Cerezo Osaka came from behind three times then scored a late winner to beat Jeonbuk Hydundai 4-3 in the first leg of their Asian Champions League quarterfinal on Wednesday.
In an exciting end-to-end contest, Hiroshi Kiyotake scored two second-half goals, including the 81st-minute winner that gave the Japanese side a narrow advantage heading into the second leg in South Korea on Sept. 27.
The two teams played each other twice in the group stage, both resulting in 1-0 home wins, but Wednesday's game was much more open.
International striker Lee Dong-gook put Jeonbuk ahead in the sixth minute - knocking in his shot after a one-two with Brazilian forward Luiz Henrique - and it was due reward for a team that played a refreshingly attacking style for a visiting side.
Cerezo equalized in the 29th minute when Kim Bo-kyung - a Korean playing for the Japanese club - advanced down the right, neatly sidestepped a defender's lunging tackle and squared the ball across the goalmouth, with Ryuji Bando getting in front of his marker and prodding into the empty net.
Lee scored his second on the stroke of halftime to put Jeonbuk back in front. He fired off a hopeful long-range shot and a defender stuck a leg behind him to try to block it, but succeeded only in deflecting it into the net.
Since the group stage, Cerezo had lost key attacking players Takashi Inui and Rodrigo Pimpao, but found a new route to goal Wednesday in the shape of young Japan international Kiyotake.
The attacking midfielder made it 2-2 in the 56th minute, being left unmarked at a corner and heading home as the visitors were left to rue not putting a defender on the far post.
Having profited from that mistake, Cerezo immediately made an identical error at the other end, as Jeonbuk captain Cho Sung-hwan glanced a header in off the foot of the far post to restore the visitors' lead.
Cerezo yet again equalized in the 64th minute, when the Chinese referee did well to spot a handball inside the penalty area by a defender in the wall. Kim stepped up and comfortably converted to make it 3-3.
The 81st-minute winner came from a corner, when Kiyotake was again left unmarked, the post was again left unguarded, with the only difference being that this time he drilled in a well-timed low shot rather than a header.
The winning team over two legs will face either Saudi Arabia's Al-Ittihad or Korean club Seoul in the semifinals.
