Guangzhou Evergrande's Italian head coach Fabio Cannavaro reacts during the AFC Champions League Round of 16 soccer match between Seongnam FC and Guangzhou Evergrande at Tancheon Sports Complex in Seongnam, South Korea, 20 May 2015. Seongnam won 2-1. [Photo/IC]

SEOUL - Guangzhou Evergrande boss Fabio Cannavaro understands why his players were furious after going down 2-1 to Seongnam in the AFC Champions League on Wednesday, but believes they will harness that anger to turn the tie around in the home leg.

The Chinese Super League side looked comfortable at 1-1 after Huang Bowen's long-range effort cancelled out the opener from Seongnam's Jorginho, but Li Xuepeng's straight red card in the 65th minute put his side under pressure.

Guangzhou looked like they would hold on for the draw but were incensed when Iranian referee Torki Mohsen awarded a penalty in injury time when Brazilian Ricardo went down in the box.

Seongnam skipper Kim Do-heon took a deep breath and stroked the penalty home before celebrating wildly at the side of the pitch with the home bench.

World Cup winner Cannavaro said the defeat was hard to take but was confident they would turn the tables in China.

"The players are angry and annoyed," said Cannavaro, who was without a host of key players including Elkeson, Rene Junior and Alan for the last 16 match.

"They are angry because it was a tough match and we had a red card and a penalty, but I trust they will use this anger in the second match when we play at home in Guangzhou.

"We scored an away goal and that is very important and we will look to prepare and we will see who passes to the next round."

His Seongnam counterpart, Kim Hak-bum, praised his team's resilience but said the job was just half-finished.

"The next match will be played in completely different circumstances so we will begin to prepare soon, but I will take some time to make a plan for the match in Guangzhou," he added.

While the return leg in China will present Seongnam with a stiffer challenge, coach Kim will no doubt take heart from the fact Guangzhou were beaten 2-0 in their own stadium by Western Sydney Warriors in their final group game.

Guangzhou have now gone four games in the Champions League without a win.

Kim said his side would have to stand up to the pressure in the return leg next Wednesday and that becoming "stronger mentally and physically" was the key in Guangzhou.