Defending Champions Al Ittihad of Saudi Arabia held home team Shandong Luneng of China 1-1 in the first leg quarter-final of the AFC Champions League Wednesday evening.

The Saudis will then host Shandong in the second leg on September 21, and the Chinese need better performance if they wish to enter the semi-final of the continental tournament.

Wednesday's match, held in the eastern Chinese city of Jinan, was Al Ittihad' first involvement in this year's tournament as they skipped group matches as last year's champions.

Shandong, however, entered the quarter-finals with percent six wins in six group matches, including two clashes against Japanese favorites Yokohama F. Marinos.

Shandong had a tough time ahead of the match as Chinese international striker Lee Jinyu had been ruled out through toe injury, and the other international, Zheng Zhi, who played the pivotal role in the team, had just recovered from weeks of ankle injury.

Both teams played cautiously in the first half with few dangerous attacks and no goals.

Al Ittihad's caption Mohammed Noor put the visitors ahead with a hard header two minutes into the second half.

But the lead was brief as Li Xiaopeng equalized six minutes later with a free kick right outside the penalty box. The ball penetrated the defensive wall and stormed into the net.

The home eleven nearly scored their second goal at the end of the match with a similar free kick.

Al Ittihad's recently-signed Cameroon international striker Joseph-Desier Job did not give his new boss any goal in the game. The 27-year-old joined the Jeddah club from Middlesbrough on a one-year loan deal on September 1st, in an effort to enhance the attack line of the Saudis.

The AFC tournament has been dominated by West Asian clubs since its launch in 2003 and this year Shandong, Shenzhen from China and Busan from South Korea represent the best chance for East Asian footballers.

Shenzhen Jianlibao, China's Super League Champions in 2004, will face another Saudi club Al Ahli hours later in their first leg of the knock-out matches.

Source: Xinhua