Vietnam’s Hoang Anh Gia Lai held two-time winners Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors to a 1-1 draw in Group H’s fourth round of the 2022 AFC Champions League on Monday.

The Vietnamese conceded an early header from the South Koreans, but managed to come away with one point thanks to Nguyen Van Toan’s second-half equalizer.

With high pressure from the start, Jeonbuk claimed the opener after 17 minutes as Moon Seon Min headed home a Lee Seung Gi corner.

Hoang Anh Gia Lai refused to give in and equalized two minutes after the hour mark when Toan raced onto an incisive through-ball by Nguyen Huu Tuan and squeezed a shot past goalkeeper Lee Bum Soo.

The draw handed Hoang Anh Gia Lai their second point of the campaign, after another 1-1 draw with Sydney FC in the second round, and the temporary third place in the rankings. 

However, it was not enough to keep their hopes of reaching the Round of 16 alive as they can no longer finish inside the top two of Group H.

Meanwhile, the result also allowed Yokohama F. Marinos to overtake Jeonbuk, who have won the AFC Champions League twice in 2006 and 2016, and move to the top following their 3-0 win over Sydney earlier on Monday evening.

Sydney FC are at the bottom despite being level on two points with Hoang Anh Gia Lai.

Introduced in 1967, the AFC Champions League is an annual continental club football competition organized by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia’s top-division football clubs.

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