2013 AFC Champions League final

2013 AFC Champions League final
Event	2013 AFC Champions League
	on aggregate; Guangzhou Evergrande won on away goals
First leg
Date	26 October 2013
Venue	Seoul World Cup Stadium, Seoul
AFC Man of the Match	Dejan Damjanović
Fans' Man of the Match	Sergio Escudero
Referee	Ravshan Irmatov (Uzbekistan)
Attendance	55,501
Weather	Clear; 9 °C (48 °F); 66% humidity
Second leg
Date	9 November 2013
Venue	Tianhe Stadium, Guangzhou
AFC Man of the Match	Darío Conca
Fans' Man of the Match	Zheng Zhi
Referee	Nawaf Shukralla (Bahrain)
Attendance	55,847
Weather	Cloudy; 26 °C (79 °F); 69% humidity
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Last updated April 19, 2024

The 2013 AFC Champions League final was the final match of the 2013 AFC Champions League, the thirty-second round of the top grade Asian club football tournament. It was organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was the eleventh round under the title of AFC Champions League .

The final match was contested in a two-legged home-and-away format between FC Seoul of South Korea and Guangzhou Evergrande of China. The first leg was hosted by FC Seoul at the Seoul World Cup Stadium in Seoul on 26 October 2013,^[1] while the second leg was hosted by Guangzhou Evergrande at the Tianhe Stadium in Guangzhou on 9 November 2013.^[2] The winner earned the right to represent the AFC at the 2013 FIFA Club World Cup in Morocco, beginning at the quarterfinal stage.^[3]

Qualified teams

Team	Previous finals appearances (bold indicates winners)
FC Seoul	2002
Guangzhou Evergrande	None

Outcome

The first leg ended with a 2-all draw. Goals were scored by Sergio Escudero and Dejan Damjanović for FC Seoul, and Elkeson and Gao Lin for Guangzhou Evergrande.^[4] The second leg ended with a 1-all draw. Goals in this game were made by Elkeson for Guangzhou Evergrande, and Dejan Damjanović for FC Seoul.^[5]

Guangzhou Evergrande won the match and was awarded the premiership. This was their first premiership win on the away goals rule.^[6]^[7]^[8]

Venues

After the 2012 AFC Champions League Final took place at the home of one of the finalists, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) announced that the following year's competition final would be contested in a two-legged home-and-away format. It was the first time since 2008 that the AFC had adopted such an arrangement.

FC Seoul's home venue, the Seoul World Cup Stadium, Seoul, is a 66,806 seated stadium located in the capital city. It is also the home ground of the Korea Republic national football team, and was the opening venue of the 2002 FIFA World Cup. It is the third largest soccer stadium in Asia, after Azadi Stadium and Salt Lake Stadium.

Guangzhou Evergrande's home venue, Tianhe Stadium, is a 58,500 seated stadium located in the city of Guangzhou. It hosted the 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup and the football matches of the 2010 Asian Games.

In the history of the competition, five finals have been held in South Korea, but this was the first one in Seoul.

Background

Neither FC Seoul nor Guangzhou Everard had won the AFC club premiership before. The predecessors of FC Seoul, the Anyang LG Cheetahs, finished as runners-up of the 2001–02 Asian Club Championship. It was also the sixteenth time a Korean club had reached the final and the fourth time a Chinese club had done so.

Choi Yong-Soo was the manager of an experienced Korean side. The Korean side had won the AFC Champions League premiership four times in the previous five years. FC Seoul had represented Korea in the final games for five consecutive seasons. They had been defeated in the quarter-finals in 2009 and 2011.

Guanghzhou's head coach from May 2012 was Marcello Lippi. Lippi had won the UEFA Champions League with Juventus in 1996 and the 2006 FIFA World Cup with the Italy national football team. Guangzhou won the Chinese Super League premiership in 2010 and 2011 and had reached the quarter-finals of the 2012 AFC Champions League. Guangzhou, like FC Seoul, had lost just once en route to the final, having scored 14 goals in their last four games. Choi had the full Italian squad at his disposal. The last time China had won the premiership was in 1990 with the Liaoning team. In 1998, Dalian Wanda had lost the premiership to the Pohang Steelers.

Road to final

Note: In all results below, the score of the finalist is given first.

