Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Jinan: Diego Tardelli scored the only goal of the game as China’s Shandong Luneng secured their progression to the last 16 of the AFC Champions League with a 1-0 win over Japan’s Sanfrecce Hiroshima in Group F on Wednesday and in turn eliminated their opponents. VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS
Knowing a win would guarantee their safe passage to the knockout stage for the first time since 2005, the Chinese Super League side opened the scoring on 10 minutes at Jinan Olympic Sports Centre through Brazilian striker Tardelli’s well-timed header.
The visitors dominated the possession after the interval, but Sanfrecce substitute Yusuke Minagawa spurned their best opportunity as Shandong sealed second place behind Korea Republic's FC Seoul, who claimed top spot with a 2-1 win against Thailand's Buriram United in Wednesday's other Group F fixture.
“We lost to FC Seoul five weeks ago, then we lost to Hangzhou in the CSL; I said then that we had problems in defence and we had to work on it,” said Shandong coach Mano Menezes, whose side will face already-eliminated Buriram United on Matchday Six next month.
“We have had our problems in some ACL games this year, for example, the home game with Seoul. But we should always be able to learn from these losses.
“Now we are back to where we were at the beginning of the season, with a solid defence. We have only conceded one goal in four games.
“Today we played a strong opponent, so tried to keep the possession after the goal. We value our qualification very much after facing such a strong team.”
Shandong started on the front foot and came within inches of taking the lead on eight minutes when Wu Xinghan headed Walter Montillo’s chipped cross from the right narrowly wide after getting to the ball ahead of advancing goalkeeper Takuto Hayashi.
But shortly after Tardelli did put the hosts in front when he rose above the Sanfrecce defence to head home Zheng Zheng’s free-kick from the left for his third goal of the campaign and second in two games against the J.League side.
Sanfrecce finally managed an effort on goal after 30 minutes when Yusuke Chajima broke forward before skewing his shot from 20 yards well wide.
Then four minutes before the interval Shandong goalkeeper Wang Dalei was down quickly to push Tsukasa Shiotani’s effort from outside the penalty area wide as it headed towards the bottom left corner.
Shandong were back in the ascendency early in the second half, though, as Liu Binbin got on the end of Hao Junmin’s deep cross from the left, but his header from a narrow angle missed the target.
Needing to avoid defeat to stay in the tournament, the visitors began to control the possession but struggled to create chances as the Shandong backline sat back.
Then with 20 minutes remaining, Kohei Shimizu’s ambitious attempt from the left corner of the penalty area flew past Wang’s right post as Sanfrecce again failed to trouble the hosts.
Shandong could have sealed the win six minutes from time when Tardelli raced on to Wang’s huge kick up field only to see his effort blocked by the outrushing Hayashi.
And a minute later Sanfrecce’s Minagawa should have done better when he fired well over from 10 yards after Takumi Shiotani picked him out with a perfect cut-back.
“We had been hoping to be resilient and focus on our defense, but they managed to score through a set-piece,” said Sanfrecce coach Hajime Moriyasu, whose team will host group winners FC Seoul in their final Group F match.
“Today the home fans supported Shandong tremendously. The intensity of the game was also a true reflection of two sides' real quality; it was a pity for us that we couldn't win.
“This has been my third time coaching in the ACL, but unfortunately I haven’t qualified from the group stage so far.”
Photo: Lagardère Sports