LEONARDO and Lee Dong-gook both scored a brace as Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors of South Korea produced a dominating second-half display at home to thrash China’s Shanghai SIPG 5-0 Tuesday to march into the semifinals of the Asian Champions League (ACL).
SIPG was missing key players Elkeson, Conca and Evrard for the quarterfinals, but Brazilian striker Hulk played for 89 minutes.
After a barren first half, the 2006 champions took complete control of the second leg of their quarterfinal at the Jeonju World Cup Stadium against the Chinese debutants, coached by former England and Manchester City manager Sven-Goran Eriksson.
Brazilian Leonardo opened the floodgates in the 52nd minute when he curled in a left-footer from the edge of the box after a brilliant build-up by the hosts, who are on course for their third straight K-League title.
Six minutes later, Shi Ke scored an own goal for last year’s Chinese Super League runner-up when he poked the ball home trying to make a clearance with Leonardo lurking close.
The Chinese side, which held Jeonbuk 0-0 in the first leg at home in August, had Lu Wenjun sent off in the 74th minute and the hosts made the full use of their numerical advantage to pump three more goals in.
Leonardo converted a penalty in the 83rd minute before substitute Lee, the 37-year-old South Korean striker, added two more goals to make it 5-0 for the hosts, who will make their first ACL semifinal appearance since 2011.
In the last four, Jeonbuk will meet the winner of the quarter-final clash between FC Seoul and Shandong Luneng.
SIPG manager Eriksson said the result was hard to accept. The Swede also said he was not happy with his players’ performance in the second half.
He said the South Koreans deserved to advance “after their performances in both the legs.”
“Today’s match taught us a lesson … now we will concentrate on the domestic league.”
Eriksson, however, said he was still happy with his team, which had reached the quarterfinals in its first year of the AFC Champions League.(SD-Agencies)
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