China's Jiangsu plays against Jeonbuk Hyundai in life-and-death ACL group match

Group E leaders Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors of South Korea will be without suspended midfielder Kim Bo-kyung and forward Ricardo Lopes for the visit of China's Jiangsu FC in the climax to their AFC Champions League group stage campaign on Wednesday.

A draw at Jeonju World Cup Stadium would assure the South Korean champions a place in the round of 16 but victory seals progression as group winners.

However, they will have to do so without star player Kim who scored and provided an assist in their 3-0 win over Japan's FC Tokyo a fortnight ago, as well as Brazilian front man Lopes.

"Our target for the first half of the season was to go through to the last 16 as group winners and be on top of the K-League," said Jeonbuk coach Choi Kang-hee, who saw his side defeat Suwon Samsung Bluewings 3-1 on Saturday to move into second place behind FC Seoul.

"We haven't always been at our best this season but we are finding our feet. We played well in our last game and have confidence that we can progress as group winners."

"We know that Jiangsu have some good players and we have to be ready for that. More importantly, though, we have to think about ourselves. If we can play the game we want to play, we should be alright."

Jiangsu, on the other hand, must win against the South Korean opponents to keep alive their hopes of advancing and they will need to do so without suspended defender Li Ang.

"The important thing for us is to keep a clean sheet," said Petrescu, whose side defeated Changchun Yatai 2-0 last Friday in the Chinese Super League.

"We know that Jeonbuk are very strong opponents and are the champions of South Korea so we have to be at our best.

"Our foreign players have a big influence on the team but in football there are eleven players.

"We know what we have to do. If we can keep our concentration and be composed in front of goal and strong in defence, we can get the result we need. We will do our best." Endit