亞冠盃主場出擊 傑志火拼全北汽車

Coming off a tough loss in the opening game of the AFC Champions League 2018 group stage, Kitchee will seek to rebound on Tuesday evening, as the Blues will host fellow Group E side Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors in Hong Kong Stadium. The highly-charged affair will kick-off at 8:00pm, Blues supporters are called upon to show up and to lend your backing to the Kitchee troops. Kitchee has done quite well domestically this season but faced a stiff challenge last week, when the Blues travelled up North and took on mainland side Tianjin Quanjian in freezing conditions, dropping a 3:0 decision. Looking back at Kitchee’s performance on the evening, Krisztian Vadocz and Huang Yang worked their socks off in midfield while Fernando Pedreira was a regular threat down the left wing, proving that the Blues does have what it takes to compete on this stage. With the AFC Champions League debut off the way and with the team now back in regular surroundings, it looks like Kitchee is set for a much-improved performance this time around. Standing on Kitchee’s way on Tuesday evening will be reigning K-League champion side Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors. The Koreans took on Kashiwa Reysol last week, fell two goals behind at one point but stormed back with three unanswered goals to snatch a sensational 3:2 victory over the J-League side, with veteran Lee Dong-gook coming off the bench to score two game-changing goals to ignite Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors’ comeback. Kitchee’s defensive lynchpin Kim Bong-jin acknowledges Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors is a very strong side and expects an even tougher game for the Blues than last week’s away tilt against Tianjin Quanjian. “Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors has a very strong overall squad and the gap between the Koreans and the foreign players are negligible. It does not matter whether they are first choice or bench players – everyone in the Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors squad is capable of causing opponent serious damages,” Kim revealed. “Looking back at the match-tape of Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors’ previous game, you can tell their forwards tend to finish off their chances, while their wingers literally fly up and down the wings, these are the two things that we must try to nullify on Tuesday night.” Goalkeeper Wang Zhenpeng hopes his Kitchee teammates can learn from their AFC Champions League debut and come up with a much improved performance in front of the home crowd. “At the end of the day, the AFC Champions League group matches are a completely different standard than what Kitchee is used to play at, therefore it is only natural that the team needs time to adapt and to catch up to the rest of the opponents,” Wang confessed. “Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors is coming strong and there is no doubt about it. However, now that we are back playing at home, we will give it our absolute best shot to repay the fans who show up at the stadium in order to support us.”