Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Osaka: AFC Champions League semi-finalists Gamba Osaka took a step closer to successfully defending their J.League Cup title when a 2-0 defeat of Albirex Niigata on Sunday saw them book their place in the 2015 final with a 3-2 aggregate win.
Trailing 2-1 from the first leg, 2009 AFC Player of the Year Yasuhito Endo (pictured during Gamba’s Suruga Bank Championship match with River Plate) put the defending champions back in the driving seat in the 57th minute, with Kotaro Omori’s away goal at the Big Swan Stadium giving Gamba the edge.
Defender Hiroki Fujiharu, an unused substitute in Gamba’s 2-1 defeat to Guangzhou Evergrande in the first leg of their 2015 ACL semi-final, settled any doubt when he scored the second four minutes into stoppage time at the Expo ’70 Commemorative Stadium as Gamba advanced to their fourth J.League Cup final.
Sunday’s victory ended a three-match losing streak that started when they lost the first leg of their ACL final-four fixture with Guangzhou and continued with a 5-3 defeat to Kawasaki Frontale that left them eighth in the J.League standings before they went down to Alibirex in the first instalment of their J.League Cup semi-final in Niigata.
The 2008 ACL winners continue the defence of their J.League title on October 17 when they take on fellow former continental champions Urawa Reds - who won Asia’s premier club competition in 2007 - before Kenta Hasegawa’s side look to overturn a 2-1 deficit for the second time this month when they renew acquaintances with four-time Chinese Super League winners Guangzhou on October 21.
Photo: AFP