Lee Jung-hyo, who challenged the man he met in Brazil six years ago, to 17.7 billion annual salary, said, "I'll try to win even by walking."

Lee Jung-hyo, who challenged the man he met in Brazil six years ago, to 17.7 billion annual salary, said, "I'll try to win even by walking."

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"I thought I wanted to face a coach like that in 2019, but it became a real reality."

Gwangju FC, coached by Lee Jung-hyo (50), will face Saudi Arabia's strongest team, Al Hilal, in the quarterfinals of the 2024-2025 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League elite that will take place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia next month. Kalidou Koulibaly, João Cancelo, Yasin Bunu, Houven Neves, and Aleksandar Mitrovic, who played in the European big leagues, will play a leading role. The team is strong enough to rank No. 1 in the West Asian group league.

Furthermore, Jorge Jesus (71), who leads Al Hilal, is a mastermind from Portugal. He served as Portugal's best coach, and was highly praised for leading the golden age of Brazil's prestigious Flamengo from 2019 to 2020. Currently, Jeju's manager is said to receive 12.2 million U.S. dollars (about 17.7 billion won) in annual salary. Lee will receive 700 million won (700,000 dollars) in Gwangju. There is a 25-fold difference.

Lee has "alone relationship" with Jesus. Having assisted him as Seongnam FC coach Nam Ki-il in 2019, he once stayed in Brazil for about 40 days to see foreign players.

"I watched a lot of Flamengo games back then. I had high level of soccer, so I had an eye on him," Lee told this newspaper on Wednesday. "I thought that if I become a coach someday, I would like to have a showdown with someone like the Jeju national team coach. It was a vague idea, but it became a reality."

"I think he is a very good coach. I think he is a leader who has a lot to learn from in terms of offense. I was inspired a lot by him back then," Lee said. "I think our members are incomparable to us. Still, we should try. I should fight and win. I will think about what we will talk about when we shake hands."

It seems like he is hitting a rock with an egg, but Lee seems to have decided that he has a chance to win in Gwangju as well. "I haven't analyzed it perfectly yet. I only saw Al Hilal as highlights because there was a league game on the weekend. He was really good at playing. In particular, striker Malcolm was really different. I don't know how to stop him," Lee said, expressing his confidence by saying, "I don't think he is very thorough. We need to analyze it properly, but there are some spots where we can make cracks."

Although there is a clear gap in individual skills and performance, Lee declared a head-to-head match "as he is." "It's not something we can stop them from doing defense," Lee said. "We always did that. We won't lose our game against Vissel Kobe. I'm going to have a head-to-head match against Al Hilal as well. We will not back down. We can do it if we are good at it," Lee said, declaring his "fight forward."

Lee once visited Saudi Arabia after advancing to the semifinals of the Champions League at Busan I'Park in 2005 when he was an active player. At that time, Busan lost 0-7 overall in two matches to RT Hard, failing to reach the final. 메이저사이트

"I was so disappointed. I remember seeing the limits," Lee said. "Al-Hilal probably doesn't care much about the quarterfinals. Isn't winning the championship our goal? I heard that the West Asian teams all wanted to meet us at the draw. But my goal is to win, too. I'm going to Saudi Arabia for the first time in 20 years, and I want to go until the end," Lee said, expressing his commitment not to easily back down.