FC Seoul

Round

Guangzhou Evergrande

Bye

Qualifying play-off

Bye

Opponent

Result

Group stage

Opponent

Result

Jiangsu Sainty

5–1 (H)

Matchday 1

Urawa Red Diamonds

3–0 (H)

Buriram United

0–0 (A)

Matchday 2

Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors

1–1 (A)

Vegalta Sendai

2–1 (H)

Matchday 3

Muangthong United

4–0 (H)

Vegalta Sendai

0–1 (A)

Matchday 4

Muangthong United

4–1 (A)

Jiangsu Sainty

2–0 (A)

Matchday 5

Urawa Red Diamonds

2–3 (A)

Buriram United

2–2 (H)

Matchday 6

Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors

0–0 (H)

Group E winner

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	FC Seoul	6	3	2	1	11	5	+6	11	Advance to knockout stage
2	Buriram United	6	1	4	1	6	6	0	7	Advance to knockout stage
3	Jiangsu Sainty	6	2	1	3	5	10	−5	7
4	Vegalta Sendai	6	1	3	2	5	6	−1	6

Source: ^{[ citation needed ]}

Final standings

Group F winner

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Guangzhou Evergrande	6	3	2	1	14	5	+9	11	Advance to knockout stage
2	Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	6	2	4	0	10	6	+4	10	Advance to knockout stage
3	Urawa Red Diamonds	6	3	1	2	11	11	0	10
4	Muangthong United	6	0	1	5	4	17	−13	1

Source: ^{[ citation needed ]}

Opponent

Agg.

1st leg

2nd leg

Knock-out stage

Opponent

Agg.

1st leg

2nd leg

Beijing Guoan

3–1

0–0 (A)

3–1 (H)

Round of 16

Central Coast Mariners

5–1

2–1 (A)

3–0 (H)

Al-Ahli

2–1

1–1 (A)

1–0 (H)

Quarterfinals

Lekhwiya

6–1

2–0 (H)

4–1 (A)

Esteghlal

4–2

2–0 (H)

2–2 (A)

Semifinals

Kashiwa Reysol

8–1

4–1 (A)

4–0 (H)

Rules

The final was played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. This was a change from the previous year when the final had been played as a single game. The order of the legs was decided by a draw. The away goals rule, extra time (away goals do not apply in extra time) and penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner, if necessary.^[3]

Match details

First leg

Team news

FC Seoul's squad featured veterans of its previous campaigns, and a Colombian midfielder, Mauricio Molina. Molina had won the 2010 AFC Champions League premiership title as part of Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma. FC Seoul was without its defender, Cha Du-ri, for the first leg of the final due to his suspension. A veteran Brazilian, Adilson dos Santos, replaced him. dos Santos was expected to play at right-back.^[9]

Guanghzhou's Brazilian striker, Muriqui, was the leading scorer in the competition. He had made 13 goals prior to the final. Dario Conca and Elkeson, both from South America, had also made significant contributions. Lippi confirmed that right-back Zhang Linpeng and midfielder Zhao Xuri had recovered from injury.^[10]

Summary

55,501 patrons attended the first game at the Seoul World Cup Stadium. Sergio Escudero for FC Seoul, scored in the eleventh minute of the match. However, fifteen minutes before half time, Elkeson (who had scored four goals in the previous four games) scored at the equalizer.

The China international, Gao Lin, then added to the Brazilian's header a minute before the hour mark, and despite Montenegrin striker Damjanovic equalizing with seven minutes remaining, Guangzhou headed into the next month's second leg in pole position. Guangzhou came close to a breakthrough after eight minutes as Dario Conca's shot was palmed back out towards the penalty spot, only for Huang Bowen to blaze over the crossbar. But just two minutes later, FC Seoul took the lead as Guangzhou's defence failed to deal with a quickly taken free-kick and Escudero held off Feng Xiaoting before coolly beating the goalkeeper, Zeng Cheng, with a low shot from just inside the penalty area.

At twenty minutes, Gao made a goal for Guangzhou: his angled strike from inside the area was kicked away by FC Seoul goal keeper, Kim Yong-Dae, before Elkeson fired over from Zhang Linpeng's cross. Guangzhou was back on level terms 16 minutes before half-time as Huang's left wing corner was met by the unmarked Elkeson and the Brazilian's downward header from the edge of the six yard area gave Kim little chance despite a despairing dive from the FC Seoul goalkeeper. Guangzhou finished the first half strongly and almost completed the comeback in stoppage time as Kim had to be on his toes to push a rising strike from Conca away at his near post.

FC Seoul striker Damjanovic made a strike at goal seven minutes into the second half. One minute before the hour mark, Guangzhou took the lead as FC Seoul's defence failed to fully clear the danger inside their penalty area and Sun Xiang's low drilled cross was diverted into the back of the net at the near post when Gao Lin poked it in. Damjanovic again went close to making another goal for FC Seoul after 66 minutes, only to be denied by a last-ditch block by Sun Xiang before Koh Myong-Jin fired into the side netting.

