Changwon: Italian striker Graziano Pelle has bemoaned Shandong Luneng’s missed chances after their entertaining 2-2 draw with Korea Republic’s Gyeongnam FC in their opening 2019 AFC Champions League Group E fixture at Changwon Football Center on Tuesday.



The former Southampton striker, making his first appearance in the competition since the 2016 quarter-finals, was the hero for his side as goals in either half earned a valuable point on the road for the Chinese Super League team.

But having taken a first-half lead, Pelle was disappointed Shandong couldn’t stay in the ascendancy and come away with all three points, especially after they spurned a number of late chances.



“We have to handle the game better, especially when we are winning,” said the 33-year-old.

“We have to keep the ball more instead of panicking, [but] it comes with experience. But the AFC Champions League [group stage] is short, so we have to do better than today with the draw.”

 

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First game Asian Champions League ... 2-2 in Korea . Happy with the 2 goals but not really with the draw. I am sure at the next game we’ll get the 3 points . ??⚽️????? keep fighting

A post shared by Graziano Pellè (@gpelle19_official) on Mar 5, 2019 at 6:52am PST

Gyeongnam were making their first ever appearance in the competition, but it was the visitors who were celebrating early on when Pelle headed home just after the 20-minute mark.

Two goals in the space of eight second-half minutes swung the pendulum Gyeongnam’s way, but the Italian swivelled and finished from close in with 13 minutes to play to salvage a point.

Pelle had chances to seal his hat-trick late in the game, but was denied by some last-ditch defending from last season’s K League 1 runners-up.

 


Group E: Gyeongnam FC vs Shandong Luneng FC

“It was a tough game,” added Pelle. “[In the] first half we were leading and we expected that Gyeongnam would come back.

“We showed good organisation to get back to 2-2. Unfortunately we had some other chances [that we couldn’t score]. It was a nice game to watch for the fans but we are unhappy that we didn’t win.”

Shandong return to Jinan to host defending champions Kashima Antlers – who defeated Malaysia's Johor Darul Ta'zim 2-1 in the day's other Group E fixture – next Tuesday, while Gyeongnam will travel to Johor to face JDT.


Source: the-afc.com