FC Seoul eyes continental return - Damjanovic
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E-mail China.org.cn, November 11, 2013
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Montenegrin striker Dejan Damjanovic scored seven goals for FC Seoul in the AFC Champions League this season. |
Montenegrin striker Dejan Damjanovic has urged FC Seoul to bounce back from Saturday's AFC Champions League final disappointment and earn a return to the continental competition next season.
Damjanovic netted his seventh AFC Champions League goal of the campaign at Tianhe Stadium on Saturday as FC Seoul shared a 1-1 second leg draw with Guangzhou Evergrande only to lose on away goals following a 3-3 draw on aggregate.
But now FC Seoul, who reached the quarter-finals in 2009 and 2011, need to recover and claim a top-three finish in the K-League to earn a return to the competition next season.
The defending K-League champions are currently fourth in the table, five points behind Jeonbuk Motors, having beaten crosstown rivals Suwon Bluewings 2-1 in their previous domestic outing with Choi Yong-soo's side set to face Incheon United on Sunday.
"I feel really bad and angry, but I hope we can come back next year," said Damjanovic, who has scored 17 goals in three AFC Champions League campaigns.
"We first have to defend the third place in the K-League. We have put everything into the AFC Champions League and have missed out on the K-League title, but we now need to focus to keep that place in the AFC Champions League next year to try and go one step more."
Guangzhou had enjoyed the majority of the chances in the first half of the second leg with FC Seoul goalkeeper Kim Yong-dae called into action on several occasions.
Kim, though, was left helpless two minutes before the hour mark as Elkeson raced onto a slide rule pass from fellow Brazilian Muriqui before producing a composed finish from just inside the penalty area.
But Damjanovic hit back for FC Seoul four minutes later with his fifth goal in six AFC Champions League games having earned Choi's side a 2-2 draw in last month's first leg.
FC Seoul still needed another goal to keep the AFC Champions League title in Korean hands for a fourth time in five years, but Guangzhou held on to end China's 23 year wait for the continental title.
"I feel terrible. We played well at their home almost for the whole game. We expected they would attack, but in the second half they stayed back and they couldn't run for the last 20 minutes," added Damjanovic, who became just the third foreign player to win the K-League's Most Valuable Player award in 2012 after scoring 31 goals as FC Seoul won the domestic title.
"We couldn't make some easy passes. Before the game we knew we had to make the easy passes to create some chances as the ground was OK and the atmosphere was amazing, but we still made the same mistakes."
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