AFC Champions League Elite
The Malaysian champions roared back in style after going behind to Lee Ho-jae’s opener, with five players finding the net in what ultimately was an emphatic win at the Sultan Ibrahim Stadium, with JDT finishing fourth in the East Zone standings on 14 points.
Up next for them will be another Korea Republic side - Gwangju FC - with JDT having the advantage of playing the return leg at home.
#ACLElite | Johor Darul Ta'zim (MAS) 5-2 FC Pohang Steelers (KOR)
“The players were excellent. We had talked about needing to win and getting the best position in the table and today, the team, the fans, everyone gave their 100 percent and I'm very happy.
“Before the start of the competition, we set our target to qualify to the next stage but now, we have not only qualified but we did it by showing our type of football."
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“It was a tough game, Pohang are a very good team but today, JDT played with personality, aggression and showed our football so I think the score in the end was a fair one,” said Bidoglio.
Oscar Arribas cancelled out the Korean side’s opener with Bergson and Arif Aiman then pulling JDT ahead. Kang Hyeon-je narrowed the deficit in the 80th minute but late strikes from Jese Rodriguez and Jorge Obregon secured the win, with Pohang head coach Park Tae-ha ruing the mistakes his players made.
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“Firstly, congratulations to Johor for winning the game. We tried our best but we had problems physically and we also made a lot of mistakes, those are the reasons why we lost the game.
“The mistakes were too costly and that stopped us from doing what we wanted but we still fought until the end,” said Park, with the defeat eliminating his side.
