A gallant Melbourne Victory fell to Ulsan Hyundai in its 2020 AFC Champions League Round of 16 match in Doha on Monday morning.
The defeat marked the end of Victory’s Champions League campaign, after progressing to the knockout stages for only the second time in its history.
Ulsan’s first goal came when, in the 65th minute, the ball fell kindly to Bjørn Maars Johnsen in the box – the Norwegian international made no mistake, driving a low shot past Max Crocombe.
Won Du-Jae doubled the lead 12 minutes later when the second-half substitute was given too much space in the box to head the ball home.
Johnsen added his second, and Ulsan’s third, in the 86th minute – attacking the back post to tap the ball in.
Summary
Ulsan started the stronger of the two teams and looked the more likely to score in the early stages of the game, putting plenty of pressure on the Victory defence.
Victory cause wasn’t helped when Adama Traore forced from the field in the 14th minute with injury. He was replaced at left-back by youngster So Nishikawa.
The Horangi looked set to take the lead in the 21st minute when Kim In-Sung found himself one-on-one with Victory shot-stopper Crocombe.
Crocombe stepped up with a spectacular reflex save to deny In-Sung, who really should’ve done better with the chance.
What a save! #ULSvMEL 0-0 #ACL2020 pic.twitter.com/EBa0vskrum
— Melbourne Victory (@gomvfc) December 6, 2020
Victory started to work its way into the game following Crocombe’s save, enjoying more possession in its attacking half as it tried to break through the Ulsan defence.
Crocombe was again called into action shortly before half-time, reacting well to Bit-Garam’s deflected shot to tip the ball around the post at full stretch.
The first chance of the second half fell to Ulsan striker Junior Negrão in the 53rd minute, his volley on target from 10-yards forced another big save from Crocombe.
Five minutes later, a Victory counterattack ended at the feet of Brandon Lauton in the box, his powerful drive was well saved by Jo So-Huk.
Ulsan then opened the scoring through half-time substitute Johnsen in the 65th minute, forcing Victory to go on the attack in search of an equaliser.
It was another substitute who doubled Ulsan’s lead in the 77th minute, with Du-Jae rising well to head home a free kick taken from the right side of the pitch.
Du-Jae had only been on the pitch for about five minutes by the time he registered his name on the scoresheet.
Any doubts about the result were put to rest in the 86th minute when the ball made its way to Johnsen at the back post for an easy tap in.
Result
AFC Champions League 2020 Round of 16
Ulsan Hyundai 3 (Johnsen 65′ 86′, Du-Jae 77′)
Melbourne Victory 0
Ulsan Hyundai: So-Huk (gk), Young-Woo (Tae-Hwan 46′), Joo-Ho, Bulthuis, Kee-hee, Myong-Jin (Johnsen 46′), Bit-Garam, Jin-Ho, In-Sung (Dong-Ho 84′), Chung-Yong (Du-Jae 72′), Junior (Keun-Ho 79′)
Melbourne Victory: Crocombe (gk), Traore (Nishikawa 14′), Ansell (Ryan 66′), Anderson, Roux, Barnett, Butterfield (Kirdar 71′), Brimmer, Kamsoba (Lauton 46′), Rojas, Folami (Lawrie-Lattanzio 66′)
Yellow cards: Butterfield 30′, Joo-Ho 56′, Anderson 59′, Du-Jae 74′
Venue: Education City Stadium, Doha
