Beijing Guoan vs United City

Beijing Guoan and United City have nothing but pride to play for as they go head-to-head at the Lokomotiv Stadium in the AFC Champions League encounter.

Beijing have suffered three consecutive Champions League defeats ‘to nil’ following a 1-1 away draw with United City in their Group I curtain-raiser. The Chinese giants have failed to leave up to expectations on the continental stage, conceding 15 unanswered goals across their previous three Champions League outings. Particularly vulnerable after half-time, the ‘Imperial Guards’ have registered nine of their last 16 group stage goals conceded in the second half of play. Getting off the mark first will be of the essence here, considering each of Beijing’s last five competitive home matches won/lost saw the winner on the day keep a clean sheet. However, a paltry goalscoring return could pose a problem for the hosts, who have netted under 1.5 goals in five of their previous six home games in all competitions.

Meanwhile, the visitors take the field on the back of three consecutive group stage losses, all of which saw them concede 2+ unanswered goals, returning a disastrous -17 goal difference from those fixtures (GF:0, GA:17). A clear majority (64.71%) of their goals conceded during that three-game sequence arrived after the restart, highlighting United City’s tendency to fall apart in the second half. City’s return of one draw from their last five competitive matches (L4) represents a significant turnaround from their previous form that had seen them put together five straight victories. Topically, after scoring a total of 23 goals in three competitive outings spanning between October and November 2020, the ‘Golden Boys’ have now netted just twice in five fixtures, with one of those strikes arriving against Beijing on Matchday 1.