Adelaide United goalkeeper Eugene Galekovic said the club has proved many doubters wrong with their AFC Champions League exploits.
United brushed off a disappointing 2011/12 A-League season to finish top of Group E in Asia s premier club competition, clinching a home round-of-16 game courtesy of a 2-0 win away to Gamba Osaka on Wednesday.
The victory crowned a superb group stage for the Reds, in which they picked up crucial wins away to Uzbek champions Bunyodkor and Gamba among their four victories.
Adelaide will face Gamba s J-League rivals Nagoya Grampus at Hindmarsh Stadium on May 29 in a one-off match, with the winners to progress to the quarter finals.
It s massive. We know how big it is but when you think about it, it s almost only just the start, Galekovic said.
Now we ve got to worry about the round-of-16 and then hopefully the quarters, semis and the final, and I think we can do what we did in 2008 (when Adelaide reached the final, only to be beaten by Gamba).
I believed we could get through and I think a lot of the boys did. Obviously you get some of the outside people thinking how much we struggled in the A-League and that we would struggle in the ACL, but it happened last time as well. We believed we could do it and now we ve done it.
