The AFC Asian Champions League (ACL) had the second leg of its knockout stage first round, the round 16, as Gamba Osaka beat FC Seoul (KOR) 6-3 on aggregate after a 3-2 victory to clinch a last 8 spot.

Gamba made their own quarterfinal berth following the other J.League side in the tournament Kashiwa Reysol, and it is for their first time since 2008 when they won it all in the ACL campaign. And for Japan as a country, it is also for the first time since 2009 to have two or more teams reaching the quarterfinals.

After defeating Seoul 3-1 last week in the first leg, Gamba showed a composed game management and threatened the opposing goal mostly with attacking pairs of USAMI Takashi and Patric.

The opening goal came in the 16th minute. Usami received midfielder ENDO Yasuhito's pass and slotted a floated pass to Patric despite being crowded out by opposing defenders before Patric headed it home in front of goal.

After cutting inside from the left flank, Usami fired shots in the 20th and 32nd minutes, both of which were denied by the opposing goalkeeper, but he created attacking rhythm for his side.

FC Seoul, needing as many goals as possible, sought goal-scoring opportunities as Colombian midfielder Molina Uribe and forward Yun Jutae fired shots through right back Cha Du Ri's set-ups. In the 36th minute, Yun skipped past a Gamba defender for a shot, but goalkeeper HIGASHIGUCHI Masaaki made a save.

Yet in the 42nd minute, a Gamba defender gave up a penalty kick to the Korean side, who reached the last 8 spot in all of their four ACL appearances in the past including the runners-up finish in 2013. Molina took the spot kick, but his shot went wide of the right post.

Gamba's additional goal came just after that. Starting from Usami's right cross, Gamba saw midfielder KURATA Shu score after a goalmouth scramble, before the Japan side ended the first half 2-0.

In the second half, Seoul changed their formation to play three up front by adding forward Go Yohan on the pitch. When substitute forward Shim Jehyeok, slotted into a wing position in the 54th minute, broke through the left flank and fed a cross ball, Yun netted his side's opener after rushing into the box.

Then in the 65th minute, Seoul sent forward Park Heeseong onto the pitch to go on another attacking surge with placing even more players up front.
Gamba, however, coped well with it by subbing in defender Kim Jungya and shifting defender NIWA Daiki to the right back position. The J.League side started passing around the ball in order to get their rhythm back.

In the 86th minute, substitute forward Lins met a left cross teed up by defender FUJIHARU Hiroki for his side's third goal of the match.

With two goals up, Gamba threw in midfielder DOAN Ritsu in the 88th minute. The 16-year-old pro debutant helped his team create a critical opportunity in front of goal soon after stepping on the pitch.

Although Seoul's Yun netted again in the closing minutes to close the gap to one goal, Gamba kept composed throughout the match to notch the last 8 spot with a back-to-back victory.

See more match details (Japanese version only)

The pairings for the quarterfinals will be determined by a drawing on 18 June in Kuala Lumpur. The quarterfinal matches are scheduled to take place on 25 and 26 August for the first leg and on 15 and 16 September for the second leg.

Head Coaches’ Comments

HASEGAWA Kenta, Head Coach (Gamba Osaka)
As expected, it was a very tough match. To make my players concentrate on winning the match, I said to them before the match like "Give it your best shot." They understood the situation very well and played in the way I was expecting so that we could get through to the last 8 with a home win. The players really focused on winning and worked hard. The second goal by Kurata in the first half was huge for us. That made a situation where the opponents needed to get four goals. Kurata brought the rhythm to us in the first leg as well and showed a great performance today both in offence and defence. It would have been the best if we could've kept a clean sheet, but the match turned out to be difficult because Seoul also played very tough in the second half. It's big that we safely won such a match.

Choi Yong Soo, Head Coach (FC Seoul)
After giving up a goal in the first half, we weren't able to ride on our rhythm. It was big we missed a penalty kick at the important moment, and the loss in the first leg and high-scoring defeat put a heavy burden on our players. We were eliminated, but the players worked very well. I'd like to give them praise. We tried out many different things, but they didn't work well as we wanted in many situations. During this tournament, I felt teams having strong defence would be advancing, and there are some important moments which decides the outcome in this kind of big match. I felt we needed players who can perform well in those moments.

AFC Champions League 2015

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