Stoppage time Jadson strike takes Shandong into Asian CL quarters

HONG KONG: Brazilian defender Jadson scored seven minutes into stoppage time to earn Shandong Taishan a 4-2 win over Kawasaki Frontale on Tuesday to take the Chinese side into the quarter-finals of the Asian Champions League with a 6-5 aggregate victory.

The game at Kawasaki Todoroki Stadium looked to be heading for extra time when Jadson hooked the ball into the top corner after the Japanese side, who held a 3-2 lead from last week’s first leg, failed to clear a corner.

Shandong will next face either Yokohama F Marinos or Bangkok United in the last eight, with the teams playing the second leg of their last 16 clash on Wednesday. The pair drew 2-2 in their first meeting last week.

Jeonbuk Motors, meanwhile, also progressed with Jeong Tae-wook’s 76th-minute header earning a 1-1 draw with Pohang Steelers that seals their passage to the next round with a 3-1 aggregate win over their fellow South Koreans. A mistake by goalkeeper Kim Jeong-hoon gifted Pohang’s Park Chan-yong a 12th minute opener from distance but, while Lee Ho-jae hit the post late in the first half, Jeonbuk eventually levelled.

That result means Jeonbuk will likely face Ulsan Hyundai in the next round, with the South Korean champions holding a 3-0 first leg advantage over Japan’s Ventforet Kofu ahead of their return meeting in Tokyo on Wednesday.

Shandong booked their quarter-final appearance at the end of a thrilling clash in which Choi Kang-hee’s side scored twice in the opening 25 minutes to take the aggregate lead, only for Kawasaki to pull level.

The Chinese hit the opener when Li Yuanyi pounced on a dawdling Takuma Ominami to feed Cryzan, the Brazilian heading home in the eighth minute to level the tie. Shandong claimed a second on the night 17 minutes later when they moved the ball rapidly after a poorly taken Kawasaki corner, with Valeri Qazaishvili clipping the ball forward for Gao Zhunyi to volley home.

Kawasaki levelled the aggregate score on the half hour when Sota Miura was released into the penalty area by Yuki Yamamoto and he beat Wang Dalei with a low shot into the bottom corner.

And in the 59th minute Toru Oniki’s side went ahead on aggregate, Marcinho hitting the post from Akihiro Ienaga’s cross from the right and Erison scoring on the rebound. Shandong refused to quit, however, with Cryzan scoring his second in the 73rd minute with a right foot strike from 20 yards that flew into the bottom corner past Jung Sung-ryong. Jadson then sealed the win in dramatic fashion to send Shandong into the last eight for the first time since 2016.