BEIJING: Late strikes from Pablo Batalla and Yu Dabao gave Beijing Guoan a 2-0 win over Urawa Red Diamonds as they took a firm grip on their AFC Champions League group on Tuesday.
Argentinian midfielder Batalla was on target 12 minutes from time before Yu got the clincher in the 84th as Beijing made it three wins from three in Group G.
It took a moment of quality to break the deadlock when Batalla latched on to Shusaku Nishikawa's poor, punched clearance and chipped the stranded goalkeeper.
And Batalla also created Beijing's second when his cutback found Yu on the edge of the box and the Chinese forward fired home.
At the halfway stage in the group, Gregorio Manzano's men in green are provisionally six points clear of Brisbane Roar and Suwon Bluewings, who play on Wednesday.
But there was disappointment for other Chinese sides as Guangzhou R&F lost 1-0 at home to Seongnam FC, and Shandong Luneng went down 2-1 at Kashiwa Reysol.
Guangzhou, provisionally third in Group F, now have work to do if they are to emulate their illustrious city rivals Evergrande, who won the title in 2013.
Naoki Wako's injury-time winner shattered Shandong, who slipped to four points back from leaders Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors and Kashiwa in Group E.
Lee Dong-Gook scored in each half as Jeonbuk thrashed Binh Duong 3-0 to leave the Vietnamese side rock-bottom on zero points in the same group.
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