Sanfrecce Hiroshima beat Western Sydney Wanderers 3-1 in the first leg of their last-16 stage of the Asian Champions League on Wednesday, and FC Seoul edged Kawasaki Frontale 3-2.
Naoki Ishihara scored two second-half goals as the J-League champions took a two-goal cushion heading into the return match in Sydney next week, with a spot in the quarter-finals at stake.
Ishihara opened the scoring in the 51st minute when he converted a cross from Yoshifumi Kashiwa and doubled the advantage with a right-footed shot that beat the Wanderers goalkeeper Ante Covic in the 65th minutes.
Wanderers cut the deficit to 2-1 on a penalty kick by Tomi Juric in the 78th minute, but Kosei Shibasaki’s free kick in the first minute of stoppage time sealed the win for Hiroshima, playing in the round of 16 for the first time.
Yun Il-lok of Seoul scored in the third minute of stoppage time to give the 2013 finalists a win over Kawasaki. The return leg is at Seoul’s World Cup Stadium on Wednesday.
Kawasaki twice led through goals from Yu Kobayashi and Renato, but Sergio Escudero and Kim Chi-woo equalised for the visitors before Yun capitalised on poor defending from Jeci to slot home the winner.
In Tashkent, Salem Al Dawsari scored late to give Saudi club Al Hilal a 1-0 win at Uzbekistan champions Bunyodkor.
While the home side dominated possession with Oleg Zoteev hitting the post in the 18th minute, they were ultimately undone when Al Dawsari pounced to sweep the ball home after Abdulla Zori had been denied by Bunyodkor goalkeeper Akbar Turaev.
In Doha, Al Sadd were frustrated on home turf as Iranian club Foolad secured a 0-0 draw.
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