Douglas Costa spearheaded Sydney FC’s dramatic second-half comeback against Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors in the 2024/25 AFC Champions League Two quarterfinal second leg on Thursday, guiding Ufuk Talay’s side to a 3-2 victory at the Allianz Stadium and a commanding 5-2 aggregate triumph.
Jeon Jin-woo’s first-half brace briefly pulled the K League 1 side level on aggregate after Sydney’s surprising 2-0 first-leg victory in South Korea. However, second-half strikes from Alex Grant, Patryk Klimala, and Douglas Costa sealed the win for the A-League Men side, setting up a semi-final clash with fellow dark horses, Lion City Sailors of Singapore.
Former Bayern Munich and Juventus winger Costa played a pivotal role in all three of Sydney’s goals, orchestrating a thrilling turnaround in the final 31 minutes as Jeonbuk’s hopes of progression gradually unraveled.
Sydney initially pushed to extend their advantage in the opening stages, with Klimala firing a shot across goal and Joe Lolley testing Kim Jeong-hoon, before Klimala had a goal disallowed by VAR for a narrow offside call.
Jeonbuk steadily grew into the contest and began asserting their dominance. Just past the half-hour mark, Park Jae-yong glanced a header wide from Kim Jin-gyu’s corner. The breakthrough arrived 10 minutes before halftime when Kim Jin-gyu raced in behind Sydney’s defense and smartly cut the ball back from the byline, setting up Jin-woo to rifle a right-footed shot off the underside of Harrison Devenish-Meares’ crossbar.
Park Jae-yong was later denied by the Sydney goalkeeper, while Nana Boateng saw his shot deflected onto the post by Devenish-Meares. From the ensuing corner, Jeonbuk doubled their lead—Boateng’s initial strike was parried, but Jin-woo reacted quickest to slot home the rebound.
The visitors maintained their relentless assault straight after the restart, with Jin-woo nearly completing his hat-trick seconds into the second half, only for Devenish-Meares to block his low drive with an outstretched foot.
Sydney appeared to be struggling, but as the half progressed, Costa’s influence grew. In the 55th minute, the Brazilian forced Kim Jeong-hoon into a diving save to keep out a curling effort bound for the bottom corner.
It was Costa who orchestrated Sydney’s breakthrough, delivering a pinpoint free kick from the right that Rhyan Grant nodded back across goal, allowing Alex Grant to bundle it over the line.
He was equally instrumental in Sydney’s equalizer, threading a precise pass into Jordan Courtney-Perkins, who teed up Klimala to smash home from close range.
With eight minutes remaining, Costa completed his masterclass by stepping up to convert the decisive penalty after Boateng had fouled Adrian Segecic in the box, sealing a sensational second-half display and booking Sydney’s place in the last four.