Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors beat FC Seoul 3-1 in the second leg of the FA Cup final on Sunday to lift their fifth-ever trophy.
After Seoul held Jeonbuk to a 2-2 draw in the first leg on Thursday, Jeonbuk won the FA Cup on an aggregate score of 5-3.
It was Modou Barrow and Cho Gue-sung who did it for Jeonbuk, scoring all of the North Jeolla club’s five goals on both legs of the final.
After each scoring a goal on Thursday, it was Barrow who opened the scoring in the 11th minute on Sunday.
After the early excitement, things calmed down and the two sides looked fairly evenly matched until Cho broke through in the last few minutes of the first half to tie the score to 2-0.
While it seemed like Jeonbuk was going to comfortably win the FA Cup trophy with a 2-0 lead, Seoul kicked into gear in the middle of the second half and started hammering at the Jeonbuk goal.
That payed off in the 69th minute, with Park Dong-jin scoring for Seoul to take the score to 2-1.
However, Cho was unstoppable, beating the Seoul goalkeeper at the near post with a screamer in the 90th minute.
While Seoul scrambled to find a chance in the dying minutes of the match, the whistle blew with 3-1 on the scoreboard.
“We couldn’t control the match in the first leg of the final but we prepared really well for today’s match,” said Cho after the win on Sunday.
“After the first match, the players and staff discussed our strategy a lot and concentrated on winning at home. We vowed before the match today that we would take the trophy home.”
After scoring three of the eight goals scored in both legs of the final, Cho was named MVP on Sunday.
The win comes as some redemption for Jeonbuk after they finished runners-up in the K League, missing out on defending their K League trophy this season.
On the other hand, Seoul failed to win their first trophy in seven years.
Seoul were looking for their third-ever FA Cup after having won in 1998 and 2015. They finished runners-up in 2014 and 2016.
Having won in 2000, 2003, 2005 and 2020, Jeonbuk now have the most FA Cup trophies, alongside the Suwon Samsung Bluewings who also have five titles.
The FA Cup is not part of the K league season, but is a knockout competition hosted by the Korea Football Association, with the winner earning a ticket to the AFC Champions League.
At next year’s AFC Champions League, Jeonbuk will be joined by Ulsan Hyundai, Pohang Steelers and Incheon United.
