Shandong Luneng 1 - 2 Cerezo Osaka

Love didn't conquer all, although he did score the first after a ridiculous penalty decision. So, however unlikely it seems, we made it through!Sakemoto was dropped and our formation was altered but ultimately I don't think that made a huge difference as two nice finishes from two players we expect to produce the goods got us the points we needed to squeeze through to the knockout stage. Jin-Hyeon gave us a scare as he fell very awkwardly but played on and he and the rest of the defense proved too strong for Shandong to get back in the game. Enjoy the video and happy days! Marcelo Lippi's Guangzhou Evergrande awaits us in early May. A Kansai Derby awaits us tomorrow back in J1.

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Cerezo Osaka 1 - 3 Shandong Luneng

How annoying was that game? We were outplayed at home, had no cohesion and couldn't cope with Shandong at all. First goal was offside but if we want to prove we belong in competitions like this, or are title contenders, some days you have to beat the opposition and the ref. Vagner Love cost Shandong 12 million Euros and he scored two on the night. The Shandong players were on a 3 million yen win bonus for this match too. Playing two up top leaves us vulnerable and requires both Yamaguchi and Ogihara to be on the top of their game but they were overrun on Tuesday. Aria again looked like he hasn't added much to our squad but hopefully just needs more time. At least Popovic seems to recognise the quality of Kusukami whose stepover was as important to assist Kakitani's strike as Nicols's pass. Oh the timewasting. I haven't felt so annoyed at a team in such a long time purely because that level of timewasting, by their keeper in particular, is an anachronism in today's game but the ref couldn't assert any kind authority. Another worrying performance, going to Shandong will be tough if play like this again. We can still get out the group so the booing from our fans was unwarranted, the team need to get used to playing the way Popovic wants and that will take some time, more patience is needed.

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