The first leg of the AFC Champions League semi-finals officially kicked off, and K-League powerhouse Ulsan HD hosted J-League giants Yokohama Mariners. The two teams had very different paths to qualify, with Ulsan HD not facing much obstruction in the last round, knocking out Jeonbuk Hyundai to advance to the semi-finals. The Yokohama Mariners were strongly blocked by Shandong Taishan of the Chinese Super League to advance.
Throughout the game, Ulsan HD had the advantage, Lee Dong-hyung, who had recently been on fire in the K-League, sealed his throat with a sword, although the Yokohama Mariners went all out to get back the score, but the lack of Elbay and other main players made the team's attack stretched, and finally the game ended at full-time, Ulsan HD defeated the Yokohama Mariners 1:0.
Ulsan HD played at home, played with the main force on the field, and started the offensive against the Yokohama Mariners after the start. However, the Yokohama Marino's attack was very sharp, and the two wings were frequently inserted, taking advantage of the width of the field, which caused a lot of problems for Ulsan HD's defense.
In the 11th minute, Ludwigsson counter-attacked and sent a benchmark cross, Iam won the ball with a single knife, and accidentally made a mistake at his feet, and Ulsan HD missed a good opportunity! In the 20th minute of the game, Ulsan HD did not stop the ball on the left side, crossed with one kick, transitioned slightly in the middle, and followed up with Lee Dong-hyung volleyed the goal! Yokohama Mariner fell behind.
The backward Yokohama Mariner began to invest more troops on the offensive end, and in the 25th minute, Janmateus flashed and moved in the front, and a strong shot was brilliantly saved by Cho Hyun-woo. The Yokohama Mariners pressed almost the entire team through the half, launching wave after wave of onslaught on the Ulsan HD penalty area.
In the 40th minute, Kim Young-kwon's penalty area directly put down Lopez, Yokohama Mariner got a very good position set-piece, but unfortunately Mateus was too fierce, high above the crossbar!
Throughout the first half, the two teams had a very fast pace of attack and defense, and Ulsan HD, who was fighting at home, took advantage of the opening wave of offensive momentum, and Lee Dong-hyung's flexible running position to take the lead. Then the Yokohama Mariners showed no weakness, almost the whole team pressed through the half, and launched a strong offensive against the hinterland of Ulsan HD, Lopes, Mateus, and Miyaichi Liang frequently changed positions, causing great trouble to the defense of Ulsan HD, and 10 shots on goal in the half, testing the nerves of Cho Hyun-woo.
After the start of the second half, Tian Yechun shot hard in the penalty area, which opened the prelude to the team's counterattack, and Ulsan HD relied on the single crit of Yan Yuanxiang on the right side to penetrate the Yokohama Mariner defense several times, but the follow-up and grabbing points of his teammates in the middle were a little delayed. After nearly 15 minutes of continuous attack, the momentum of the Yokohama Mariner decreased a little, and Ulsan HD took the opportunity to play several waves of attack, the left and right wings, as well as the long-range shot in the middle, which made the Yokohama Mariner's defense start to tighten.
In the 67th minute, Ulsan HD launched a quick counterattack, and Im Won-sang shot hard at the neutral post in the penalty area, and Yokohama Mariner escaped!
In the 71st minute, Ulsan HD had another good opportunity, Zhou Min-gyu's close-range header was miraculously saved by Pope! The Yokohama Mariners were completely confined and could only rely on two foreign players, Mateus and López, to support them in the frontcourt.
In the 81st minute, Yokohama Mariners ushered in a good opportunity to score, after a cross from the side, Mateus, who was unguarded at the back post, faced a shot close at hand, and it was bizarre to hit high!
Although the score was 1:0, Yokohama Mariners seemed to have lost by only one goal, but there was no doubt that Ulsan HD created more scoring chances, hitting the post several times, and the goal was blown and so on. For the Yokohama Mariners, only in the 81st minute, the absolute chance of Mateus, the rest of the time is few, no wonder the fans have been sending barrages, Shandong Taishan if it meets the Yokohama Mariner in this state, it is entirely possible to win, or even advance.
Of course, this is just an assumption, after all, Ulsan HD can win this game, in addition to the advantage of strength, the formulation of tactics is also very important, tough and solid defense, did not give Lopes any chance to counterattack. However, let's be honest, if the Shandong Taishan team was promoted, in the face of today's Ulsan HD, coupled with Taishan's recent sluggish state, I am afraid it will be another fiasco.