The AFC Champions League 2015, the tournament to determine Asia’s No.1 club, began with its group stage matches on 24 February. While Gamba Osaka, who won three national crowns last year, J.League Division 1, Emperor’s Cup and J.League Yamazaki Nabisco Cup, fell to Guangzhou R&F (CHN) 2-0 at home, Kashiwa Reysol, who qualified for the ACL by winning the play-off, drew 0-0 with Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors (KOR) on the road.

Gamba Osaka, eyeing for the first Asian title since 2008, made an ACL berth for the first time in three years. As it was their first official match of the season, they made a lot of mistakes in both offence and defence and failed to connect passes. Meanwhile, Guangzhou reached their first ALC finals through two play-off matches including the Central Coast Mariners (AUS) match on the road. And the ACL debutant outplayed Gamba in playing response and accuracy. In the 10th minute, after forward Hamed-Allah Abderrazzaq picked up a Gamba’s pass fed to the midfield from the backline on the right flank, he dribbled deep in the box and put it home from an acute angle to give his side an opener.

Gamba were striving for a comeback but not able to break through Guangzhou’s solid defence led by Korean international defender Jang Hyunsoo and defensive midfielder Park Jongwoo. In the 28th minute, defender Niwa Daiki headed a corner kick and, in the 38th minute, Abe Hiroyuki fired from distance. Both shots were, however, denied by the opposing goalkeeper Liu Dianzuo. When Guangzhou, targeting on right side space, attacked forward using the space in the 44th minute, midfielder Jiang Ning met a cross for a goal, but goalkeeper Higashiguchi Masaaki blocked it.

From the start of the second half, Gamba replaced a newcomer midfielder Ogura Shohei, who started in place of midfielder Konno Yasuyuki, with midfielder Kurata Shu, and that made them better balanced and they started to connect passes more effectively than the first half. In the 68th minute, forward Patric headed a Kurata’s cross from the left, but goalkeeper Liu denied it again. Led by Hamed-Allah and midfielder Lu Lin, Guangzhou went on an attack. Then midfielder Wang Song sent home a free kick earned by Hamed-Allah in the 80th minute to extend their lead.

Gamba sent on newly-added forward Akamine Shingo two minutes later, yet they failed to come close to the opposing goal. In the closing minutes, forward Usami Takashi fired Patric’s lay-off, but it went off the post. Gamba were unable to find the back of the net until the end.

In the other match of the group, Buriram United (THA) beat Seongnam FC (KOR) 2-1 at home.

Kashiwa Reysol, who defeated Chonburi FC (THA) 3-2 in an extra time play-off contest on 17 this month, showed their tenacity on the road. 2006 champions Jeonbuk went on aggressive attacks and spent most of the time playing in Kashiwa’s end. As Kashiwa changed their defence from four full-back system used for the Chonburi match back to the three full-back system, which they used to employ during the last season, the defenders coped with Jeonbuk’s attacks by occasionally forcing offsides. Sugeno Takanori repeatedly made fine saves as well to gain an important one point on the away soil. Shandong Luneng FC (CHN) capped a 3-2 win over Binh Duong (VIE) in the same group.

On 25th, while Kashima Antlers in Group H welcome Western Sydney Wonderers (AUS) at home, Urawa Reds in Group G meet Suwon Samsung FC (KOR) in Korea Republic. The group stage will end on 6 May, and two top teams from each group advance to the Round 16 in the knockout stage (scheduled 19-20 May & 26-27 May).

The quarter-finals, semi-finals and final will be held on 25-26 August and 15-16 September, 29-30 September and 20-21 October, and 7 and 21 November respectively. Starting from the last tournament, teams are divided into east and west from the group stage up to the semi-finals.

Head Coach and Players' Comments

HASEGAWA Kenta, Head Coach (Gamba Osaka)
It’s very disappointing we didn’t win at home. I expected Guangzhou would stay back and play on counterattack, but we lost a goal through their first counterattack. After that, we aren’t able to break through the opposing defence keeping the block low. My players played out until the end to get three points, but there was a bit of gap in our plays. That’s because it was our opener of the season and the players lacked match sharpness. Even though we started with a disappointing result, I believe this wakes them up. From now on, we will improve the quality of our plays and earn points in the remaining five matches to get through the group stage.

NIWA Daiki (Gamba Osaka)
It was an opener at home, but what’s done is done. I think we will no longer be tense at next match, so we will play football just like we did last year again. What we need is to practice and improve accuracy of long feeds and cross balls and make some variations on them.

Cosmin CONTRA, Head Coach (Guangzhou R&F /CHN)
It may seem to you it was a bit of surprise we won against Gamba, Japan champions and top, leading team in this group. But my players made great efforts to grab important three points. I’d like to celebrate them. We scored on the first chance, and that changed the match. After that, we played good defence against the opposing attacks. The second goal was somewhat lucky, but I think our performance deserved a win. It was an advantage for us that Gamba hadn’t got into the season while we’d already had two regular season matches.

AFC Champions League 2015
More information on ACL, TV coverage