Lee Myung-joo is to return home to South Korea next summer, closing the book on three largely fruitful seasons at Al Ain, required to postpone his professional career and trade football club for country as he embarks on mandatory military service.
Yet the Al Ain midfielder is back in his homeland sooner than originally expected, taking on Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors at the Jeonju World Cup Stadium on Saturday in the first leg of the Asian Champions League final.
There, in front of more than 40,000 compatriots, Lee will seek to put club before country and serve his side so they gain a footing in the two-tie encounter.
Al Ain, the UAE’s only continental champions are bidding for a second Asian crown and a first in 13 years. It is a dream Al Ain have chased with increasing anguish since they defeated Thailand’s Tero Sasana in the 2003 final.
But, for Lee, it also provides the opportunity to give back to the club that in 2014 recruited the Korean league-and-cup winner from Pohang Steelers.
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“Al Ain have spent a long time trying to reach the final and also win the Champions League, and they spent a lot of money to bring me here two years ago,” Lee says ahead of the most important match of his career. “So I want to do something to repay Al Ain and that’s winning the Asian Champions League. Then I can leave the club smiling.”
Lee has had plenty to grin about lately. He is glad to be back home for such an occasion, having left Pohang to make a name for himself outside the K League Classic, Korean football’s top flight.
He has succeeded in the UAE, an integral component in Al Ain’s 2014/15 Arabian Gulf League championship-winning team, a key element too of the club’s run this year to the Champions League final.
Returning to South Korea, and to a Jeonbuk club he knows well, adds to the appeal of the showpiece. The spotlight will shine brightly on the home-grown interloper this weekend, but predictably, Lee is looking forward to the challenge.
“I’m a Korean player playing in a Middle Eastern team against a South Korean team,” he says. “So this feels really different. But it will be like playing any other big opponent in a big final. I want to show all the South Korean fans how strong we are, because they think the level of Gulf football is a little different to South Korean football.
“I don’t like this. I want to show more – our strength, our good quality – and prove Al Ain are a strong enough team to play against Jeonbuk and in the final.”
It is not only the home fans he wishes to impress. Al Ain’s supporters have long coveted the Champions League, a title that sets them apart from their compatriots, a prize that elevated the club who view themselves as the UAE’s leading side to the top tier of Asian club football.
The intervening years have been characterised by frustration. Since the 2005 final defeat to Saudi Arabia’s Al Ittihad, the closest Al Ain have come to clinching the trophy was in 2014, when they were eliminated in the semi-finals by Al Hilal.
Lee played both legs, when Al Ain dreamed of finally ending their Asian drought but ultimately came up short.
There is a different level of expectation there when it comes to the Champions League, a championship that weighs heavily on all those connected to the club. Lee is well aware. “All the players know the pressure regarding the Champions League, especially from the media and the fans,” he says.
“They always ask the players about ‘Asia, Asia, Asia’, but it’s not just all the fans who want to take the title, it’s the players also.
“We are ambitious and we desire more than anything else to win the Champions League. Not just Al Ain – all the players who play in Asia, like those at Jeonbuk and every other club, want to win it.”
Lee, 26, understands better than most the size of the task awaiting Al Ain.
Having come through the ranks at Pohang, he regularly crossed paths with Jeonbuk, notably between July 2013 and May 2014, when the two sides met seven times, including twice in the last-16 of the Champions League.
Lee came out on top in all but one, yet he realises on Saturday’s opponents represent an altogether sterner test.
“This season, Jeonbuk signed a lot of big players from other teams in South Korea, big-name strikers and midfielders,” Lee says.
“So there’s a huge difference this season. Also, they possess a lot of international players at the moment, that’s the strongest part of Jeonbuk.
“But you never know before you play against any team, so we cannot expect any certain result in the match. Of course, the best situation is to win the away leg.
“However, no matter what we do against Jeonbuk there, the second leg is most important.
“Even if the result is a win, a loss or whatever, we need to prepare well for the second leg. That’s the most important.”
Despite Jeonbuk’s quality, Lee is pleased to meet them in the final.
He watched their semi-final against compatriots Seoul with particular interest, knowing should Al Ain get past Qatar’s El Jaish, then he would take on a team from his homeland for Asian football’s foremost crown.
He has had messages from South Korea in the build-up to the first leg, but has refused to engage in a little friendly goading with Ko Moo-yeol.
The Jeonbuk forward and Lee have remained in regular contact since their time together at Pohang. Lee prefers to focus solely on his side.
“I have a lot of experience playing against Jeonbuk in South Korea, so I know about them, about how strong they are,” he says.
“But Al Ain are also a talented team. It will be a really good competition for the final. Al Ain have enough to fight against Jeonbuk.”
Fight against Jeonbuk, eventually capture that cherished title, and Lee can leave Al Ain, to go back to South Korea and begin his national service, sufficiently fulfilled.
“Before I came to Al Ain, I already knew about this team, that they could do very well in the Champions League, could reach the final,” he says.
“That’s why I signed for this club. I was always ambitious to play in Champions League. So this is a real honour to be part of this great team in the final. To win would be an incredible experience. It would be a great memory for me in my career.”
jmcauley@thenational.ae
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