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Gamba Osaka to play 2nd leg of ACL 2015 semi against Guangzhou Evergrande at home, aiming for 1st final appearance since 2008

21 October 2015

Gamba Osaka to play 2nd leg of ACL 2015 semi against Guangzhou Evergrande at home, aiming for 1st final appearance since 2008

The AFC Champions League 2015 finally have the second leg of the semi-final of its eastern bracket on Wednesday 21 October, where Gamba Osaka and Guangzhou Evergrande go head to head one more time.

In the western bracket semi-final held on 20, Al Ahli (UAE) took on Al Hilal (Saudi Arabia) and defeated the Middle Eastern rival with the two-match total of 4-3, which brought the first final match spot to the UAE club.

Guangzhou Evergrande came back from behind and won the first leg of the eastern bracket 2-1 at home. With only winning required, Gamba’s captain ENDO said at the press conference one day ahead of the match "We got an away goal, so we are taking it positively." Their coach HASEGAWA added, "My players have survived through tough matches in the ACL and in our league so far to be here. We will play with everything we have."

Since winning the ACL championship in 2008, Gamba Osaka now are in the position to potentially be awarded the first final appearance at home. The showdown will kick off at 7 p.m. at Expo’ 70 Commemorative Stadium.

Coach and Players' Comments

HASEGAWA Kenta, Coach (Gamba Osaka)
It will be a tough match. We will play with everything we have, play together as a team and try to beat Guangzhou Evergrande. We have done good preparations so far, and my players are highly motivated for the match. Guangzhou are a very good team, but we are a capable team, too. We have survived through tough matches so far to be here. It will come down to whether we can play our brand of football at our home until the last whistle is blown.

ENDO Yasuhito (Gamba Osaka)
We lost in the first leg, so we want to have a better result than that. We are confident in our style. We got an away goal, so we are taking it positively.

Luiz FELIPE SCOLARI (Guangzhou Evergrande)
We arrived in Osaka a few days ago. Including the pitch condition and weather, everything is well prepared for us and we are ready. Two wonderful teams have advanced to this final, so it will be a spectacular match. Against such a good team as Gamba Osaka, we will try to win the match, not aiming for a draw.

Zheng ZHI (Guangzhou Evergrande)
We played against Gamba Osaka in the first leg, and we know they are a very good team. They have good attacking force and speed. We will try only to do our best and win. This is our second time to be in the ACL semi-final, but we want to play better than the last time.

AFC CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 2015

Semi-Final
Wed. 21 October 2015 kick off at 19:00 (subject to change) Expo '70 Commemorative Stadium
Gamba Osaka (Japan)  vs  Guangzhou Evergrande (China) 

See more match details

 
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