ACL report: FC Seoul

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Melbourne Victory faces FC Seoul on Match Day 2 of the 2020 AFC Champions League in South Korea on Tuesday night.

The six-time K League 1 Champions will be playing its first game in the 2020 Champions League, following the postponement of its Match Day 1 fixture against Beijing FC.

Victory kicked off its ACL campaign last week, with a win over Thailand’s Chiangrai United.

Ola Toivonen’s 25th minute penalty was enough to earn Victory all three points at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium.

Match details

FC Seoul v Melbourne Victory
Seoul World Cup Stadium
Tuesday, February 18
Kick-off: 9:30pm (AEDT)

How did FC Seoul qualify?

After 38 games in the 2019 K League 1 season, FC Seoul clinched third place – level on points with Pohang Steelers in fourth, but with a better goal difference.

With Jeonbuk and Ulsan gaining automatic qualification for the Champions League, Seoul earned a play-off tie with Malaysian side, Kedah FC.

2020 will be Seoul’s eighth appearance in the competition, following a comfortable 4-1 win over Kedah in South Korea. While it failed to qualify for the competition in 2018 and 2019, Seoul finished runners-up in 2013 – narrowly losing on away goals to Guangzhou Evergrande.

Key players

Since rejoining Seoul in 2015, Park Chu-Young has made 146 league appearances and scored 38 goals. The striker has also represented South Korea 68 times and featured in three FIFA World Cups.

Spaniard, Osmar Barba is an integral part of Seoul’s defensive shape and can occupy any position across the back line or in defensive-midfield. The 31-year-old occasionally contributes with a goal and scored a free-kick the play-off win over Kedah.

Club legend, Go Yo-Han has played for Seoul since 2006, making over 300 appearances. The veteran has won an array of trophies with the club, including three K League titles, one Korean FA Cup and two Korean League Cups.

Recent form

Seoul’s 2020 K League 1 season gets underway next weekend with a trip to Ulsan Hyundai.

Despite finishing third in 2019, Seoul suffered a number of defeats towards the end of the domestic season.

Last five competitive results:

Seoul 4 – 1 Kedah (Champions League play-off)
Daegu 0 – 0 Seoul
Seoul 0 – 3 Pohang
Seoul 0 – 1 Ulsan
Jeonbuk 1 – 1 Seoul