Thai Premier League (TPL) champions Buriram United will hope to complete a hat trick of Group F wins in the AFC Champions League when they take on J-League champions Gamba Osaka in Japan on March 18.
The Thunder Castles upset Chinese Super League club Guangzhou R&F 2-1 at the Yuexiu Stadium in the southern Chinese city on Tuesday night thanks to a spectacular 89th minute overhead kick winner from Brazil born striker Gilberto Macena.
Alexandre Gama's side had defeated South Korea's Seongnam FC 2-1 on Feb. 24 in their first group game of this year's elite continental competition and will now head to Osaka enjoying a three point cushion over their opponents of the first two group matches.
Midfielder Lu Lin put the hosts ahead after 26 minutes. However, Buriram's South Korea born midfielder Ko Seul-ki equalised two minutes before the break before Macena's late heroics clinched three points for the TPL side.
Lin raced onto Spanish midfielder Michel's long ball forward and turned in the ball past Buriram goalkeeper Siwarak Tedsungnoen to put Cosmin Contra's side ahead.
Buriram's other Brazilian forward Diogo was denied an equaliser two minutes before half-time by Guanzhou goalkeeper Liu Dianzuo, who parried a firm drive from inside the area aimed at the near post.
But from the corner that ensued, the visitors levelled the scores. Ko headed in at the near post off Theerathon Bunmathan's delivery.
Though both teams had won their first group game -- the Chinese club had upset Gamba Osaka 2-0 on Feb. 24 -- they surprisingly played attacking football during the second half instead of playing out a draw and thereby sharing group leadership.
The best scoring chance came just after the hour mark, when Guangzhou's substitute forward Zhang Shuo had a glorious chance to put his side ahead again. Michel played him in deftly but Siawarak was quick to close down Zhang and save from close range.
With one minute of regular time remaining and almost when it appeared that neither team could capitalise on the scoring chances that came their way in the second period, Macena stunned the home crowd with his acrobatic winner.
Diogo targeted a header inside the area in the direction of his countryman who was positioned with back to goal. The ball bounced and Macena launched himself into an overhead kick that looped over Liu's despairing dive.
With Gamba Osaka losing their second successive group game on Tuesday -- the Japanese treble winners lost 2-0 to Seongnam in Korea -- Buriram would fancy their chances at the home of the J-League champions.
In Group E, three goals in the last 20 minutes from Han Kyo-won, Lee Jae-sung and Leonardo helped 2006 champions Jeonbuk Motors defeat Chinese Super League side Shandong Luneng 4-1 on Tuesday night to register their second successive group win.
Edu's first half goal put the South Korean side ahead before Shandong's Yang Xu scored his third goal in two games to equalise.
Japanese club Kashiwa Reysol trounced Vietnam's Binh Duong 5-1 in the other Group E game on Tuesday.
In the western zone, last season's leading scorer Asamoah Gyan registered his first goal of the 2015 campaign with a second-half equalizer in 2014 semifinalists Al Ain's 1-1 draw at Naft Tehran. In the other Group B match, Al Shabab and Pakhtakor drew 2-2.
In Group A, Persepolis of Iran had a 1-0 win at Bunyodkor of Uzbekistan and Qatar's Lekhwiya drew 1-1 with Al-Nassr.
(Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.)