Melbourne Victory finished their AFC Champions League campaign on a positive note, earning a come-from-behind 1-1 draw at Jeju United on Wednesday in Kevin Muscat’s final game for the club.
Melbourne Victory finished their AFC Champions League campaign on a positive note, earning a come-from-behind 1-1 draw at Jeju United on Wednesday in Kevin Muscat’s final game for the club.
Kim Eun-Jung put the South Koreans ahead after 25 minutes, but Diogo Ferreira’s stunning volley earned parity for the visitors at the Jeju World Cup Stadium.
Unfortunately, Victory’s failure to win combined with Gamba Osaka’s 2-0 win over Tianjin Teda spelt the end of the ACL campaign for Mehmet Durakovic’s men.
The match also brought to a close the career of veteran defender Muscat, as the two-time Hyundai A-League Championship winner made his last appearance in Melbourne colours.
Victory should have gone ahead in the fourth minute, when a mis-hit shot from Carlos Hernandez fell kindly for Danny Allsopp, who coolly slotted the ball past Jeju goalkeeper Kim Ho-Jun, but the linesman had flagged for offside.
Television replays showed Allsopp was unfortunate, with a Jeju defender slow to push up, clearly playing the Victory striker onside.
Jeju spurned a glorious chance after 11 minutes when Kim Eun-Jung found himself clean through on goal but the striker scuffed his shot, much to the relief of Victory keeper Tando Velaphi.
Jeju missed another good chance to test Velaphi when Brazilian winger Santos blasted a shot over after a beautiful ball from Park Hyun-Beom as Jeju began to pepper the Victory goal.
Goalkeeper Kim had to make a save from Allsopp after 21 minutes when a great ball from Hernandez picked out the striker who should have done better with his left-foot shot.
Jeju took the lead 25 minutes in when Kim Eun-Jung brilliantly controlled a lofted ball into the box with his chest before rifling a shot past Velaphi with his left foot, and it was nearly 2-0 five minutes later when Santos fired inches wide from distance.
Robbie Kruse could have leveled proceedings in the 33rd minute when Hernandez found the striker with a nice ball and although Kruse beat the keeper with a chip, Kang Joon-Woo cleared the ball off the line.
Velaphi made a fine save to deny Bae Ki-Jong with five minutes left in the half, and when Leigh Broxham headed just over in stoppage time Jeju went to the break with a 1-0 lead.
Victory started the second half in attacking mode, netting three times in the first seven minutes after the break – only to be denied by the offside flag on each occasion.
Firstly, a Kruse strike was ruled out after the diminutive forward netted from Carlos Hernandez’s rebounded shot off the post.
Allsopp then put Archie Thompson through, and the veteran Victory striker duly found the net across Kim only for the flag to be raised by the sideline official – an incorrect decision according to replays.
Hernandez then put the ball in the back of the net, but he was clearly offside.
There was no denying Ferreira however, when he fired in a cleared Victory corner on the volley from the edge of the area to draw Melbourne level just after the hour mark.
Kang received a second yellow card and was sent from the field in the 88th minute, but it failed to affect the 1-1 scoreline.
Jeju United 1 (Kim 24)
Melbourne Victory 1 (Ferreira 61)
At Jeju World Cup Stadium
