In a rematch of the AFC Champions League battle, Gamba Osaka defeated Adelaide United 1-0 with the lone goal coming from Blue Samurai Yasuhito Endo. As the match began the A-League side was clearly the aggressor but in a show-stopper example of fluid team play, Yasuhito passed the ball onto Takahiro Futugawa who linked the ball to Ryuji Bando and subsequently returned the ball to Yasuhito for a clinical finish past Adelaide ‘keeper Eugene Galeković. Adelaide came back but their efforts fell short, including skipper Travis Dodd thumping the ball against the crossbar before the break as well as another attempt of his as the match waned. However the match concluded with the lone goal standing and advances Gamba to the semi-finals against Manchester United.Following the match Gamba Osaka manager Akira Nishino said:
“I’m really proud of the players. We played an attacking style of football in the Champions League final, but tonight Adelaide managed to disrupt our passing game. Tonight’s game came down to whether we could score while they were pressing forward and attempting to close us down. Both sides had chances to score in the second half. I would have liked another goal, but we kept our composure and controlled the game. We picked up a couple of injuries tonight that reduced our strike power, but we’ll train hard and get ready for our next match.”
