Although the opponent scored one goal at the beginning of the first and second halves, from the perspective of the course of the game, Evergrande's performance compared to the first two games was still significantly improved. In particular, the 21-year-old young player Ning Haoxu played very eye-catching and showed a very strong personal ability, and the team's only 3 threatening shots came from his feet.
The focus of the fourth round of AFC Champions League Group I was played by Evergrande (Guangzhou) against South Korean powerhouse Ulsan Hyundai. At present, Evergrande is at the bottom of the three consecutive defeats in the group, and Ulsan is ranked third with one win, one draw and one loss. In the first leg of the match three days ago, although Evergrande lost 0-3, the team played its best performance since the competition, and goalkeeper He Lipan even entered the official best team with 9 saves in a single game.
Due to the group qualification, Ulsan did not have any carelessness in this game, and the starting lineup sent Park Joo-yong, Kostau, Yin Rilu and other absolute main players, And Evergrande's lineup remained basically unchanged, and the formation still used the previous 541.
Only 4 minutes into the first half, Yin Rilu took the ball in the penalty area and slightly adjusted an arcing ball to attack the goal, and goalkeeper He Lipan was unable to prevent the ball from entering the net despite making a save. From the process of conceding the ball, it can be seen that the Evergrande defender has obviously not entered the state a few minutes before the game, and there is no top defense against Yin Rilu, allowing the latter to easily get up. Goalkeeper He Lipan also made a mistake, and the save-type error caused the ball not to be saved.
In the 24th minute, Evergrande midfielder broke the ball and counterattacked quickly, Ning Haoxu stepped on the bicycle continuously, swung past the opposing defender and shot hard, only to be blocked by Ye Guochen, who suddenly ran to the front, wasting Ning Haoxu's high-quality shot. In the first half of stoppage time, Li Jiahao leaned on his opponent to hold the ball in front of the opponent's penalty area, and was pushed down by the opponent, winning a free kick opportunity for the team in a very good position. Yang Xin shot directly at goal, and the ball was slightly above the crossbar.
In the first 45 minutes, Evergrande was scored by the opponent first due to the lack of entry into the opening, but then quickly regained the defensive feeling of the previous game. The Ulsan team then attacked Evergrande, but it was difficult to help Evergrande's iron barrel array. Witnessing Evergrande's performance in the first half, blogger Chen Xiao praised: These children's performance in the AFC Champions League is getting better and better, and playing in the Chinese Super League feels like there is no problem!
In the 46th minute of the second half, Ning Haoxu took the ball outside the penalty area, changed direction to get rid of the opponent for two consecutive fake moves, and then fired a kick at the goal, and the ball was slightly off the foot. Five minutes later, Evergrande's midfielder broke the ball, Ning Haoxu plugged in at high speed, used his foot technique to get rid of the Korean defender, and then shot into the far corner of the goal with one foot, and the ball was deflected out again. It can be seen that Ning Haoxu is very confident in this game, very dare to do action, and a Messi-style personal breakthrough to play a Korean defender has become the biggest highlight of this game.
Unfortunately, just two minutes later, Evergrande lost the goal again, and Kostau received a cross from a teammate in the penalty area and easily broke the goal, extending the score to 2-0. In the 57th minute, Ning Haoxu was replaced by his teammates.