Melbourne: Coach Kevin Muscat insists his Melbourne Victory side are relishing the challenge of their first-ever AFC Champions League Round of 16 clash when they host former winners Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors of Korea Republic in the first leg on Tuesday.
Australia’s Melbourne were among five sides who advanced from the group stage for the first time, but did so by the slimmest of margins as a 2-1 victory against Japan’s Gamba Osaka meant the A-League side took the Group G runners-up spot ahead of Korea Republic’s Suwon Samsung Bluewings on head-to-head record.
And Muscat and Melbourne now face another K-League Classic test in the Round of 16 in the shape of 2006 continental champions Jeonbuk, after the Korean champions topped Group G.
“It’s a little bit different and it’s the deepest we’ve had to play a game in our short history as a football club but it’s been great and we can’t wait for the challenge,” said Muscat.
“It doesn’t come much bigger than Jeonbuk but we take a lot of confidence from the way we’ve played in the group games.”
Melbourne’s home form has been a particular strength in their 2016 continental campaign thus far with seven out of their nine points accumulated in the group stages recorded at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium.
“We’ve put in some very good football, especially here at home we’ve had a very good attacking intent and scored some goals here at home so we look forward to tomorrow night against a good team,” added Muscat.
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