Shandong Luneng head coach Felix Magath remained optimistic about his team's chances of climbing in the 2016 Chinese Super League table and had vowed that Taishan Dui will return to the AFC Champions League competitions before his tenure is over.

The Jinan Olympic Sports Center Stadium residents were held to a 1-1 draw at home by K League Classic side FC Seoul in the second leg of their quarterfinals encounter in this term's Champions League. The tie allowed the South Korean club to win the series, 4-2 on aggregate, as they won the first leg with a lopsided score of 3-1.

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Still, Magath said that he was proud of his boys' accomplishments and that they will get better and go back to Asia's premier club continental competitions soonest.

"Unfortunately we were eliminated today but we defended the honor of Chinese football and we can leave the competition with our heads up," said the German mentor during the post-match interview, via ESPN. "We had a lot of injuries in the team, but regardless of that we were the superior side in terms of attacking football."

"Our team was facing a counterattacking expert and it was extremely difficult for us to maintain balance at both ends. But we were putting pressure on our opponents and I'm quite satisfied about that," Magath said.

Shandong is a perennial powerhouse in the China domestic first division, but the team has struggled for the most part of the current season as it drifted in the bottom two relegation area during the first half of this term.

Taishan was able to climb to 12th place at the moment as they had been unbeaten in seven of their last 10 matches since Magath arrived.

Meanwhile, a potential problem is brewing for the club as Italian striker Graziano Pellè, who was just signed last July from English Premier League side Southampton for a fee of £12 million, is reportedly "unhappy at Shandong Luneng", as per GB Times.

The 31-year-old goalscorer is just seven games and three goals in his stint with Shandong and he is rumored to be upset that the team will not qualify in the ACL next season.

Taishan has 27 points in the overall standings, 15 points behind third-place team Shanghai Shenhua, with six games left in their campaign this season. Only the top three teams at the end of the season will qualify in next term's ACL.

TagsChina Football, Chinese Super League, Chinese Super League rumors, felix magath, Shandong Luneng Taishan FC