Kuala Lumpur: The curtain came down on the 2017 AFC Champions League Group Stage this week after six Matchdays of scintillating action in which the biggest victory came back on the opening day when Guangzhou Evergrande ran out 7-0 winners over Hong Kong debutants Eastern SC.
That scoreline, though, doesn’t come close to the tournament’s record victory, which was first achieved on this day, May 11, in 2004 as Seongnam Ilwha Chunma of Korea Republic claimed a 15-0 win over Indonesia’s Persik Kediri. To mark the occasion, the-AFC.com journeys back in time to look at the top five biggest victories in AFC Champions League history.
5) Krung Thai Bank 1-9 Kashima Antlers (March 8, 2008)
Kashima fans get their money’s worth
Back in 2008, Krung Thai Bank were participating in only their second AFC Champions League after putting in a respectable display on their debut three years earlier by winning three and losing three in their group stage campaign.
So nothing could have prepared them for their opening encounter at home to Kashima Antlers – in the midst of three successive J.League titles – when the Japanese powerhouse ran riot in Bangkok. Three down at half-time, Brazilian Marquinhos (pictured above) scored a second-half hat-trick as Kashima eventually claimed a 9-1 victory to move to the top of the Group F standings.
Takuya Nozawa netted a brace in the 9-1 win
To put the defeat into perspective, Krung Thai Bank conceded just nine in six games in their 2005 continental campaign and, to make matters worse, the scoreline in Japan was almost as bad as Kashima won 8-1.
4) Krung Thai Bank 9-1 Nam Dinh (April 9, 2008)
Not your average group campaign
Krung Thai Bank’s next game in front of their own fans came almost exactly a month later and, amazingly, the result repeated itself, except that this time it was in favour of the hosts and Vietnam’s Nam Dinh were the whipping boys.
Needing a reaction, Ivorian Kassim Kone put the Thai side in front in the opening five minutes and it was 2-0 before 10 minutes had been played, before Kone all but wrapped up the win by adding a third on the stroke of half-time.
Four-goal hero Kassim Kone
A second-half onslaught followed as the scoreline read 7-1 with 20 minutes to play, but it was Kone’s night and the forward added a further two in stoppage time to make it four for him as the tie ended 9-1. Consistency wasn’t Krung Thai Bank’s strength and they exited at the group stage having scored 20 and conceded 27 in just six games.
3) Changchun Yatai 9-0 Persipura Jayapura (March 9, 2010)
Humbled in China
By 2010, East Asian domination of the AFC Champions League was in full swing with sides from Korea Republic and Japan having won the previous four editions of the tournament, but it was China’s Changchun Yatai who would post the biggest score in the 2010 competition.
Opponents Persipura Jayapura were competing in their first and, to date, only AFC Champions League and the Indonesian team received a brutal introduction. After losing 4-1 to Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors in their opening Group F game, they next travelled to Changchun.
Hat-trick scorer Johnny Woodly of Costa Rica
Three down at half time, things would only get worse as both Gao Jian and Johnny Woodly netted hat-tricks in a 9-0 victory. In fairness to Persipura, they won the return fixture 2-0 in Jakarta as the two sides propped up the standings on three points. Unsurprisingly, Changchun finished a place above the Indonesians thanks to a better goal difference.
2) Gamba Osaka 15-0 Da Nang City (March 22, 2006)
Gamba go for the jugular
Participating in their first and only group stage, Vietnam’s Da Nang made the trip to Japanese giants Gamba Osaka as clear underdogs for the sides’ Group E encounter in March 2006 and fell behind to Gamba legend Yasuhito Endo’s early penalty. Six down by the interval, things were not going to plan for the Vietnamese team.
The unrelenting hosts refused to go easy on their outclassed opponents after the restart and scored nine more, including seven in the final 15 minutes and four overall from Brazilian Magno Alves, as an AFC Champions League record was equaled.
Gamba Osaka players salute their fans after historic victory
Perhaps surprisingly, Gamba failed to make it beyond the group stage as eventual winners Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors progressed. The Japanese outfit returned to lift the continental title two years later, though, as Endo and co. defeated Adelaide United to be crowned kings of the continent. Da Nang have not appeared at the AFC Champions League since.
1) Seongnam Ilwha Chunma 15-0 Persik Kediri (May 11, 2004)
A Korean masterclass
Seongnam Ilwha Chunma’s record-breaking side
Heavy scorelines were not uncommon in the early years of the AFC Champions League but the defeat Korea Republic’s Seongnam Ilwha Chunma inflicted on Indonesia’s Persik Kediri was certainly out of the ordinary.
After claiming a win and a draw from their opening four games, Persik travelled to Seongnam all but out of the tournament while the hosts had their eyes set on top spot in Group G. By half-time it was 7-0, it finished 15-0, as Jasenko Sabitovic and Denis Laktionov bagged four apiece in what remains the joint highest victory in AFC Champions League history.
Seongnam went on to finish as runners-up to Saudi Arabia’s Al Ittihad, before eventually winning the title in 2010 to add to their 1995 Asian Club Championship success. Persik returned in 2007 and fared much better by finishing just three points off top spot in their group in what remains their last appearance in the competition.
Photos: Lagardère Sports
Source: the-afc.com