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October 20, 2016

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Home » Sports » Soccer

Hyundai Motors roar into Asian Champions final

Source: AFP | October 20, 2016, Thursday | Print Edition

JEONBUK Hyundai Motors stormed into the AFC Champions League final with a 5-3 aggregate victory over FC Seoul despite losing the all-Korean semifinal’s second leg 1-2 yesterday.

After Jeonbuk had dominated the first leg 4-1, Brazilian marksman Adriano gave the home side hope when he slotted a record-equalling 13th goal of the tournament in the first half.

But Jeonbuk’s Ricardo Lopes doused any hopes of a comeback by equalizing in the 59th minute, before Seoul’s Ko Kwang-min grabbed a consolation goal for Seoul in injury time.

Jeonbuk, the 2006 champion, now goes into a blockbuster two-legged final next month against fellow former winner Al Ain and its feted playmaker Omar Abdulrahman.

The K-League leader also reached its third Asian final despite a domestic scandal.

It was deducted nine points and fined after one of its scouts was convicted of bribing referees.

FC Seoul’s Adriano was in the thick of it during an electric first half in front of a noisy crowd as the hosts pressed for the goals they needed to overturn their first-leg deficit.

The Brazilian shot just wide on 16 minutes and headed off-target eight minutes later.

Elsewhere, Jeonbuk midfielder Kim Bo-Kyung was bloodied by a flailing elbow before playing on with a bandaged head.

It was Adriano who lifted the home side’s hopes when he charged on to Kim Chi-woo’s cutback to put Seoul 1-0 up on 38 minutes with his 13th goal, equalling the 2013 record of Guangzhou Evergrande’s Muriqui.

A shock comeback was on the cards and FC Seoul came close to a second goal from a breakaway seven minutes into the second half, but ex-Arsenal forward Park Chu-young’s shot deflected wide.

Seoul regretted its miss when Lopes turned Kim Chi-woo and fired across the face of goal to make it 1-1 on the night and open up a yawning 5-2 aggregate lead.

Veteran substitute Lee Dong-Gook twice went close for Jeonbuk before Ko gave home fans something to cheer with a fierce drive two minutes into injury time.

It sets up a home-and-away Asian final between two sides of similar pedigree after Al Ain, which ousted Qatar’s El Jaish on Tuesday, won the inaugural edition in 2003 and was runner-up two years later.

Al Ain progressed after a 2-2 draw in Doha but a 5-3 aggregate victory.

El Jaish needed to raise its game to overcome a two-goal deficit following its 1-3 defeat in the first leg, but despite Brazilian Romarinho’s double the Emirati giants held their nerve to clinch a last-gasp draw with Mohamed Abdulrahman finding the net in the fifth minute of stoppage time.

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