Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Osaka: Coach Kenta Hasegawa insisted Gamba Osaka had to battle hard for their 3-2 win over FC Seoul in their AFC Champions League last 16 tie on Wednesday as the Japanese champions secured their passage to the quarter-finals for the first time since winning the continental competition in 2008 after completing a 6-3 aggregate victory.
The Japanese treble winners went into the game at Expo ’70 Stadium as strong favourites having defeated the K-League Classic side 3-1 in the Korean capital in the first leg last week.
And the hosts looked to have had things sewn up by the interval as Gamba went in two goals to the good, but the Koreans pulled one back just before the hour mark to breathe new life into the tie.
However, Group F winners Gamba restored their two-goal advantage in the final five minutes before FC Seoul grabbed a consolation in injury time.
Match report: Gamba Osaka 3-2 FC Seoul (6-3 agg)
“Before the game I didn’t say much to our players, I just told them that there are no easy matches so let’s play with all we have,” said Hasegawa.
“I just tried to make them focus on winning this match alone.
“The game turned out being a very tough one, as I thought it would be. But our players worked very hard right until the end. That brought us the win and qualification to the quarter-finals.”
Brazilian striker Patric opened the scoring in the 16th minute before midfielder Shu Kurata doubled the hosts’ advantage on the stroke of half-time.
But Group H runners-up FC Seoul pulled one back just before the hour mark through Yun Ju-tae to give the home side a scare.
Brazilian forward, Lins, though, calmed Gamba’s nerves by scoring in the 86th minute before Yun netted his second in stoppage time.
“Our second goal by Kurata had a big impact on the game as that meant our opponents had to score four goals,” added Hasegawa.
“After we made it 2-0 at half-time, I wanted to make sure we could finish the game well, so that we can carry our momentum into the next game; it would have been better if we had kept a clean sheet today.
“But Seoul played with four forwards in the second half and delivered many crosses from the right so I had to put (Daiki) Niwa to right-back to block them.
“They came out much tougher after the break and that gave us a hard time, so we did a good job by finishing the game with a win.”
Photo: WSG