Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Jeonju: 2006 winners Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors secured their passage to the last 16 of the AFC Champions League as Group E winners after Wednesday’s 2-2 draw with Jiangsu FC that eliminated the Chinese Super League team.
Leonardo’s penalty on 19 minutes gave the hosts the lead at Jeonju World Cup Stadium only for goals either side of half-time from Brazilian duo Alex Teixeira and Jo to wrest the initiative back to the visitors.
But with Lim Jong-eun heading home an equaliser on 68 minutes, and with FC Tokyo winning 2-1 away at Becamex Binh Duong, it is the Korean champions who advance as group winners ahead of second-placed Tokyo due to a superior head-to-head record.
“In front of our home fans, the players kept going until the end and did their best. After defeats in Binh Duong and Jiangsu, there was plenty of pressure but the players showed their desire to get to the Round of 16,” said Jeonbuk coach Choi Kang-hee.
“It would have been good to have won the game and won the group that way but we were missing some players.
“We didn't play as well as we could but I think that the fact we could have gone through even with a draw had a psychological effect. Now, though, we can look forward to the Round of 16.”
Jeonbuk were the brighter of the teams in the opening period and took the lead inside 20 minutes.
The K-League Classic side took a quick free-kick to release Choi Chul-soon on the right side of the area and the full-back was brought down by Yang Xiaotian before Leanardo stepped up to smash the spot kick into the top left corner.
Five minutes later, the Chinese Super League side drew level with a goal made in Brazil.
Former Manchester City striker Jo got his head to a floated free-kick and Teixeira waited for the ball to drop before lashing a volley into the roof of the net from the edge of the six-yard box.
The game was suddenly wide open and within a minute, Jiangsu goalkeeper Gu Chao was pushing a low shot from Leonardo around the post, and on the half hour Ramires headed a Teixeira free-kick just over the bar.
Jiangsu were in the ascendancy but just before half-time, a shot from Jeonbuk's Han Kyo-won from a tight angle flashed across the face of the Chinese goal.
Seven minutes after the restart, Luiz Henrique was judged to have fouled fellow Brazilian Ramires in the box and the referee pointed to the spot, and Jo sent Kwoun Sun-tae the wrong way to put Jiangsu into the lead.
Just before the hour Jiangsu almost went further ahead when Ramires freed Jo, who fed the ball to the unmarked Teixeira on the left side of the area, but the Brazilian's low shot towards the opposite corner was well pushed round the post by Kwoun.
Midway through the second half, Jeonbuk equalised when a corner from the right was flicked on from the near post and Lim side-footed home at the far post.
Jiangsu cranked up the pressure in the final minutes as they strove for the all-important winner, and with five minutes remaining Ramires found Tao Yuan on the right but the recently-introduced substitute's shot from the edge of the area was saved by Kwoun as Jeonbuk secured their ninth appearance in the Round of 16.
“We played well so the result was very disappointing. If you look at the performance then we should have won but we could only manage a draw, ” said Jiangsu coach Dan Petrescu.
“We are now out of the AFC Champions League but now we can concentrate on the Chinese Super League and the FA Cup and we will do our best to qualify for this tournament next season.
“We just didn't get enough points in the group. We had six difficult games but the results were not quite good enough.”
Photo: Lagardère Sports