JEONJU, South Korea — Leonardo scored twice as 2006 winner Jeonbuk Motors secured the first spot in the Asian Champions League quarterfinals with a 2-1 win over Melbourne Victory, and Wu Lei's stoppage-time winner against FC Tokyo helped Shanghai SIPG sneak into the last eight on the away goals rule.
Tokyo took a 2-1 lead to Shanghai from the first leg and was on the verge of advancing with the score locked at 0-0 until added time, when unmarked Wu swooped on Elkeson's blocked shot and fired in from close range to give SIPG a 1-0 win and 2-2 draw on aggregate — securing the quarterfinal spot courtesy of the away goal that Wu scored last week.
Jeobuk advanced 3-2 on aggregate, defending frantically as Melbourne pushed for a late equalizer and another away goal that would have given the Australian club a spot in the quarterfinals.
"The players performed well in front of our fans. We gave the ball away a little too often early in the game, but that can happen," Jeonbuk coach Choi Kang-hee said. "The players had a strong will to get through and that was a big factor."
Leonardo curled a free kick from an acute angle inside the far post in the 29th minute and doubled the lead with a finish from in front in the 71st.
Besart Berisha kept Melbourne's chances alive when he tapped in Jai Ingham's cross in the 84th but the Australian club was unable to score the equalizer that would have allowed them to advance.
In Tashkent, Lokomotiv survived a late scare to qualify for the quarterfinals of the AFC Champions League for the first time after goals from Islom Tukhtakhujaev and Sherzod Fayziev secured a 2-1 victory over Saudi Arabia’s Al-Hilal in the last 16 Tuesday.
After the sides played out a scoreless draw in Riyadh last week it was Lokomotiv, unbeaten in the continental competition since Al-Hilal won in Tashkent last year, who broke the deadlock after 25 minutes at Bunyodkor Stadium when Tukhtakhujaev fired home from close in.
The host then opened up a two-goal lead 10 minutes into the second half through Fayziev before substitute Mohammed Al-Shalhoub’s penalty in the last minute proved too little too late as Lokomotiv advanced.
“Our target was not to concede in the first half, but we couldn’t manage it,” said Hilal coach Abdullatif Al-Hussaini.
“Lokomotiv were in better physical condition and they played better. We tried to change the game in the final minutes but we couldn’t create chances.”
Al-Nasr scraped into its first ever quarterfinals despite a 3-1 second-leg defeat to Iran’s Tractorasazi Tabriz in the last 16 Tuesday as the UAE side edged a 5-4 aggregate win.
Nasr of the United Arab Emirates had a 4-1 lead ahead of its return leg against Tractor Sazi of Iran.
