Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Saitama: Japan’s Urawa Red Diamonds won their first Suruga Bank Championship title after a 1-0 win over Brazil’s Chapecoense on Tuesday.
The Reds were awarded the penalty after Chapecoense’s captain was judged to have taken down Zlatan Ljubijankic.
Six minutes from time, Yuki Abe (pictured above) stepped up for the spot-kick, which found the bottom right of the net to send the home crowd raving.
Co-organised by the Japan Football Association, CONMEBOL and the J.League, the 10th edition of the championship pit the 2016 J.League Cup champions and the 2016 Copa Sudamericana winners for the annual tournament.
Urawa join the list of Japanese clubs who have won six out of the 10 championships. Previous victors were FC Tokyo (2010), Jubilo Iwata (2011), Kashima Antlers (2012, 2013) and Kashiwa Reysol.
Urawa will take on Kawasaki Frontale in the first leg of the AFC Champions League Quarter-finals on August 23.
Photo: AFP