Defending AFC Champions League winners Guangzhou Evergrande stand a chance of being eliminated from the tournament they have won twice in the last three years after they were held to a 2-2 draw by J. League Division 1 club Urawa Red Diamonds at their home field of Tianhe Stadium in Guangzhou, China on Wednesday.

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The two-time Champions League title holders started the game strongly, pouring in two quick goals courtesy of Brazilian attacker Ricardo Goulart at the sixth and 14th minutes respectively.

However, the Red Diamonds, last season's Japanese top flight third placers, managed to salvage the tie with a goal from striker Yuki Moto at the 30th minute and another one from substitute forward Shinzo Koroki one minute before the full time whistle.

The tie left Guangzhou winless in their first three games in the group stage. The team must win the last three convincingly if they want to qualify in the knock-out stage.

Evergrande is now at the bottom of the Group H standings with only 2 points coming from their draws versus South Korea's Pohang Steelers and now with Urawa. Sydney FC tops the bracket with 6 points, while the Steelers and Red Diamonds are the 2nd and 3rd spots with 4 points each.

The Southern China Tigers' World Cup-winning head coach Luiz Felipe Scolari was graceful with the result, acknowledging that his team still needs to improve as they were recently joined by new international player Jackson Martinez from Atletico Madrid, who is still adjusting to the pace of Asian competitions.

"It was a wonderful match, we created many opportunities, but sorry we couldn't score one more goal," said Scolari after the game, according to Xinhua. "We were under pressure, the opponents were very strong and the result was a fair one, we are still on our road to improve."

Meanwhile, Urawa's Austrian head coach Mihailo Petrovic also acknowledged the strength of both teams and his satisfaction about ending the match in a draw.

"Today we presented a fair competition between two strong teams," Petrovic said. "We got into a very dangerous position after trailing by two goals, thanks to our brave players, we came back at last and it is a satisfactory result for us."

TagsChina Football, AFC Champions League, 2016 AFC Champions League, 2016 AFC Champions League group stage, Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao FC, Urawa Red Diamonds, Ricardo Goulart