Sydney FC have made history reaching their first ever AFC Champions League Two semi-final thanks to a comeback for the ages in the quarter final second leg defeating Korean giants Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors 3-2, after being 2-0 down.
The Sky Blues won the tie 5-2 on aggregate thanks to goals from Alex Grant, Patryk Klimala and Douglas Costa tonight and will face Singapore’s Lion City Sailors next month for a place in the Final.
Sydney FC 3 (Alex Grant 58’, Klimala 71’, Costa 80’ pen) def. Jeonbuk Motor 2 (Jinwoo 34’, 45+3’)
Moments That Mattered:
5’ | LOLLEY CHANCE – A set piece by Lolley into to Costa, who gives it back to the Englishman just outside the 18-yard box and Lolleytees up a beautiful low driven shot towards keeper Jeon-Hoon who tips it wide for a corner.
9’ | KLIMALA OFFSIDE-GOAL – An overhead pass by Caceres finds the forward run of Klimala who breaks past the oncoming defender and gets the shot off finding the top right-hand corner. However he drifted offside in the process.
34’ | JINWOO GOAL – Yeong-Jae pings the ball over the top of Sydney FC defence, Jingyu touches it down, and cuts the ball back towards Jinwoo who fires in the opener for Jeonbuk.
45+3’ | BOATENG CHANCE – Boateng finds space on the near post, smashing a shot towards Devenish-Meares which rockets off the post for a corner kick.
45+3 | JINWOO GOAL – A corner kick from the Korean side is whipped in to Boateng who strikes first time at Devenish-Meares. The keeper parries and Jinwoo comes in to fire the rebound home and make it 2-0 on the night – 2-2 on aggregate.
46’ | DEVENISH-MEARES SAVE – A Sydney FC defensive mistake allows the Jeonbuk midfield to pounce, threading the ball through to Jinwoo who gets a quick shot off, but Devenish-Meares gets down low to get the ball out of danger via a deflection off his foot.
56’ | COSTA CHANCE – Costa dances past the Jeonbuk defensive line letting one off just on the corner of the 18-yard box, curling a ball into the bottom left corner, Jeong-Hoon at full stretch makes the save.
58’ | GRANT GOAL – Costa whips the ball in with incredible power towards Rhyan Grant who directs it back across goal for Alex Grant to force the ball in to break the Sky Blues deadlock, it’s 3-2 on aggregate.
67’ | HYUN-BEONG OFFSIDE GOAL – A ball through from Yeong-Jae to Hyun-Beong put the wide man in on goal and he dinks it with power over Devenish-Meares, however the linesman has his flag up for offside.
71’ | KLIMALA GOAL – Costa magically dictates the ball, mesmerising Jeonbuk’s defence with a no look pass to Courtney-Perkins who cuts it back to Klimala teeing himself up for a hook finish to make it 4-2 on aggregate.
80’ | COSTA GOAL – A foul on Segecic inside the box by Boateng sees the referee award a penalty and Costa places it into the bottom right corner as Sydney FC go 5-2 on aggregate.
What They Said: Ufuk Talay: “I think it goes back to the old cliché, a game of two halves. I wasn’t happy with our mental attitude in the first half.
“I felt the boys were trying to protect the two-goal lead rather than playing our natural game, pressing high, and dictating play.
“At halftime, we addressed that and made the necessary adjustments.
“Once we returned to playing our way—dictating the game both with and without the ball—we saw a significant improvement.
“We were braver in possession, which allowed us to capitalize on opportunities.”
Douglas Costa: “At the start, it was tough to adjust to the shape and intensity of the league, but our staff did a fantastic job in managing my minutes in key games.
“Now, I feel like I’m in the right rhythm. It was a long trip to Asia, but we scored a lot of goals, and that makes us proud. We’re looking forward to the next challenge.”
