“Very very happy, this is the feeling we have, a lot of joy,” said Solari. “We beat the champions of Korea. From the first minute to the last, we never stopped believing. I'm very proud of the team.

“After we played in Korea, we knew we could make a good game here. We knew that we had to defend better and make an extra effort. 

“The team not only defended well but dominated the game in the first half, we hit the post three times and maybe deserved another goal.

“The most important is the character of the team. We understood how to manage the moments of the game - the beginning, the middle, then suffered a little bit - and this is football, real football.”

Heberty opened the scoring in the 44th minute but Ulsan equalised through Ataru Esaka in the 69th before Akhyar’s contribution late on ensured JDT picked up their second win in Group I.

With Kawasaki Frontale on a roll after defeating BG Pathum United 4-2 for their fourth straight win, the quest for JDT and Ulsan could lie in the race for the runners-up spot and finishing as one of the three best second-placed teams in the East.

That will be the mindset of Ulsan head coach Hong Myung-bo.

“The result was an unhappy one, we missed some chances and faced a lot of difficulties in the match but all the players did their best,” said Hong.

“We have to put that behind us and look forward to the next games because we are still in it and we will try to recover from this.”