Junior Negrao's penalty deep in extra time earned Ulsan Hyundai a date with Iran's Persepolis in next week's final of the Asian Champions League after a 2-1 come-from-behind victory over Japan's Vissel Kobe in Doha on Saturday.
The Brazilian drove his effort from the spot into the bottom corner a minute from the end of extra time to take Ulsan into the final for the first time since their only previous Asian title win in 2012.
There they will face a Persepolis side that qualified for the decider back in October as the leading side from west Asia, following a centralised tournament in Qatar in a biosecure environment due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Ulsan have come through a similar event featuring the leading teams from east Asia and did so as Yoon Bit-garam’s deflected effort in the 81st minute cancelled out Hotaru Yamaguchi’s opener for the Japanese side prior to Junior Negrao’s late winner.
With Andres Iniesta not included in Kobe’s matchday squad after aggravating a thigh injury against Suwon Bluewings in the previous round, the J-League side struggled in the opening 45 minutes.
Ulsan, though, were unable to take advantage, with Kim In-sung squandering a pair of opportunities to put Kim Do-hoon’s side in front in the space of six minutes.
The second, in particular, should have given Ulsan the lead after Kim Kee-hee’s punt forward was missed by Junior Negrao but fell kindly for Kim In-sung, only for the unmarked 31-year-old to steer his shot wide of the post.
Ulsan were to regret those errors seven minutes into the second half as Yamaguchi struck for Kobe, hitting his first-time effort beyond Jo Su-huk following Takuya Yasui’s corner.
Ulsan pulled level when the Video Assistant Referee intervened to overturn a decision that had seen their equaliser, which came as Bjorn Johnsen deflected Yoon’s effort over the line, ruled out for an offside in the build-up.
Replays showed Kim In-sung had stayed onside and, with the goal counting, the game went into extra time.
Saves from Daiya Maekawa kept Kobe in the game, but his clumsy challenge on Junior Negrao in the dying seconds gave Ulsan a penalty, and the Brazilian scored from the spot to send his team into the final.
(Reporting by Michael Church, Editing by Hugh Lawson)
