Melbourne Victory suffered a narrow 1-0 loss to FC Seoul on Match Day 2 of the 2020 AFC Champions League Group Stage on Tuesday night.
FC Seoul opened the scoring through Park Chu-young in the 8th minute, the former Arsenal & Monaco striker was left unmarked in the box and beat Lawrence Thomas with a low shot.
LINE-UPS | 🇰🇷 @FCSEOUL 🆚 @gomvfc 🇦🇺
📝 The starting XIs for FC Seoul's opening #ACL2020 game against Melbourne Victory are out. Can the K-League team start with a win or will the Australian side make it 2 from 2❓ pic.twitter.com/oVdaSZCp69
— #ACLElite & #ACLTwo (@TheAFCCL) February 18, 2020
Summary
After the home side’s early opener, Victory had a great opportunity to reply just a few minutes later when Ola Toivonen played Adama Traore in on goal. Seoul goalkeeper Yu Sang-hun was up to the task, getting off his line well to foil the chance.
Victory had another golden opportunity in the 18th minute when Ola Toivonen forced Yu Gang-hun into a big save. The Swedish striker cut inside and struck a nice shot with his right foot, only to be denied by the outstretched hand of the goalkeeper.
Jay Barnett suffered an injury on the half-hour mark which forced him from the field, Anthony Lesiotis replaced him in the centre of the park.
Seoul carried the 1-0 lead into the break and looked the livelier of the two teams in the early stages of the second half.
January signing Marco Rojas continued down the road to full match fitness, replacing Elvis Kamsoba shortly after the hour mark.
James Donachie was booked in the 64th minute, his second yellow card of the Group Stage which means he will be suspended for Match Day 3 against Beijing FC.
FC Seoul saw out the rest of the second half to take the three points.
Result
2020 AFC Champions League Match Day 2
FC Seoul 1 (Park Chu-young 8′)
Melbourne Victory 0
FC Seoul: Yu Sang-hun; Kim Joo-sung, Hwang Hyun-soo, Kim Nam-chun; Ko Kwang-min, Alibaev, Ju Se-jong, Kim Han-gil, Osmar; Park Chu-yong, Park Dong-jin.
Melbourne Victory: Thomas (gk); Traore, Carrigan, Donachie (Athiu 83′), Galifuocco, Lauton; Basha, Barnett (Lesiotis 30′); Nabbout, Toivonen (c), Kamsoba (Rojas 61′).
Yellow cards: (Donachie 64′)
Venue: Seoul World Cup Stadium
Next up
Victory travels to face Newcastle Jets in Round 20 of the 2019/20 Hyundai A-League season on Saturday, February 22.
