The South Australian team took a comfortable 3-0 lead into the second leg of their semi-final tie against the Uzbekistan league leaders Kuruvchi/Bunyodkor. The first leg was played in Adelaide two weeks ago and goals were scored by Adelaide’s Diego, Fabian Barbiero and Cristiano.

Adelaide United will play the Asian Champions League final against Gamba Osaka of Japan, who knocked out defending champions and J.League rivals Urawa Reds in the other semi-final. Gamba won their tie 4-2 on aggregate. In the second leg Gamba were too strong for the Reds as they won 3-1.

Big as Australia in the World Cup

“This certainly is as big as the national team getting to the World Cup. It is the biggest competition in club football in Asia and it is a magnificent achievement to get to the final, a real magnificent achievement,” said Vidmar.

Adelaide looked pretty comfortable in the second leg and played a defensive match. Kuruvchi/Bunyodkor took until 11 minutes before fulltime to score through substitute Bahodir Pardaev.

Unlike the European Champions League the Asian final will be played over two legs. The first leg will be played in Japan on November 5 with the second leg on November 12.