Melbourne Victory upsets Guangzhou 2-0 in ACL

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Melbourne Victory sealed a 2-0 win over defending champion Guangzhou Evergrande on Tuesday to ensure a tense finish in Group G in the Asian Champions League.

Mark Milligan scored in the second minute and James Troisi sealed the win in second-half stoppage time.

Wayward finishing in between Milligan and Troisi's strike meant that Victory were unable to extend their lead. Goalkeeper Nathan Coe maintained Melbourne's buffer with some outstanding saves against Marcello Lippi's Chinese Super League champions.

Spots in the second round from Group G will go down to the last games in the pool stage, with all teams level on seven points following Yokohama's 2-1 win over Jeonbuk Motors.

Manabu Saito scored twice in two minutes in Yokohama's 2-1 comeback win, netting the equalizer with a long-range strike in the 64th and the winner from close range in the 65th.

Western Sydney Wanderers replaced Ulsan Hyundai atop the Group H standings on nine points after a 2-0 away win over the K-League club.

Later J-League champions Kawasaki Frontlane captain Kengo Nakamura's well worked strike in the 37th minute against China's Guizhou Renhe was enough to move them level on nine points with Western Sydney Wanderers.

The 1-0 defeat against J-League champions meant Guizhou Renhe will not be able to qualify for knockout stages.

Guizhou Renhe tried to press for the equalizer but first their captain Sun Jihai was dismissed in the 79th minute and then in stoppage time Zvjezdan Misimovic was sent off, reducing the Japanese side to nine men in closing stages of the match.

United Arab Emirates' Al Ain routed Qatari champions Lekhwiya 5-0 to become the first team to qualify for the last 16.

Ghanian Asamoah Gyan scored twice and setup three others for Ibrahim Diaky, Alex Brosque and Mohamed Abdulrahman as Al Ain secured a convincing win — their first away from home in the group stage since 2006.

After 16 winless away matches and eight years, the UAE champions all but ruled out Lekhwiya's chances to qualify for the quarterfinals after Qatari champions suffered their heaviest ever defeat in AFC Champions League.

At Isfahan in Iran, Sepahan kept their quarterfinal hopes alive with a 4-0 win over Qatar's Al Sadd in Group D.

After playing a goalless first half, Mehdi Sharifi curled soon after the interval and then doubled the lead in the 55th minutes.

Substitute Xhevahir Sukaj found the back of the net in the 63rd minute as defender Ibrahim Majed's own goal in the stoppage time completed a convincing victory for the home team.

A goalless draw between Emirati side Al Ahli and Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia in Dubai kept both sides in hunt for knockout stage from Group D.

After their impressive 4-0 win in Isfahan, Sepahan are now joint group leaders with Al Ahli on seven points while Al Hilal are at six points.

Al Sadd have five points and it leaves Group D delicately poised with all four teams having a chance chance to progress with final group matches scheduled for next week.