(MENAFN- Arab Times) Lee Dong-Gook's late double including an outrageous overhead were not enough to stop Jeonbuk Motors losing 3-2 to Kashiwa Reysol as their AFC Champions League campaign hung in the balance on Wednesday. The ex-Middlesbrough striker, one week away from turning 36, became the tournament's all-time top-scorer with a superb cameo which nearly overturned Kashiwa's 3-0 first-half lead.
Lee nodded a cross into the air and smashed it home with his sublime bicycle kick on 67 minutes, before he crashed in his 27th Champions League goal with nine minutes to go. But Kashiwa, who earned their lead through Eduardo and Kosuke Taketomi's brace, held on to book their spot in the knock-outs and leave former winners Jeonbuk sweating.
The 2006 Asian champions and current Korean title-holders entertain Shandong Luneng in a fortnight's time needing at least a draw to progress from Group E. Elsewhere South Korea's Seongnam FC edged Thai champions Buriram United 2-1 to go through from Group F with one round of games remaining.
Kim Do-Heon converted a 27th-minute penalty and Nam Joon-Jae added a second 11 minutes later, before Diogo pulled a goal back for the Thais with 13 minutes left.
Gamba Osaka stormed to a 5-0 away win over Guangzhou R&F which kept their hopes alive and underlined a stunning revival in fortunes.
The Japanese treble-winners lost their first two games but two away wins in a row have left them challenging for a last-16 berth in their final group game against Seongnam.
Two goals each from Anderson Patric and Hiroyuki Abe put the game well beyond Guangzhou's reach before Takashi Usami grabbed Gamba's fifth with 20 minutes to go.
In Group E, Chinese side Shandong Luneng recovered from an early scare to beat Vietnamese champions Binh Duong 3-1 and retain their hopes of reaching the knock-outs.
Nguyen Trong Hoang gave the visitors a shock lead after 20 minutes in Jinan, but Yang Xu eased home fans' nerves when he levelled eight minutes later.
Junior Urso's 61st minute strike and an own goal by Pham Minh Duc with 20 minutes left sealed Shandong's second win in the group.
Western Sydney Wanderers manager Tony Popovic has not given up on the A-league club's Asian Champions League title defence despite Tuesday's 2-1 loss to Kashima Antlers leaving them on the brink of elimination from the region's top club competition.
A stoppage time winner from Mu Kanazaki at a rain-drenched Parramatta Stadium left Popovic's side needing to beat Guangzhou Evergrande in their final group match on May 5 to have any chance of progressing to the knockout rounds.
Even if they beat the Chinese champions, Wanderers will need Kashima and FC Seoul to draw their final Group H match later the same evening to sneak into the last 16.
Given their remarkable run to last year's final, which included a win over then Asian champions Guangzhou in a two-legged quarter-final, Popovic has no intention of throwing in the towel just yet.
"I never doubt any game that we can win, that will be no different," Wanderers coach Popovic said of the crunch match at Tianhe Sports Centre. "If we doubted ourselves, we wouldn't have won the Champions League last year.
"We go to Guangzhou, we have to believe we can win. A difficult task? Yes, of course.
"We picked up three suspensions as well, which doesn't help when you've got a small squad. But we'll just try and get a few bodies back and make sure that we give ourselves a chance over there."
Guangzhou are already guaranteed a place in the knockout round for a fourth straight season but are unlikely to go easy on Wanderers after their tempestuous contest in last year's quarter-finals.
Then coach Marcello Lippi, the former Italy boss, was banned from the touchline for the second leg after running on the pitch to remonstrate with the referee when two of his players were shown red cards in the last few minutes of the opening leg.
The distraction and fixture congestion caused by the ACL campaign has had an undeniable impact on Western Sydney's third A-League campaign.
Runners-up in their first two years in the league, they need to beat Perth Glory in their final match of the domestic season on Saturday to be sure of avoiding the wooden spoon.
Popovic said some flexibility from the A-League schedulers to give his players an extra day's rest before ACL matches would have been welcome. "It's something I don't see happening in the near future," Popovic said. "Would I like it? I wouldn't like it, I'd love it."
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.