HONG KONG: Vissel Kobe crashed out of the Asian Champions League Elite on Wednesday when Jasir Asani’s extra-time winner saw Gwangju FC overturn a two-goal deficit to progress to the last eight with a 3-0 win in South Korea as Kawasaki Frontale also advanced.

Asani scored two minutes from the end of the additional period to take the South Korean debutants into the quarter-finals 3-2 on aggregate.

Gwangju had lost 2-0 in Kobe last week but got off to the perfect start in the return leg when striker Park Jeong-in headed home from Park Tae-jun’s free-kick after just 18 minutes.

But it was not until the 85th minute that the Koreans drew level on aggregate, Asani netting from the penalty spot after referee Abdulrahman Al-Jassim punished a handball by Takuya Iwanami.

Asani smashed in the winner in the 118th minute, cutting inside to strike from distance with a left-foot shot and join Anderson Lopes as the tournament’s top scorer with nine goals.

Kawasaki overturned a 1-0 first-leg loss to down Shanghai Shenhua at Todoroki Stadium as Shigetoshi Hasebe’s side handed the Chinese Super League team a 4-0 defeat to seal a 4-1 aggregate victory.

Kawasaki claimed a deserved opener in the 24th minute when Asahi Sasaki smashed an unstoppable shot beyond Bao Yaxiong.

Kawasaki put the outcome beyond doubt with two goals made in Brazil in the space of five second-half minutes.

First striker Erison swept home on 64 minutes from Sasaki’s pass. Tatsuya Ito then threaded a finish between Bao and the defence to score the third and Marcinho completed the rout from close range in the first minute of added time.

Gwangju and Kawasaki join Yokohama F-Marinos, last season’s finalists from Japan, and Thailand’s Buriram United as quarter-final qualifiers from the AFC East Zone.

Already qualified from the West Zone are Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr, fellow star-studded Saudi clubs Al Hilal and Al Ahli, plus Qatar’s Al Sadd.

Al-Hilal thumped Uzbekistan’s Pakhtakor 4-0 on Tuesday to overturn a first-leg deficit and prevail 4-1 on aggregate.

First-half goals from defender Hamad Al Yami and Brazilian forward Malcom set Hilal on their way at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh.

Captain Salem Al Dawsari then scored a penalty early in the second half, while namesake Nasser Al Dawsari wrapped up the result in stoppage time.

Also on Tuesday, Riyad Mahrez scored twice late in the game to complete Al-Ahli’s victory over Qatar’s Al-Rayyan, the former Manchester City winger netting in the 77th and 83rd minutes to earn a 2-0 win in Jeddah and a 5-1 victory overall.

The draw for the last eight will be made on Monday in Kuala Lumpur with the remaining phases of the competition played in a centralised venue in Jeddah.

Published in Dawn, March 13th, 2025