Match Report: Sydney FC has soared into the AFC Champions League Two semi-finals after a brilliant second half performance which saw them win 3-2 on the night, and 5-2 on aggregate with goals from Alex Grant, Patryk Klimala and Douglas Costa to seal a well-earned place in Asian history.
The Sky Blues dominated the opening period with multiple chances through the striking partnership of Lolley and Klimala.
And they almost went in front in the 8th minute with a goal from Klimala, but it was ruled out for offside by VAR.
A spell of possession from Jeonbuk allowed the Korean side to come back into the game, and it was Jinwoo who found the back of the net in the 34th minute after a neat build up and cut back.
They continued their relentless pressure at the end of the first half which created chaos for Sydney FC.
A series of whipped-in corners tested their Sky Blues’ defensive resilience, and they were unable to clear the danger allowing Jeonbuk to strike with the last kick of the half as Jinwoo brought the contest level at 2-2 on aggregate.
A fantastic save from the foot of Devenish-Meares when faced with a 1 on 1 within a minute of the second half kept the aggregate scores level at 2-2 before the Sky Blues took the ascendancy yet again.
Costa whipped in a dead ball to the far post, which was squared off the knee of Rhyan Grant to his namesake Alex to make it 2-1 on the night and 3-2 on aggregate, just before the hour.
Twelve minutes later Costa’s mesmerising footwork baffled the Korean defenders as he made his way towards the 18-yard box. The Brazilian played a no-look pass off to Courtney-Perkins who cut it to the feet of Klimala with the Pole scooping and slicing the ball in the bottom right corner to give Ufuk Talay’s side a 4-2 aggregate advantage.
A foul on Segecic inside the box with 10 minutes to go allowed Costa to cap his night off with a penalty goal and seal the 3-2 victory for Sydney FC and make it 5-2 on aggregate.
The result books Sydney FC a place in the ACL2 semi-finals where they will play Lion City Sailors for a place in the AFC Champions League 2 Final.
Sydney FC (Home) | Formation: 4-2-3-1: 12. Harrison DEVENISH-MEARES (GK), 5. Alex GRANT, 23. Rhyan GRANT (C), 16. Joel KING, 4. Jordan COURTNEY-PERKINS, 24. Wataru KAMIJO (6. Corey HOLLMAN 53’), 15. Leonardo SENA, 17. Anthony CACERES, 11. Douglas COSTA (8. Anas OUAHIM 87’), 9. Patryk KLIMALA (25. Jaiden Kucharski 79’), 10. Joesph LOLLEY (7. Adrian SEGECIC 53’)
Head Coach: Ufuk TALAY
Unused Substitutions: 1. Andrew REDMAYNE (GK), 37. Will KENNEDY, 21. Zachary DE JESUS, 38. Jaushua SOTIRIO, 20. Tiago QUINTAL
Yellow Cards: 5. Alex GRANT 25’, Antony CACERES 45+1, Rhyan GRANT 75’
Red Cards: None
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC (Away) | Formation: 4-2-3-1: 1.Kim JEONG-HOON (GK), 4. Park JINSEOB (C) (2. Kim YEONG-BIN 84’), 25. Choi Chul SOON (13, Kang SANG-YUN 72’), 66. Kim TAEHYUN, 94. Yeon JEUN, 97. Kim JINGYU, 19. Nana BOATENG, 8. Lee YEONG-JAE (61. Jin TAE-HO 72’), 16. Bak JAE-YONG, 18. Jeon JINWOO (17. Ahn HYUN-BEOM 53’), 33. Jeon BYEONGGWAN (77. Kwon CHANG-HOON 84’)
Head Coach: Gustavo POYET
Unused Substitutions: 31. Gong SI-HYEON (GK), 3. Choi WOO-JIN, 11. Lee SEUNG-WOO
Yellow Cards: None
Red Cards: None
Venue: Allianz Stadium, Sydney, Australia
Referee: Abdulla Ali AL-MARRI
Attendance: 7,039
