Jeonbuk Hyundai, which has gone unbeaten in 11 matches, has risen to the top of K League 1.
Jeonbuk drew 0-0 against Jeju in the Hana Bank K League 1 2025 Round 15, held at the Jeju World Cup Stadium on the 23rd. With 29 points, Jeonbuk has pushed Daejeon (28 points) down to second place. Jeonbuk has gone unbeaten in 11 matches (7 wins, 4 draws).
In a 4-3-3 formation, Jeonbuk started with Song Min-kyu, Thiago, and Jeon Jin-woo. In the midfield, Kim Jin-kyu, Park Jin-seob, and Kang Sang-yoon supported the defense, which included Kim Tae-hyun, Kim Young-bin, Hong Jeong-ho, and Kim Tae-hwan. Song Bum-keun took the position of goalkeeper.
Jeju faced off in a 4-3-3 formation. Yu In-soo, Yuri Jonathan, and Nam Tae-hee were in the attack, while Italo, Kim Jin-ho, and Lee Chang-min supported the midfield. The back four consisted of Kim Ryun-sung, Song Joo-hoon, Lim Chae-min, and Lim Chang-woo, with Kim Dong-jun as the goalkeeper.
The match was held in torrential rain in Jeju, leading to a waterlogged field. Accuracy became a variable. It affected the performance of both teams. In the 5th minute of the first half, Song Min-kyu delivered a cross from the left side. Kim Jin-kyu tried a left-footed shot but missed widely.
The back-and-forth battle continued. Kim Tae-hwan and Hong Jeong-ho received yellow cards in the 25th and 30th minutes of the first half, respectively. In the 38th minute, Jeon Jin-woo's left-footed shot was caught by the goalkeeper. Thiago's shot in the 40th minute went wide to the left. Both teams finished the first half 0-0.
Jeonbuk aggressively shifted the momentum. The substitution of Lee Young-jae for Kim Jin-kyu in the 20th minute accelerated the flow of the game. In the 25th minute of the second half, Song Min-kyu connected a shot following a cross from Jeon Jin-woo, but it went wide to the right.
Continuing its upward trend, Jeonbuk saw Thiago connect with a header off Kang Sang-yoon's cross in the 28th minute of the second half, but it also failed to result in a goal. Jeonbuk pressured Jeju until added time, but ultimately could not find the back of the net, settling for reclaiming the top spot in the league.
It had been a staggering 1,266 days since Jeonbuk last topped the league on Feb. 5, 2021.
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