Urawa coach Hori gives all credit to his players

Rafael Silva’s 11^th minute opener at Saitama Stadium proved enough to secure a 1-0 scoreline on the night, resulting in a 2-1 aggregate victory for the J.League club.

Hori was quick to point out, however, that the return to the AFC Champions League final – 10 years after they lifted the continental title – had come about due to the performance of the team, rather than just individuals.

“We wanted to play as a team, defend as a team, and attack as a team – the players ran hard and worked hard today,” said Hori, who took the helm three months ago after the dismissal of Mihailo Petrovic.

“When I first joined the side as coach I said to the players, ‘let’s create a healthy competition in the side’. Since then, every time I have needed to select a team, it has been so hard to choose my starting 11.

“Every player is fighting so hard to be part of the line-up and, as you can see from today’s game, the performance was much improved.

“The players deserve all the credit.”