Runners-up Yokohama thrashed 7-3 in AFC Champions League goal fest

Seoul: Asian Champions League debutants Gwangju FC scored after just 90 seconds on the way to a 7-3 home hammering of last year’s runners-up Yokohama F-Marinos on Tuesday.

Also on the second day of action in Asia’s top club competition, which has been rebranded as the Champions League Elite, Shandong Taishan won 3-1 at home to Central Coast Mariners of Australia.

On a good night for Chinese teams, Shanghai Shenhua thrashed South Korea’s Pohang Steelers 4-1, while Buriram United of Thailand and Vissel Kobe of Japan played out a 0-0 stalemate.

In South Korea, Gwangju grabbed an early lead over Japan’s Yokohama when Jasir Asani’s tame effort from outside the box squirmed under the grasp of visiting goalkeeper Riku Terakado.

The hosts extended their lead at a sparsely attended Gwangju World Cup Stadium on the quarter-hour mark when Oh Hu-seong headed in unmarked at the back post.

Yokohama hit back on 34 minutes when the Brazilian Elber slammed home as the rain came down.

The game turned goal crazy in a madcap second half, with Albanian international Asani netting twice more for his hat-trick and the hosts adding three more.

Elber, with his second, and Takuma Nishimura pulled goals back for the bedraggled away team, who were reduced to 10 men late on.

Caretaker basis

The J. League’s Yokohama are coached by the Australian John Hutchinson following the sacking of compatriot Harry Kewell after just six months in the job.

The former Liverpool and Leeds star Kewell took Yokohama to the two-legged Champions League final in May, where they lost to Al Ain of the United Arab Emirates 6-3 on aggregate.

Kewell was axed two months later after a torrid run of form and Hutchinson was promoted from the backroom staff on a caretaker basis.

The Asian Champions League Elite begins with two leagues containing 12 teams each and split between East and West Zones.

The competition kicked off on Monday and concludes in May next year.