Shanghai SIPG midfielder Wu Lei celebrates his goal against FC Tokyo in the AFC Champions League round-of-16 competitions. (Photo : Getty Images)
Chinese Super League powerhouse Shanghai SIPG FC defeated FC Tokyo, 1-0, in the second leg of their round-of-16 matchup held at the Shanghai Stadium on Tuesday to advance to the quarterfinals of the 2016 AFC Champions League tournament.
Chinese attacking midfielder Wu Lei scored once again for the Red Eagles, piercing the net of Tokyo goalkeeper Yota Akimoto in stoppage time, to lift Sven-Göran Eriksson's side to the next round of competitions.
The match was hard-fought all throughout and with the minutes winding down near the end, it seems like Shanghai will be in for a disappointing debut stint in the Asian club continental tourney.
However, Wu came through once more during injury time as the Tokyo defense momentarily "buckled" from a powerful Elkeson shot blocked by Akimoto, as per CCTV, with the 24-year-old Jiangsu native positioned at the right place and at the right time tapped the rebound in for the winning goal.
Shanghai got the first chance on goal at the 19th minute with a close range header from South Korean defender Kim Ju-young off a free kick from Argentine midfielder Dario Conca. Akimoto managed to tip the ball over the crossbar to preserve the goalless deadlock, though.
Tokyo found a chance at the 55th when forward Ryoichi Maeda was set up by teammate Naotake Hanyu in the penalty area, but his low shot was saved by SIPG goalkeeper Yan Junling with his legs.
"This is the first time we have played in the AFC Champions League. I'm very excited that we have made it to the last eight," Wu said.
"I believe the fans are satisfied with the result. Although I ran out of energy towards the end of the match, I got a feeling that I could score, and I'm happy I did," he added.
Meanwhile, Tokyo captain Masato Morishige was graceful in defeat, saying that their decent performance "shows" where they are as a team right now.
"We have to accept the fact that we couldn't win tonight," said Morishige, as per the Japan Times. "The game just ended so I can't recollect all the details, but I think we let them dictate the game a little too much. That shows where we are as a team at the moment."
The Japanese capital city squad won the first leg, 2-1, at their home ground of Ajinomoto Stadium on May 17, but they allowed Wu to score a vital away goal at that time.
It proved to be the deciding factor in their round-of-16 series after they failed to return the favor at the Shanghai Stadium.
