Both F.C. Tokyo and Urawa Reds failed to advance to the final eight round as they took losses to Shanghai SIPG (China) and FC Seoul (Korea) away, respectively, in their second leg of Round of 16, which was the first round of the knockout stage in the 2016 AFC Champions League. The round were held on 24 and 25 May.

Reds edged FC Seoul 1-0 in their first leg on 18 April. But in this second leg at Seoul World Cup Stadium, Urawa ended the regulation down 1-0 and aggregated 3-3 after playing extra minutes. Urawa lost 7-6 in a penalty shootout and missed the quarterfinal berth, which would have been the first time for them to make since 2008.

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F.C. Tokyo, meanwhile, tried to make their first final eight berth ever against Shanghai on the 24th. They allowed a goal in the additional time of the second half and lost 1-0. They aggregated 2-2 but fell short in the away goals, so they failed to advance to the next stage either.

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Coach and Players' Comments

Mihailo PETROVIC, Coach (Urawa Reds)
It was a disappointing loss that hurt us. In the first half, our opponents got off to have a good game and it forced us to kick long balls. And we allowed them to have a lead. Yet we played how we wanted to play in the second half. But we needed to tie within the 90 minutes and clinch the win.

In extra minutes, we allowed them to again go ahead, but we kept our heads up high and played to our best. As a result, it made us to score two goals. After all, as you all saw, we gave up the third goal to them in the injury time of the extra minutes. Also, in the penalty shootout, there was an occasion that we could have won had we scored. With that all said, we had a legitimate chance to win the game twice, so it was a loss that really hurt us.

JOFUKU Hiroshi, Coach (F.C. Tokyo)
It was an unacceptable loss to us. We wanted to bring the ticker for the final eight with our fans and supporters, but it's disappointing that we didn't do it. There may have been some strategical key points that could have altered the outcome, but I take all the responsibility regarding the questions on what we could have done and should have done. Our players did a great job. What I can say right now is, I wanted to keep playing in the big stage in Asia along with our players.

AFC Champions League 2016

27 January 2016 - 26 November 2016

*Local time

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