CHINESE champion Guangzhou Evergrande opened its 2012 Asian Champions League campaign with a 5-1 thrashing of 2011 finalist Jeonbuk Motors in Korea yesterday.

Two goals from Brazilian striker Cleo and another from Argentine midfielder Dario Conca gave the visitors a 3-0 lead before Jeong Shung-hoon replied for the South Korean team in the 70th minute.

Conca scored his second for Guangzhou two minutes later and Brazilian forward Muriqui wrapped up a convincing Group H win in the 75th.

Jeonbuk found an instant response as Jeong's exquisite backheel from Lee Dong-gook's low cross reduced the deficit with 20 minutes remaining.

Guangzhou, though, emphatically responded as Conca added his second of the night with a superb 25-yard strike with 17 minutes remaining before Muriqui found his way onto the scoresheet as the Brazilian showed superb control on the edge of the area before drilling a strike under Kim from the edge of the area.

"It was a wonderful match because we were able to score five goals. But this is not the end, it is just the beginning. There are still five matches to play and we have to be ready for all of them." said Guangzhou's Korean coach Lee Jang-soo.

"We had good tactics and good systems for the match, but we lost our captain Cho Sung-hwan due to an injury very early in the game and that was tough as he is very important for our team," said Jeonbuk coach Lee Heung-sil.

In 2011, Guangzhou kicked off the new era in China by embarking on a massive spending spree that helped the team win the domestic title for the first time and by a margin of 15 points.

【體育快訊】憋悶了很久的中國球迷終于可以狂歡一把了！在昨晚的亞冠比賽中，中超球隊(duì)廣州恒大5比1客場大勝韓國全北現(xiàn)代。中超冠軍痛擊韓國K聯(lián)賽冠軍，這也是中韓男子職業(yè)球隊(duì)之間對(duì)抗的最大分差。恒大的勝利讓他們一夜之間成為了全民偶像。

賽前恒大集團(tuán)董事局主席許家印宣布，在亞冠獎(jiǎng)金贏一場600萬元的基礎(chǔ)上，恒大隊(duì)贏一個(gè)凈勝球就額外獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)200萬元，因此4球大勝之后，恒大隊(duì)本場比賽獲得的獎(jiǎng)金高達(dá)1400萬元人民幣。

昨天恒大隊(duì)的5個(gè)進(jìn)球都由這3名外援孔卡、克萊奧和穆里奇完成，但其他中國球員在場上跑動(dòng)積極，配合默契。賽后全北現(xiàn)代隊(duì)的主教練也盛贊中國球員表現(xiàn)出色。

帶領(lǐng)恒大獲勝的韓國主帥李章洙表示，這場比賽只是剛剛開始，恒大還有很多場硬戰(zhàn)要打。但此次的亞冠首秀客場狂勝，無疑為恒大隊(duì)球員帶來了極大的自信。