Sardor Mirzaev scored a late equalizer as Uzbekistan's Lokomotiv secured a 1-1 draw against Al-Ittihad of Saudi Arabia in their AFC Champions League Group A opener Tuesday. After a largely uneventful first half at Lokomotiv Stadium, it was Ittihad which took the lead when Venezuelan frontman Gelmin Rivas stabbed home from close in 11 minutes before the interval. The home side pushed forward after the restart but had to wait until a minute from time for Mirzaev to drill home the equalizer before Lokomotiv's Jasur Khasanov and Ittihad's Fahad Al-Muwallad received their marching orders for a confrontation in the aftermath. Ittihad went in front in the 34th minute after some neat interchange play between Al-Muwallad and Rivas just outside the left side of the Lokomotiv penalty area before the Venezuelan expertly turned Nemanja Janicic and prodded past goalkeeper Ignatiy Nesterov. Ittihad had another chance just before the hour when Sulley Muntari found Abdulfattah Asiri, who cut inside from the left and fired a low shot that was gathered by Nesterov. The Uzbeks then had the ball in the net at the midway stage of the second half when Makharadze headed in Server Djeparov's corner only for the goal to be ruled out because of an earlier infringement by substitute Marat Bikmaev on the edge of the six yard box. Shortly after Al-Muwallad forced Nesterov into a flying save with his accurate effort from 30 yards and from the ensuing corner substitute Abdulrahman Al-Ghamdi shot high and wide with his first touch of the game from 12 yards. But in the dying minutes Khasanov curled in a deep free-kick that was well kept in play at the back post by Sherzod Fayziev and when the ball eventually dropped to Mirzaev he made no mistake with his finish before Khasanov and Al-Muwallad saw red just seconds later. Earlier in the opening match of the Asian Champions League, despite boasting new signings Ramires and Alex Teixeira, Chinese club Jiangsu Suning was held to a 1-1 draw by Vietnamese team Binh Duong. The Brazilian internationals showed flashes of skill on their debuts but struggled to break down their opponents in the Group E match. Jiangsu took the lead in the 13th minute when former Manchester City striker Jo created the opener for Ji Xiang. Nguyen Ahn Duc equalized for Binh Duong from the penalty spot 15 minutes later. Ramires, recently signed from Chelsea, went close with a first-half volley. The Vietnamese team was reduced to 10 men midway through the second half but held on to take a point. Also in Group E, FC Tokyo lost at South Korean champion Jeonbuk Motors 2-1 as veteran striker Lee Dong-gook scored the winning goal. In Thailand, Brazilian Adriano scored four and contributed an assist as former AFC Champions League finalist FC Seoul from South Korea recorded an emphatic 6-0 win over Thai Premier League winner Buriram United. Another Chinese club, Shandong Luneng, came back from a goal down to win 2-1 at Japanese champion Sanfrecce Hiroshima in Group F. Brazil striker Diego Tardelli scored the winning goal with 12 minutes remaining. Kohei Shimizu had put the host ahead in the 64th with Yang Xu quickly equalizing for the Chinese team. — Agencies
