Thailand star Suphanat Mueanta scored a stoppage-time winner as Buriram United stunned former Asian champions Ulsan HD 2-1 in the AFC Champions League Elite at their Chang Arena on Wednesday night.
Guilherme Bissoli put the Thunder Castle ahead in the 20th minute and Jang Si-Young pulled the visitors level in first-half added time before Suphanat popped up with a winner in the 93rd minute of the match.
The reigning K League champions Ulsan, continental winners in 2012 and 2020, are now five points adrift of the top eight places, with one round of matches remaining and with no chance of securing a place in the last 16.
Buriram, meanwhile, moved up to sixth place with 11 points from seven games and will go into their final league phase encounter against already-qualified Gwangju FC next Tuesday knowing a draw would see Osmar Loss Vieira's side advance to the knockout stage.
"I am really proud of my team, they did an amazing job today," said Brazilian tactician Osmar Loss. "It was really hard to prepare for this game because we did not know how Ulsan would play as this is their first game of the year.
"I think we showed that we could adapt after we understood how Ulsan were playing. I have to give lots of credit to the players as they understood very quickly and were able to implement the tactics well."
Suphanat, who was named man of the match, said, "I would like to thank my teammates for fighting together until we secured three points today. I am very happy to score the winner in injury time. I thank the fans for the support today."
Buriram United's Suphanat Mueanta celebrates his goal. BURIRAM UNITED Buriram United
Ulsan coach Kim Pan-Gon vowed to return to the continental tournament with a much improved team for the next edition.
"Our journey is done," said Kim. "Very sorry to the fans that we did not qualify. We hope to come back with a stronger team next season.
"Today we gave some young players a chance to gain experience and, hopefully, they can learn a lot from this."
AFC U20 Asian Cup
Thailand and Japan will square off in their Group D opener in the AFC U20 Asian Cup in China today.
Thailand did not qualify for the previous tournament, and their best showing since emerging champions in 1962 and 1969 was a third-place finish in 1994.
Japan, who won their only title in 2016, were semi-finalists in 2018 and 2023 and runners-up on six occasions.
Both teams will go into the tie at Shenzhen Youth Football Training Base knowing that every point will make a difference in a tough group that also has 12-time winners South Korea and 1994 champions Syria.
Sixteen teams were drawn into four groups with not just continental glory at stake but also four tickets to the Fifa U20 World Cup 2025 in Chile.
The tournament, which kicked off on Wednesday, runs until March 1.