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Jeonbuk have prevailed 2-1 over the Melbourne Victory to seal their spot in the ACL quarter-finals.
It was a quality display from Jeonbuk who showed their quality as Victory huffed and puffed but ultimately couldn’t blow the Jeonbuk house down.
Victory did go within millimetres of grabbing a crucial away goal after just three minutes as Jason Geria found the head of Archie Thompson at the back post following a cross. The attacker’s header however lacked strength from close range allowing the Jeonbuk keeper to get low and save it on the line. The ball did pop back out for Thompson but his shot was deflected wide.
After holding on early, it was Jeonbuk from then on who were looking better in attack and they were to grab the opening goal on 28 minutes. Brazilian midfielder Leonardo curling a powerful free-kick from the left between corner post and box, past Lawrence Thomas who did get a touch to it but not enough to keep it out.
Following the break, Jeonbuk started to really dominate and cut the Victory defence apart. Ricardo Lopes doing just that in the 71st minute to find Leonardo in the middle of the box who thumped a shot to the top of the goal past Thomas, for his and Jeonbuk’s second goal.
Down but not quite out, Victory kept plugging away and in the the 84th minute a glimmer of hope was found courtesy of Besart Berisha. Jai Ingham finding the striker at the near post who showed real skill to guide the ball past the keeper.
It was nervous final minutes as Jeonbuk tried their best to kill the game and Victory did all they could to breathe life into it and their hopes of progressing.
At fulltime however it was Jeonbuk who prevailed as they secured their passage to the quarter-finals.
For the Victory their season is officially over, bringing the curtain down on Matthieu Delpierre’s playing career and life in the Victory shirt for both Archie Thompson and Kosta Barbarouses.
Final Score:
Jeonbuk Motors 2
Melbourne Victory 1
The Melbourne Victory travel to South Korea for their ACL second-leg round of 16 clash with Jeonbuk. Join us on The Roar from 8pm (AEST) to see who can book their place in the quarter-finals.
Jeonbuk left Australia with their heads held high last week, after a valuable away goal from Leonardo secured them a 1-1 draw.
After Besart Berisha put Victory ahead early on, Jeonbuk responded via their number 10 to give them the advantage heading into their home-leg.
The South Korean team topped their ACL group on goal difference having won three, drawn one and lost two.
Melbourne need to score in South Korea if they hope to progress to the quarter-finals. Victory veteran Archie Thompson played his final home game last week.
After an underwhelming A-League season that saw them eliminated the first week of finals, the Victory are looking to Asia for some consolation and have so far done better than ever before by simply making the knockout stage. Having just scraped through their group finishing second, they need to salvage a win or high-scoring draw to keep their season and ACL journey alive.
Something to note is that in their 15 away games in the ACL, the Victory have yet to win.
Can the Victory make the quarter-finals or will the trip to Korea prove too tough a task? Join us on The Roar for all of the action as the Melbourne Victory tackle Jeonbuk in the second leg of their ACL round of 16 tie.
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