The comment came after the Japanese champions eased to a history-making Asian title with a sparkling 5-0 win over Australia’s Melbourne Victory on the final day of the FIFA-AFC Pilot Tournament, adding a maiden continental title to their impressive haul of domestic honours.

With the Asian club champions crowned for the first time in Yongin, Nagata echoed comments made earlier in the tournament by Beleza midfield dynamo Yui Hasegawa, who revealed her desire to test herself against the world’s leading clubs, including recurring European champions Olympique Lyonnais.

Beleza captain Mina Tanaka netted a superb hat-trick, with Sara Ito and Kokona Iwasaki also getting on the scoresheet, as the rulers of Japan’s domestic scene demonstrated their class to the rest of the Continent.

The result gave Masato Nagata’s side a final tally of seven points, creating an unassailable four-point lead over second-placed Incheon Hyundai Steel Red Angels, who will close the tournament against Jiangsu Suning later on Saturday.

The Red Angels came into the tie one point ahead of the Chinese champions, but an excellent brace from Jiangsu’s Malawian star meant Jocelyn Precheur’s side finished with five points, two behind Japan’s Nippon TV Beleza, who sealed the title earlier in the day.

While Jiangsu’s earlier results in tournament meant they weren’t able to add to the four trophies they won domestically this year, Saturday’s win meant their campaign at the FIFA-AFC Pilot Tournament ended without defeat.

The Australian club opened the scoring through an early Grace Maher header, before Jiangsu failed to find a winning goal despite creating several chances following Tang Jiali’s near-immediate equaliser.

The result leaves Victory on one point from two matches in the FIFA-AFC Pilot Tournament, while Jiangsu were forced to settle for a second draw in three days after sharing the spoils with Nippon TV Beleza on Matchday One.

Ueki’s header opened the scoring just after half time, before Kobayashi sealed the win in the dying seconds, helping Masato Nagata’s side to leapfrog the tournament hosts and put themselves 90 minutes away from being Asia’s first ever women’s club champions.

With four points from two matches, Beleza’s win means they’ll be able to seal the inaugural club crown with a win over Australia’s Melbourne Victory on Saturday, while the tournament hosts, who are a point behind, could go into their match with Jiangsu Suning with the title already lost.

The WK League champions found the back of the net twice in each half, with Lee Sea-eun – who bagged two goals in as many minutes just before the hour mark – leading the scoring on a night where Kim Dam-bi and Thais Guedes also left their mark on the final tally.

The win means the Red Angels finish Matchday One on top of the table, while Melbourne Victory sit at the bottom as the only team not to collect a point on the opening day.

Jiangsu’s impressive Malawian striker Tabitha Chawinga wrote her name into the history books with the tournament’s first goal in the seventh minute, but Beleza were level just three minutes later thanks to Mjna Tanaka before a second half arm-wrestle.

The result keeps both sides in title contention with two further matches to play in the competition.