Paulinho (L) of China's Guangzhou Evergrande vies with Dario Benedetto of Mexico's Club America during the Club World Cup quarter-final match in Osaka, Japan, Dec. 13, 2015. Guangzhou Evergrande won the match 2-1 and advanced to the semifinal. (Photo: Xinhua/Liu Dawei)
Thanks to Brazilian striker Paulinho's last minute goal, Asian champions Guangzhou Evergrande from China rallied to beat Club America from Mexico 2-1 here on Sunday and set up the semi clash with European champions Barcelona in FIFA Club World Cup.
The five-time Chinese Super League champions fell behind in the 55th minute as Club America's Oribe Peralta headed home. But Evergrande coach Luiz Philipe Scolari made three crucial substitutions, Zheng Long, Gao Lin and Yu Hanchao to change the course of the game.
Zheng got the equalizer in the 80th minute on Gao Lin's smart touch in the middle of the box. Paulinho's header off Yu's corner-kick beat keeper Moises Munoz in the last minute of injury time.
"I have done this two or three times, I did this before in national team as well," the 27-year old Brazilian said.
"This is football, even in the last minute you should try to score. Today it is one more time the goal came in the last minute," he added.
The tough duel got under way in a quick pace. Evergrande's Brazilian striker Robinho tested Munoz in the 19th minute with a drive from the edge of the box. Two minutes later, Benedetto tested Guangzhou's keeper Li Shuai in a similar way.
Paolo Goltz curled a free-kick toward the top corner but Li reacted quickly to tipped the ball off the bar.
After a goalless first half, Club America created a handful of chances in the second half, but Peralta, Benedetto and Quintero's effort were all in vain before keeper Li.
In the 55th minute, Club America finally found the net. Benedetto penetrated from the right side and crossed into the center. Peralta easily headed home from close range.
In the 71st minute, Feng Xiaoting missed the best chance to pull level as his goalmouth header went wide.
It was the two substitutes who made a perfect combination to finally equalize. Paulinho dribbled along the left side and passed the ball to Gao Lin, whose fine touch gave Zheng Long a comfort angle to score.
The final minute of added time turned the whole match to a drama, Yu Hanchao's corner-kick found Paulinho who made no mistake to head home, sending the players and coaching staff of Guangzhou into ecstasy.
Guangzhou will play European Champions Barcelona in the semifinal on Dec. 17 in Yokohama.
"Football is a 90 minute game and we really wanted to make the semi-finals, so I made some high-risk substitutions. On this occasion, they worked - on another night it might not have done," Scolari said.
"But I know the team and I know what they can do. Club America are a huge team, with a fantastic history but we fought back and won and we should continue to dream big for the next match against Barcelona. Victory is not impossible," he added.
