HONG KONG: Yokohama F Marinos crashed to a 7-3 thrashing at the hands of South Korea's Gwangju FC on Tuesday as last year's continental runners-up made a dismal start to their Asian Champions League Elite campaign.
Albanian winger Jasir Asani hit a hat-trick for the tournament debutants while John Hutchinson's side collapsed in the second half at the Gwangju World Cup Stadium.
Asani put Gwangju in front from distance after only two minutes and Oh Hu-seong doubled the lead on the quarter hour before Brazilian Elber pulled one back for Marinos.
But while a second from Asani 10 minutes into the second half was matched by another for Elber four minutes later, the Korean side raced clear with three quick-fire goals in six minutes.
Beka Mikeltadze, Lee Hui-gyun and Gabriel Tigrao were all on target against the beleaguered Marinos, who saw substitute Carlos Eduardo sent off 12 minutes from time.
Takuma Nishimura lobbed home from 35 yards with five minutes remaining for the visitors but Asani completed his hat-trick in stoppage time.
Meanwhile, Shanghai Shenhua came back from going behind to a fine 53rd minute finish by Brazilian striker Jorge Teixeira to defeat former champions Pohang Steelers 4-1 in Shanghai.
Andre Luis' header levelled the scores in the 64th minute and Cephas Malele headed in his side's second with 19 minutes remaining.
Malele hit Shenhua's third from the penalty spot to leave Gao Tianyi to put the seal on the win six minutes from time.
Shandong Taishan made it a successful evening for Chinese clubs with Choi Kang-hee's team earning a 3-1 win over Australian champions Central Coast Mariners in Jinan as Valeri Qazaishvili scored twice.
Bi Jinhao had put the hosts in front but a penalty from Mikael Doka deep into first half stoppage time levelled the scores before Qazaishvili netted twice in the final 16 minutes to claim the points.
Japanese champions Vissel Kobe left Thailand frustrated as Takayuki Yoshida's outfit were held to a 0-0 draw by Buriram United, with Australian international defender Curtis Good clearing a late Daiji Sasaki effort off the line.
The newly revamped competition has seen the number of teams reduced from 40 to 24 and the Swiss League system being used in the opening phase.
Twelve teams in both east and west Asia will play eight games in the league phase with the top eight finishers on each side of the continent advancing to the last 16 in March.