Brisbane Roar close out their AFC Champions League 2017 campaign on Wednesday night, hosting Ulsan Hyundai at Brisbane Stadium (8:00pm KO QLD time).
This season’s Asian Champions League has proved challenging for the Roar, with Brisbane currently sitting fourth in Group E with four points.
While the side cannot qualify for the knockout stage, Roar winger Brandon Borrello wants his team to leave the competition with one last positive memory.
“We want to end as winners so that’s what we’re going to do we’re going to go out swinging,” said Borrello.
“We play the best of the best in Asia, all players want to play in big games and every ACL match is a big one.”
Borrello burst onto the Asian scene earlier this year after he put four goals past Global FC in the Roar’s first ACL qualifier.
Borrello believes he raises his game under the bright lights of continental football.
“It brings out the best in me and brings out the best in the team,” Borrello said.
“We’ve been unlucky with results but this last game is one for us to prove a point.”
Borrello has emerged as one of the Roar’s most promising young attackers this season, notching four goals and three assists in the Hyundai A-League.
The 21-year-old credited his teammates for helping him shrug off a sluggish start to the season.
“I started the season slow, but I had the support of the team behind me to get the wheels rolling and that’s what I’ve done towards the end of the season,” said Borrello.
The Roar suffered a stinging 6-0 loss when they travelled to Ulsan in late February, but Borrello is confident Brisbane have improved since that difficult away trip.
“We never forget what they did to us, but that wasn’t them being so much better than us,” Borrello said.
“We just needed to work on our style of play.”
Brisbane Roar’s ACL 2017 campaign has underlined the cutthroat nature of football in Asia; Brisbane never recovered after losing their first three games in Group E.
Borrello lamented that slow start, while also making it clear he wants to leave a mark on the competition.
“You go one game down and your back is against the rope,” said Borrello.
