Melbourne Victory will host their first ever Round of 16 Asian Champions League match tonight, as they do battle with Group E winners Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC in the first leg of the series. Join The Roar from 7:45pm (AEST) for all the live highlights and action.
Kevin Muscat’s Melbourne side have never dived this far into the ACL before, being one of five teams in this year’s tournament to make their second round debuts.
The Victory were able to sneak past the Suwon Bluewings in the Group G standings, taking second spot with a superior head to head record despite sharing the same points and even a lesser goal difference than the South Korean side.
Melbourne’s journey isn’t about to get any easier though, tackling a Jeonbuk outfit that boasts current double defending K-League Champions status (winning four of the last seven titles), as well as being a former Asian Champions League winner in 2006.
Despite a fairly inconsistent ACL campaign so far (as inconsistent as topping your pool can be), Jeonbuk have had a ripper start to their 2016 domestic K-League season, sitting pretty in second place as the only undefeated team in the competition.
Contrastingly, the Victory only just scraped through to the A-League finals this year in sixth place, but were dumped out in the first round of elimination finals.
Just to add to the pain, they were then beaten fairly convincingly, 3-1, just two days later in the Champions League to nearly derail their whole campaign.
Although Melbourne will be up against a side favoured to win the whole thing (since Guangzhou Evergrande were bundled out), they can take comfort in their home ground, AAMI Park.
The Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, as it’s known throughout the Champions League, has accounted for seven of the Victory’s nine points through the group stages, scooping up two wins and a draw in front of the home faithful.
“We’ve put in some very good football, especially here at home we’ve had a very good attacking intent and scored some goals here at home so we look forward to tomorrow night against a good team,” said coach Muscat.
Prediction
Neither side has really been a standout, with Jeonbuk in particular not as dominant as expected coming into the tournament, but if they were to fire up, now would be a good time.
Jeonbuk will be a very tough ask for the Victory and they should pick up the important away win, but the home ground advantage could be cause for an upset if Muscat can really get his men firing.
Jeonbuk to win 2-0, or by 2 goals one way or another.
Can Melbourne extend their debut run in the Champions League finals? Or will Jeonbuk run riot over the home side on their way towards a possible second title? Catch all the live ACL action on The Roar from 7:45pm (AEST).
Mister Football
Roar Guru
Arch and his team mates doing a lap of honour to farewell him.
Connor Bennett
Editor
The second leg will be played in Jeonju next Tuesday (the 24th). The Korean side will have a game in between with the K-League while Melbourne will head over a few days early to get full preparation in
Connor Bennett
Editor
An emotional interview with Archie Thompson after the game... he does still have another game to play in the second leg but those home fans in Melbourne really showed their appreciation for the veteran.
Connor Bennett
Editor
A fast paced game out of the gates with a pair of goals in the first 15 minutes, including an absolute pearler of a free kick from Leonardo for Jeonbuk. The Berisha goal early on set the stadium alight and the home fans were going crazy, as they did through the whole night. The game slowed down a touch coming into the half time break but it was the Victory who came out with the aggression in the second stanza. Neither side could really take control of the match though and defence was the order of the day with both sides bunkering down at the back to avoid conceding all important goals in the two leg series.
Connor Bennett
Editor
FULLTIME The whistle is blown and the first leg of the Round of 16 is over. Both sides will be happy and disappointed with the draw. Melbourne - 1 Jeonbuk - 1
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Editor
90' +3 YELLOW CARD George Howard has been shown the banana for a bit of a nothing tackle really. He looked as confused as all of us when the card was shown Melbourne - 1 Jeonbuk - 1
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Editor
90' +2 Free kick inside the Victory half as boos ring out through the stadium for the decision. Jeonbuk can't make much of it and the draw is looking near certain Melbourne - 1 Jeonbuk - 1
Connor Bennett
Editor
90' +1 Melbourne working it up the pitch with throw ins. Berisha in space and holds off on the shot, instead handing it off to Georgevski. Can't quite get a hold of it though and Jeobuk will get the turnover Melbourne - 1 Jeonbuk - 1
Connor Bennett
Editor
90' +3 minutes of stoppage time Melbourne - 1 Jeonbuk - 1
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Editor
90' Time really running out for both sides now. What can they do with the remaining injury time? Melbourne - 1 Jeonbuk - 1
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Editor
89' Jeonbuk now the one's on top. Pressing at the top of the box, trying to find space through the sea of navy blue but the Victory are holding strong as they have all night Melbourne - 1 Jeonbuk - 1
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Editor
88' Great corner from Leonardo curling in and Young Chan Kim gets a shoulder to it!! Just wide though and the visitors can't steal a winning goal Melbourne - 1 Jeonbuk - 1
Connor Bennett
Editor
86' Melbourne are in control of the game but Jeonbuk have threatened a few times with the counter... and they do just that with Lopes!! Lopes is still goinginto the box with Victory men around him. Takes the shot in traffic but it deflects off the legs and Jeonbuk get a corner Melbourne - 1 Jeonbuk - 1
Connor Bennett
Editor
85' Big chance in space now for Howard!! No. He had room in the box but the Jeonbuk cover defence was superb to smother the chance. Jeonbuk are just holding no at the moment Melbourne - 1 Jeonbuk - 1
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Editor
84' Victory being pressed back to halfway by the Jeonbuk defence. Great pressure from the visitors and they get the turnover with time running out Melbourne - 1 Jeonbuk - 1
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Editor
83' YELLOW CARD Kyowon is shown the first yellow for Jeonbuk. Lazy tackle and deserves to get his name in the book Melbourne - 1 Jeonbuk - 1
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Editor
82' Ooohhh another hands on heads moment for the Victory fans. Georgevski makes contact on the Victory header but it just flies across the face of goal missing by inches Melbourne - 1 Jeonbuk - 1
Connor Bennett
Editor
81' A little messy at the top of the box for Jeonbuk and they give the turnover, Melbourne on the counter now but a great run out of the box from Tae Kwon saves the day in the end. Melbourne - 1 Jeonbuk - 1
Connor Bennett
Editor
81' Very shallow off the corner and Berisha has first touch on the ball, clearing it out of the danger zone for a Jeonbuk throw in Melbourne - 1 Jeonbuk - 1
Connor Bennett
Editor
80' Poor clearance from teh Victory and they've gifted possession back to Jeonbuk who muscle their way into the box, winning a corner for their efforts. Melbourne - 1 Jeonbuk - 1