Saudi Arabia’s former soccer player Mohamed Al-Daeyea of Saudi Arabia displays a slip for Adelaide United of Australia during the draw for the AFC Champions League quarterfinals at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur Thursday. — APKUALA LUMPUR – Marcello Lippi’s Guangzhou Evergrande has been handed a tough quarterfinal assignment in the AFC Champions League after being drawn against two-time winner Al-Ittihad of Saudi Arabia.
In the other ties, Australian side Adelaide United faces Uzbek champion Bunyodkor in a re-match of their 2008 semifinal. The winner takes on South Korea’s Ulsan Hyundai or Al-Hilal, also from Saudi Arabia, in the semis.
The winner of the Guangzhou-Al-Ittihad showdown plays either Iranian champion Sepahan or Al-Ittihad’s Saudi league rival Al-Ahli in the other semifinal.
The two-legged quarters in Asia’s premier club competition are on Sept.19 and then Oct. 2 or 3.
Evergrande, the Chinese champion, learnt its fate Thursday when the draw was made at the headquarters of the Asian Football Confederation in Kuala Lumpur.
The big-spending Chinese, who go to Jeddah in the first leg, are making their debut in the Champions League but are regarded as one of the favorites after investing heavily in their squad to secure a first Chinese title.
Lippi, who won the World Cup with Italy in 2006, replaced Korean Lee Jang-Soo as Guangzhou manager last month and duly led it to a 1-0 win over Japanese side FC Tokyo in the round of 16.
The club also recently paid a reported transfer fee of 12 million euros ($15 million) to sign Paraguayan striker Lucas Barrios from German champion Borussia Dortmund.
The 27-year-old will be eligible to play in the quarterfinals against the powerful Al-Ittihad, the eight-time Saudi league champion.
The Saudi side also won back-to-back AFC Champions League titles in 2004 and 2005, reached the final in 2009 and was in last year’s semifinals.
Although it finished fifth in the Saudi league during the 2011-12 season, its lowest finish in 14 years, it is unbeaten in 15 games since the appointment of Spaniard Raul Caneda as its head coach in March.
It won five of its six matches during the group stage before trouncing Iranian side Persepolis 3-0 in the round of 16.
The Champions League winners qualify for the FIFA Club World Cup, to be played in Japan in December.
“Hopefully we will have a good run in the knockout stages but to achieve that target we must first get past Guangzhou and given the investment they have made in recent times, it will be difficult,” said Al-Ittihad manager Majid Al-Malki.
The draw:
Al-Ittihad vs. Guangzhou Evergrande; Sepahan vs. Al-Ahli; Adelaide United vs. Bunyodkor; Ulsan Hyundai vs. Al Hilal.
