By Michael Church
HONG KONG, March 1 (Reuters) - Dejan Damjanovic has been banging in goals all over Asia for 15 years and, as his playing days draw to a close, the 39-year-old has his eyes set on becoming the all-time leading goalscorer in the continent's most prestigious club competition.
Known simply as Dejan, the Montenegrin striker needs just two more goals in the Asian Champions League to overtake retired South Korean marksman Lee Dong-gook at the top of the standings.
Like the similarly well-travelled Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Dejan turns 40 later this year and he is firmly of the opinion that advancing years count little when it comes to finding the net.
"When they are thinking you can't do any more and they are just looking at your ID and your age and not your performances on the pitch, that motivates me more to show them that age is just a number," Dejan told Reuters.
"I'm not the only one showing that. When Ibrahimovic can score 15 plus goals in Serie A then I'm sure I can do that in Asia.
"That's an extra motivation for me, to say that they shouldn't look at age but they should look at performances on the pitch."
Dejan is peerless as a goalscorer among players still active in Asian football, his 36 strikes putting him well clear of Guangzhou FC's Elkeson in second place on 29.
He will make a fresh start in the 2021 season having spent the most successful years of his career in South Korea, where he led FC Seoul to the continental final in 2013 before helping Suwon Bluewings to the last four two seasons ago.
HONG KONG-BOUND
Dejan has inked a deal with Hong Kong champions Kitchee and said playing in the Champions League was a key factor in making the move south.
"I told them first that I'm looking for a team that is going to play in the Champions League," he said. "That was my priority because this is maybe my last professional year.
"I know my job, I'm a striker and my job is to score goals and to do something in this ACL campaign, so I will try to score a couple of goals.
"I need two goals to be number one scorer, but I know how hard it is to score goals and I know how huge it is for me and for Kitchee because if I become the top scorer I will be doing it with Kitchee this season."
The Asian Champions League is scheduled to return in April when the group phase of the coronavirus-affected competition will be played in centralised locations.
And while Dejan is focused on the task that lies ahead, the memories of past campaigns – and especially the near-misses – remain strong.
The 2021 campaign will see him renew acquaintances with Guangzhou, who inflicted defeat on his FC Seoul side on the away goals rule after the teams were tied 3-3 after the two legs of the 2013 final.
"I can't understand why the ACL has this away goals rule, said Dejan, who scored in both legs of the final.
"I'm not judging anybody, but I can't understand this rule. We're fighting for eight months and then in the final we had to look for an away goal.
"A final is a final and somebody must win. Extra time, penalty kicks, something, but somebody must win. You cannot use away goals in a final. That's unbelievable.
"We didn't lose a game and we killed them and we were very good in these two games. That was a really hard time for us because our team was unbelievable." (Editing by Nick Mulvenney)