AFC Champions League 2: Hong Kong champions Kitchee survive red card to make point

Hosts impress but lay down marker in Monk Kok Stadium stalemate with Gangwon FC, Tai Po lose down under

Kitchee survived playing the final 25 minutes with 10 men, after a debatable red card for captain Ruslan Mingazov, to draw 0-0 with Gangwon FC on Thursday night in their opening AFC Champions League 2 match.

Although a point against the strongest team in the group represented a sound return, it could have been even better for the Hong Kong club on their return to Asian competition after three years away,

Mingazov and Victor Camarasa, the former Cardiff City midfielder, were both inches wide with first-half attempts at Mong Kok Stadium. In front of a healthy 2,899 crowd, Marcao headed over a Camarasa cross shortly after half-time, then Koldo Obieta aimed wastefully wide following good work from Adrian Revilla.

Pong Cheuk-hei, the Kitchee goalkeeper, produced a pair of athletic stops to deny the Koreans’ 18-year-old midfielder, Lee Yong-jae either side of the break.