Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Adelaide: Defender Daniel Mullen scored twice as Adelaide United maintained a 100% record in the AFC Champions League after beating an out-of-sorts Gamba Osaka 2-0 at Hindmarsh Stadium in Group E on Tuesday.
Despite Adelaide set to round off a disappointing A-League campaign at the weekend, Mullen’s first-half headers ensured the 2008 AFC Champions League finalists followed up their impressive 2-1 win in Uzbekistan over Bunyodkor with another composed continental display.
Former champions Gamba, meanwhile, continue to struggle under new coach Jose Carlos Serrao and have now lost all four games at the start of the new season and following up their 3-0 home defeat by Pohang Steelers with back-to-back defeats in the J.League.
“It was a chance for the players to make up for what has been a poor season in the A-League and we have seen if the outcomes in terms of our discipline are there, anything can be achieved,” said Adelaide coach Luciano Trani.
“We have made some adjustments in our shape and I think that is already showing some improvement, and also having Dario Vidosic out wide on the right-hand side has given us a little bit more width in our play. And that also has contributed to a number of changes that have seen us come into our performances over the last two or three games.
“Daniel is doing a good job getting in the right areas and having the composure at the time to make amends. Like Daniel, Nigel Boogaard scored against Bunyodkor so our central defenders are getting in the right areas for the set plays.”
Adelaide made a strong start and after the impressive Dario Vidosic was denied by Gamba goalkeeper Yosuke Fujigaya, the home side took the lead after 17 minutes.
After seeing his initial header crash into the face of the crossbar, Mullen headed home at the second time of asking after Nigel Boogaard had kept the chance alive although Fujigaya was given little chance as Mullen’s header took a huge deflection.
Lee Seung-yeoul came close to an equaliser four minutes later but failed to find a way past Reds goalkeeper Eugene Galekovic.
And the home side took full advantage midway through the first half as Fujigaya failed to hold onto Bruce Djite’s flicked header from Cassio’s free-kick and Mullen was on hand to fire high into the roof of the net from the edge of the six-yard area.
After playing a key role in Adelaide’s win in Bunyodkor two weeks ago, the impressive Galekovic denied Takuya Takei and Yasuhito Endo in the closing stages of the first half as Adelaide maintained their advantage.
And with Adelaide content to preserve their lead, Gamba failed to produce a comeback in the second half with Vidosic coming close to adding to the Reds lead.
“It is a very bad result. This is four loses in a row and we are still making mistakes. We are losing to ourselves. We knew from the beginning Adelaide would play this way with high balls, but we lost,” said Serrao.
“We need to work hard to get better and we need to change our players’ mentality on how to defend because we are repeating simple mistakes and giving chances to the opponents. We need to pay attention when we are marking because now it is not enough and we are giving the opponents chances to score goals.”