Perth Glory lose to Shanghai Shenhua in Asian Champions League

An off target  bicycle kick attempt from Bruno Fornaroli at the death was not enough to rescue a share of the points as Perth Glory suffered a 2-1 Asian Champions League loss to Shanghai Shenhua in Qatar.

Goals from Peng Xinli and Yu Hanchao at the Education City Stadium put Shanghai on course for victory against their under strength opponents.

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But the match took a turn in the 81st minute when Glory debutant Jonathan Aspropotamitis pounced on a rebound to pull a goal back for Perth.

Perth pushed hard for an equaliser in the dying minutes, and Fornaroli almost produced one in stoppage time when he unleashed a spectacular bicycle kick in the box.

However, his attempt sailed wide of the target, with Glory's hopes of victory travelling with it.

Photo by KARIM JAAFAR / AFP) (Photo by KARIM JAAFAR/AFP via Getty Images

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The result left Perth bottom of Group F with two losses.

Glory entered the match almost unrecognisable from the squad that lost 1-0 to FC Tokyo in their opening ACL fixture in February.

Aspropotamitis, Luke Bodnar, Declan Hughes, Joshua Rawlins, and Bryce Bafford were among the youngsters thrust into a starting line-up featuring five debutants.

Shanghai were on the scoresheet after just seven minutes when a turnover from 16-year-old midfielder Rawlins opened the door for Xinli to score.

Hanchao made it 2-0 courtesy of some slack defending and a goalkeeping error from Tando Velaphi, who allowed the China international's close-range shot to squeeze past his left glove.