South Korea’s Ulsan Hyundai eked out a narrow win and Uzbek champions Bunyodkor fought back to draw Adelaide United 2-2 as the AFC Champions League quarter-finals got under way on Wednesday. Ulsan had Brazilian striker Rafinha’s deflected shot to thank for their 1-0 first-leg victory over Al Hilal, while Bunyodkor will have the psychological edge for next month’s return tie after rescuing a precious point in Adelaide. In Wednesday’s later matches, World Cup-winning coach Marcello Lippi’s Guangzhou Evergrande take on two-time champions Al Ittihad in Jeddah, and Iran’s Foolad Sepahan are against Al Ahli in Isfahan. In Ulsan, Rafinha found the net after nine minutes with a shot which took a wicked deflection off Al Hilal captain Majed Al Marshadi on its way past goalkeeper Abdullah Mohammed. The Saudi visitors had their chances to level and Ulsan were grateful to goalkeeper Kim Young-Kwang, who made a fine save at the death to deny Abdulaziz Al Dosari. Earlier in Adelaide, the Reds, finalists in 2008, had looked in command with a 2-0 lead after the first 18 minutes through goals by Iain Ramsay and Evan Kostopoulos.But the match turned on an incident just before half-time, when Adelaide defender Nigel Boogaard was shown the red card for bringing down Kamoliddin Murzoev, who was through on goal with only keeper Eugene Galekovic to beat. Jasur Khasanov scored directly from the resulting free kick with a brilliant left-foot strike to the top right-hand corner for the Uzbeks to trail 2-1 at half-time. It was all Bunyodkor in the second half and they equalised in the 75th minute when Shavkat Salomov pounced on a missed clearance from defender Iain Fyfe to beat Galekovic from close range.
