Guizhou Renhe coach Gong Lei admitted to breaching the AFC Champions League regulations by willingly fielding a second-string team against Western Sydney Wanderers on Tuesday night, including just 13 fit players in his match-day squad.

The Chinese club fielded what resembled a youth side against the Wanderers in order to spare a number of regular first team players from the travel to Sydney as they had nothing to play for in their final group stage match. The inexperience of the squad showed as Guizhou were lacklustre in a 5-0 thrashing by a well-drilled Western Sydney Wanderers side that clinched top spot in Group H.

Short-staffed: A weakened Guizhou Renhe side produced a disappointing display against the Wanderers. Credit:Getty Images

Lei said he brought no back-up goalkeeper and just 14 players to Sydney, one of which was omitted from the substitutes bench after sustaining an injury, as he was interested in preserving some players for their Chinese Super League commitments.

When pressed about his decision to bring such a slim squad for the final group game, Lei said; " I told you, we don't have enough players but we have pressure in two [competitions] that's why we can not take too much players... I bring here 14 and another player had an injury and in the next three days I have another Super League game."