Marcello Lippi pinned his team's poor second-half performance in Jeddah on injury and fatigue Singapore – Agencies Marcello Lippi's Guangzhou Evergrande need to pull off a great escape act Tuesday when they will try to overturn a two-goal deficit against Al Ittihad to reach the AFC Champions League semi-finals .
Super-rich Guangzhou, debutants in the competition, had the two-time Asian champions on the ropes two weeks ago, when goals by Gao Lin and Huang Bowen gave them a 2-1 half-time lead in the first leg of their quarter-final in Jeddah.
But the Saudi club stormed back in the second half, with a penalty by captain Mohammed Noor and a pair of headed goals by Naif Hazazi giving them a 4-2 advantage ahead of the return match in southern China.
Lippi pinned his team's poor second-half performance in Jeddah on injury and fatigue with a number of his players still not fully recovered after they had been away on national team duty.
But the canny Italian, who led his native country to victory in the 2006 World Cup, still feels that the two-goal deficit can be overcome with Guangzhou back at full strength.
"Some of our players were only at 50 percent and hadn't fully recovered and also we had some errors which weren't supposed to happen and that's why we lost," said Lippi of the first leg.
"But this game will be decided over 180 minutes and hopefully when we play at home all of our players will be back."
While Al Ittihad hold the whip-hand, the experienced Saudi club will be wary of opening the door to Guangzhou, having twice been involved in AFC Champions League knockout stage games that featured stirring second-leg comebacks.
In the 2004 final, they lost 3-1 at home to Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma in the first leg but scored a remarkable 5-0 win in the return match in South Korea to lift the trophy for the first time.
But the tables were turned two years later when the two-time defending champions threw away a two-goal lead against Syria's Al Karama, losing 4-0 after extra-time in Homs to bow out of the competition.
After a dreadful run earlier this year, Al Ittihad are unbeaten in 22 games since the appointment of Spanish coach Raul Caneda as they target a third title and a spot in December's Club World Cup.
"To be champions of Asia, it's the dream of any player in any team and when you get to be champion it's the way to go to the FIFA Club World Cup," said Hazazi.
"It's a famous competition and we want to play there against the top players in the world."
The winners will play against either Al Ittihad's Jeddah neighbours Al Ahli, or Iranian league champions Sepahan in the semi-finals. Those two teams will also meet on Tuesday after a 0-0 draw in Esfahan two weeks ago.
While Al Ahli will be regarded as the favourites on their home ground, they have failed to beat Sepahan in three previous meetings against the Iranian club in this year's tournament including a 1-1 draw in Jeddah in March.
The other two quarter-finals will take place on Wednesday with a third Saudi club, Al Hilal, hosting South Korean side Ulsan Hyundai in Riyadh, looking to overcome a 1-0 deficit from the first leg.
The remaining match is in Tashkent where Uzbek champions Bunyodkor face Adelaide United in a rematch of their 2008 quarter-final. In Adelaide two weeks ago, Bunyodkor came from two goals down to draw 2-2.