Soccer-Evergrande coach Lippi banned for AFC Champions League tie

Aug 24 (Reuters) - Guangzhou Evergrande coach Marcello Lippi has been provisionally suspended for the team's Asian Champions League quarter-final return leg at home to Western Sydney Warriors for 'unsporting behavior', the Asian Football Confederation said. Lippi angrily confronted Emirati referee Mohammed Abdulla Hassan Mohamed after midfielder Gao Lin had followed defender Zhang Linpeng in being shown straight red cards during the Asian champions' 1-0 loss in Sydney last Wednesday. The World Cup-winning former Italy coach would not be allowed to sit in the dugout during Wednesday's match in Guangzhou, the AFC said in a statement on Sunday. "The chairman of the AFC disciplinary committee last night decided that Lippi had purportedly displayed unsporting behavior... as well as indiscipline," the governing body said on Sunday. "The final decision of the AFC disciplinary committee will be issued following the completion of a full investigation." (Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly; Editing by John O'Brien)