Chinese Super League giants Jiangsu Suning FC failed to advance in the knockout stage of the 2016 AFC Champions League tournament after they settled to a 2-2 draw with K League Classic champions Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors on Wednesday in a match held at the Jeonju World Cup Stadium in Jeonju, South Korea.
Jiangsu joined five straight China top flight champions Guangzhou Evergrande as the other Chinese club who was eliminated in the group stage of Asia's premier club continental tourney, via USA Today. Of the four CSL squads who competed in the group stage, Shandong Luneng and Shanghai SIPG were the only ones to advance in the next round of competitions.
Jeonbuk's Brazilian winger Leonardo opened the scoring with a successful penalty kick at the 19th minute of the match before Jiangsu's €50 million signing, Brazilian attacking midfielder Alex Teixeira, was able to level the count to 1-1 off an assist from their €32 million signing, midfielder Ramires, at the 24th.
Head coach Dan Petrescu's side then grabbed the lead nine minutes into the second half also with a penalty kick, this time from their other Brazilian import, striker Jô, to lift their hopes of getting into the top two spots of Group E.
However, South Korean center back Lim Jong-eun managed to equalize the game once again at the 69th minute to salvage the draw and make Jiangsu share a point each in the group standings.
The tie left the CSL club one point shy of advancing in the next round after FC Tokyo pulled off a 2-1 win over Vietnam's Becamex Bình Dương in the matchday's other fixture, as reported by Xinhuanet.
If Jiangsu was able to hold on to the win, they would have had 11 points in total, enough to take the top spot of the Group E table and continue on with the tournament.
In other results, Shandong Luneng finished the group stage with a 0-0 draw versus Thai League champions Buriram United at the New I-Mobile Stadium in Buriram, Thailand also on Wednesday.
It was Taishan Dui's second drawn match in the group stage but it was enough for them to finish at the second spot of the Group F standings, two points behind South Korea's FC Seoul.