Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Coach Kenta Hasegawa and captain Yasuhito Endo have played down the absence of leading scorer Takashi Usami ahead of Gamba Osaka’s AFC Champions League quarter-final second leg with fellow former winners Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors from Korea Republic on Wednesday.
Japanese treble winners Gamba are seeking a return to the semi-finals for the first time since lifting the continental title in 2008 and are unbeaten in their last seven AFC Champions League outings following last month’s goalless first leg draw at Jeonju World Cup Stadium.
But Gamba will be without Japan international Usami (pictured above in white), who is the 2008 winners’ leading scorer in this season’s AFC Champions League with four goals, for the return fixture at Expo ’70 Commemorative Stadium after the 23-year-old picked up a yellow card in the second half at Jeonju World Cup Stadium and will be forced to watch from the stands on Wednesday.
“I won’t know until we play, but obviously he is one of the main scorers. But then since he will not be around, it might confuse Jeonbuk who to mark and that might lead to breaking the opponent’s balance,” said Hasegawa, who saw Usami score twice on Saturday as Gamba recorded a 2-1 win over Kashima Antlers in the J.League.
“Also, the rest of the team has enough strength to show a powerful game, so I am quite positive we have enough strength to win this match.”
AFC Champions League Quarter-Final 2nd Leg Fixtures (1st Leg scores in brackets)
Guangzhou Evergrande (3) v (1) Kashiwa Reysol
Lekhwiya (1) v (4) Al Hilal
Gamba Osaka (0) v (0) Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors
Al Ahli (1) v (0) Naft Tehran
Usami scored twice in the first leg of the Round of 16 success over Korea’s FC Seoul at the end of May having also netted against K-League Classic side Seongnam FC and China’s Guangzhou R&F as Gamba recovered from a slow start to eventually win Group F.
www.the-afc.com/en/more/photo/seoul_gamba_osaka2_rd16_leg1_jpg.html
