Jeonbuk advances to semis in AFC Champions League

Jeonbuk Motors striker Lee Dong-gook celebrates after scoring his second goal by header against Cerezo Osaka in the second-leg quarterfinals at Jeonju World Cup Stadium, Tuesday. / Yonhap

By Yoon Chul

Jeonbuk Motors entered the top four of the AFC Champions League, overcoming defeat in the first-leg of its quarterfinal match against Cerezo Osaka, Tuesday.

FC Seoul, however, failed to replicate the feat despite beating Al Ittihad

The Motors pounded Osaka 6-1 in the second leg of the quarterfinal at Jeonju World Cup Stadium and the K-League leaders advanced 9-5 on aggregate

FC Seoul beat Al Ittihad 1-0 at Seoul World Cup Stadium, but the visitors moved to the semifinal on a 3-2 aggregate score.

Before the start of the second leg against the Japanese club, observers said that Lee Dong-gook would be prolific. Lee, who has 14 goals and 14 assists in 26 K-League games this season, proved them right by netting four goals.

In order to reach the semifinals, Jeonbuk needed win by two more goals than Osaka.

Initially the balance of play between them wasn’t big, but after Kim Bo-kyung of Osaka was substituted due to a nose injury in the 10th minute, the Motors rapidly gained ascendancy with Eninhho scoring for a 1-0 lead in 30th minute.

Though the home side didn’t score more in the first half, they came out firing in the second period.

Eninhho’s corner kick found Lee’s head to double the lead in the 49th, and the latter scored another goal seven minutes later.

In the 64th minute he completed a hat-trick.

Osaka replied with a Fabio Lopes goal in the 72nd, but a diving header from Kim Dong-chan and one more goal from Lee in stoppage time completed the rout.

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