Lee Jung-hyo was right when he said, "The one who knocks until the end grows."

Lee Jung-hyo was right when he said, "The one who knocks until the end grows."

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There were many opinions that Gwangju FC was reckless to insist on attacking football despite poor club conditions and performance.

Still, Gwangju coach Lee Jung-hyo has overcome the number of impossible cases and reached a single possibility. It was a day when Lee Jung-hyo, who said with determination in an interview with Sports Korea, "Those who tap until the end will grow," proved it with his actions once again.

Gwangju beat Vissel Kobe 2-0 in the second round of the 2024-2025 Asian Football Confederation Champions League round of 16 at Gwangju World Cup Stadium on the 12th to set the total score for the first and second games to 2-2, and won the game 3-0 with Asani's winning goal in overtime. The team came from behind with a 3-2 aggregate score to advance to the quarterfinals of ACLE.

Everyone gave up their expectations after losing 0-2 in the first round of away games in Japan on the 5th. The opponent was Kobe, who won the Japanese J-League in 2023 and 2024. Gwangju, which is also operated on a small budget in the K-League, was an opponent enough to be praised as "well done."

However, Gwangju did not give up on the second game at home. After Park Jung-in scored in the 18th minute of the first half, Asani scored a penalty kick in the 40th minute of the second half and made a dramatic move to overtime. Then, at the 13th minute of the second half of the extra time, Asani's lie-like left-footed mid-range shot hit a ball to catch Kobe.

Gwangju ranked seventh among the 12 teams in the K-League last year with a 9.6 billion won salary for the team. Even that was a reflection of the significant increase in the team's salary because it ranked third in the league like a lie in 2023.

In fact, the opponent was the champion of the J League for the second consecutive time, and the result of the first game on the road was 0-2, so it didn't seem easy just this time for Lee Jung-hyo and Gwangju, who showed amazing moves.

However, Gwangju advanced to the quarterfinals by reversing the unfavorable score of 0-2 to 3-2. It can face Western Asian teams such as Al Nasr (Saudi), where Cristiano Ronaldo belongs, and has already succeeded in earning more than 500 million won, the prize money of the K League 1 championship, just by advancing to the quarterfinals.

In the end, director Lee Jung-hyo's attitude, which did not lose his persistence even in difficult situations, made those who said it was impossible quiet again.

Coach Lee Jung-hyo said in an interview with Sports Korea in 2023, "I did not disappoint. I told the players, 'Let's play offensive soccer consistently even if our performance is not good right now,'" adding, "Attack" 스포츠토토 was the answer for the players. If you keep bumping into each other, you will learn from failure. Even if players make mistakes in training or games, if they do not deviate from the soccer that the team wants to play, let's continue to try courageously." "If a player loses interest in soccer, he cannot move on, but if he gets excited, he may lose all the time," Lee said. "I will not abandon offensive soccer for the sake of immediate practical benefit. Eventually, he will rank third, Gwangju's best performance, in this season when he was promoted to the K League 1 for the first time.