“We had a chip on our shoulder after last year so we’re very pleased to go through to the next round,” said the Japanese coach, who took over at the BG Pathum United helm in March.
 
“Kitchee are a very good team and they've beaten Thai teams before. But coaches always say if you study the other team’s tactics you can always beat the other team and, even though there was a very long gap between the group stages and today, we were able to prove that we can win.”

BG Pathum will be the first Thai team to play in the quarter-finals since Buriram United in 2013 and Teguramori stressed it is his mission to enhance the profile of football in the country by succeeding on the pitch.

“We are always trying to increase the fanbase of our team and upgrade the level of Thai football, to show other Asian countries that we can compete and the first step of that was to win today,” he said.
 
“We’re happy that we can prove that Thai football is not bad and that it’s improving every year.”

Kitchee head coach Alex Chu was left to rue a mistake by goalkeeper Wang Zhenpeng that gifted BG Pathum United the opener after a tight first 34 minutes that saw little separate the teams.
 
“Even though we lost I’m happy with the team because the players were fighting hard until the end,” he said. 
 
“We made one mistake and this is not good for us, because it made it easier for BG Pathum. They’re a good team, they’re strong and it’s not easy if we want to try to attack then we give more space for them and make some mistakes again.”

Chu remains hopeful his players can learn from their AFC Champions League campaign and can make further improvements in the future.
 
“This is a very good experience for Kitchee and for the players and if we have the chance to come again to the AFC Champions League then we have to play better,” he said. “It’s not easy, we cannot make any mistakes. We need to focus, concentrate and be ready. 
 
“For me we have learned a lot and being here is already a success. It was a good opportunity to learn something and we will learn later to play against other strong teams. This is football.”