Jeonbuk Motors vs Gwangju

Driven by revenge, Jeonbuk Motors welcome Gwangju to the Jeonju World Cup Stadium for a handsomely-looking Korean FA Cup quarter-final tie.

It’s been an utterly disturbing K League 1 campaign for Jeonbuk Motors thus far as their playoff hopes remain in doubt, highlighting the significance of making a standout achievement in the FA Cup. Though they needed extra-time to overcome lower-league outfit Paju Citizen in the previous round, the ‘Warriors reached the quarter-finals in thumping fashion by claiming an overwhelming 5-2 victory. However, Dan Petrescu’s side won’t take the field in high spirits after a disheartening 2-0 league defeat at non-other than Gwangju last time out knocked them down from a three-match winning streak. Keen to make amends for that result, Jeonbuk can draw confidence from going victorious in their five previous H2Hs, with four of those triumphs coming by multi-goal margins.

Visiting Gwangju will be out to prove last weekend’s success wasn’t just a one-off as they aim to defy an underwhelming run of seven consecutive defeats away to Jeonbuk. The visitors have gathered momentum ahead of this trip, clocking up an eye-catching seven-game unbeaten streak (W5, D2), including a 1-0 win over Seoul E-Land in the previous FA Cup tie. Since three of their five wins in that stretch yielded a clean sheet, scoring the opening goal could put this fixture in Gwangju’s control. But that promises to be a Herculean task, especially considering they’ve failed to get on the scoresheet on three of their last four visits to Jeonbuk. To make things worse, they’ve conceded 2+ goals in their three most recent away H2Hs.