Guangzhou should have added a third point with seven minutes remaining as Elkeson fired a tame effort straight at Kim from a promising position. FC Seoul took full advantage less than a minute later as substitute Yun Il-Lok found Escudero in space on the left and Yun's cut back found Damjanovic, who calmly swept the ball past Zeng from inside the area.

The last play of the match fell to FC Seoul as a counter-attack quickly established itself between FC Seoul's striking partnership of Damjanovic and Escudero. However, Damjanovic's shot was blocked by Zeng Cheng before the whistle blew.

Details

26 October 2013

19:30 UTC+9

FC Seoul	2–2	Guangzhou Evergrande
Escudero 11' Damjanović 83'	Report	Elkeson 30' Gao Lin 58'

Seoul World Cup Stadium, Seoul

Attendance: 55,501

Referee: Ravshan Irmatov (Uzbekistan)

FC Seoul

Guangzhou Evergrande


Formation: 4–4–2
GK	1	Kim Yong-dae
DF	2	Choi Hyo-jin
DF	4	Kim Ju-young
DF	6	Kim Jin-kyu
DF	8	Adilson dos Santos
MF	11	Mauricio Molina
MF	16	Ha Dae-sung (c)
MF	21	Go Yo-han		77'
MF	22	Koh Myong-jin
FW	9	Sergio Escudero	70'
FW	10	Dejan Damjanović
Substitutes
GK	31	Yu Sang-hun
DF	7	Kim Chi-woo
MF	17	Choi Hyun-tae
MF	24	Yun Il-lok		77'
MF	29	Lee Sang-hyeob
MF	33	Choi Tae-uk
FW	18	Kim Hyun-sung
Manager
Choi Yong-soo


Formation: 4–2–3–1
GK	19	Zeng Cheng
DF	5	Zhang Linpeng
DF	6	Feng Xiaoting	38'
DF	28	Kim Young-gwon
DF	32	Sun Xiang		87'
MF	10	Zheng Zhi (c)
MF	11	Muriqui
MF	15	Darío Conca
MF	16	Huang Bowen
MF	29	Gao Lin		75'
FW	9	Elkeson
Substitutes
GK	22	Li Shuai
DF	4	Zhao Peng
DF	33	Rong Hao		75'
MF	7	Feng Junyan
MF	8	Qin Sheng
MF	37	Zhao Xuri		87'
FW	30	Yang Chaosheng
Manager
Marcello Lippi

AFC Man of the Match:
Dejan Damjanović (FC Seoul)
Fans' Man of the Match:
Sergio Escudero (FC Seoul)

Assistant referees:
Abdukhamidullo Rasulov (Uzbekistan)
Bakhadyr Kochkarov (Kyrgyzstan)
Fourth official:
Valentin Kovalenko (Uzbekistan)

Statistics

First half
	FC Seoul	Guangzhou Evergrande
Goals scored	1	1
Total shots	3	5
Shots on target	2	3
Saves	2	1
Ball possession	47%	53%
Corner kicks	1	2
Fouls committed	11	11
Offsides	0	1
Yellow cards	0	1
Red cards	0	0

Second half
	FC Seoul	Guangzhou Evergrande
Goals scored	1	1
Total shots	11	3
Shots on target	7	2
Saves	1	6
Ball possession	52%	48%
Corner kicks	6	4
Fouls committed	10	3
Offsides	1	0
Yellow cards	1	0
Red cards	0	0

Overall
	FC Seoul	Guangzhou Evergrande
Goals scored	2	2
Total shots	14	8
Shots on target	9	5
Saves	3	7
Ball possession	50%	50%
Corner kicks	7	6
Fouls committed	21	14
Offsides	1	1
Yellow cards	1	1
Red cards	0	0

Reactions

After the first game, the FC Seoul head coach, Choi Yong-Soo, was confident his team could secure the win needed in the second leg to claim the AFC Champions League premiership. He said, "It was a tough match, as you expect to see in the AFC Champions League final. We always prepare to win but we drew in our home game. But we have an opportunity to win the game in the second leg; we're never going to give up and we can do it."^[11]

Marcello Lippi rued a string of missed opportunities. He said, "The match was well-fought throughout. The game was quite balanced between both teams. It’s been a period when we’ve had a couple of players out injured and this was their first match for 20 days. But FC Seoul are a good team and they attack well and Damjanovic defends the ball well with his body."^[12]