Kong club suffer stage fright at first but can be encouraged by their second-half display
Hong Kong side Kitchee suffered first-half stage fright in their 3-0 away defeat by Tianjin Quanjian in their opening AFC Champions League match in Tianjin on Tuesday night.
After conceding first-half goals from Anthony Modeste, an own goal from Paulinho and Sun Ke’s 39th minute strike, Kitchee turned in a much better second half performance but goals proved elusive.
They had a chance to score four minutes from time but failed to find the back of the net as they began their campaign in Asia’s most prestigious regional club competition on a shaky note.
Not even the presence of former Uruguay international Diego Forlan could lift Kitchee, who will be struggling for points in group E judging by how they failed to contain a rampant Tianjin forward line in the first half.