After watching Melbourne Victory’s AFC Champions League (ACL) campaign come to an end, coach Kevin Muscat was left to rue wasted opportunities.
From Besart Berisha’s miscued header in the Round of 16 first leg in Melbourne to Archie Thompson’s double miss in South Korea, Muscat felt Victory had done enough to reach the quarter-finals.
Instead, Jeonbuk Motors triumphed 3-2 on aggregate following Tuesday night’s 2-1 win at home, with Leonardo starring for the K League champions.
Muscat bemoaned Thompson’s early failure to score in the second leg – the veteran striker’s final match for Victory – with the 37-year-old heading straight at Jeonbuk’s goalkeeper in the fourth minute before seeing his follow-up shot cleared off the line.
“We had opportunities early, two good chances very early on at 0-0, which would have made the game fairly different,” said Muscat, via Fox Sports.
Another departing player – Kosta Barbarouses – also could have scored on Tuesday, with his late strike coming back off the post.
Berisha would give Victory hope soon after as he turned Jai Ingham’s cross inside the near post.
But the tie could have been so much different for Muscat’s men if Berisha had headed home from close range in the second half of the first leg, which ended 1-1.
“In Melbourne, we should have won that game and it made this game very difficult for us,” Muscat said.
“I’m extremely proud of the group to get as far as we have but bitterly disappointed.”
