KUALA LUMPUR: Yokohama F Marinos bounced back from an opening day humiliation to hand Ulsan HD of South Korea a 4-0 thumping in Japan on Wednesday to put their Asian Champions League Elite campaign back on track.
Marinos, runners-up in last season’s campaign, had been handed a 7-3 thrashing by Gwangju FC in their first game of the current competition but made amends with goals from Kota Watanabe, Takuma Nishimura, Anderson Lopes and Kenta Mizunuma.
Current J-League champions Vissel Kobe also picked up three points when Takayuki Yoshida’s side emerged 2-1 winners from a bad-tempered clash with Chinese Super League outfit Shandong Taishan.
The result moves Kobe onto four points from their opening two games of the league phase, two points behind Gwangju, who are the only team in the eastern side of the draw to win both of their matches so far.
The first eight finishers in the 12-team western and eastern divisions of the league phase advance to March’s knockout rounds while the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final will be played on a centralised basis in Saudi Arabia in April and May.
In the western side on Tuesday, former Fulham striker Aleksandar Mitrovic was on target as Al Hilal, buoyed by Neymar returning to training this week, swept past Al Shorta 5-0 in Riyadh.
Brazil superstar Neymar announced his return to club training with the Saudi champions on Monday after a year out with a left knee injury.
Al Hilal took the lead in the 11th minute against their Iraqi opponents through Marcos Leonardo with Mitrovic adding the second four minutes later. Salem Al Dawsari, Nasser Al Dawsari and Mohammed Kanno completed the romp in the second half.
While Al-Hilal joined fellow Saudi Pro League side Al-Ahli on maximum points after two games, holders Al-Ain lost 4-2 to Al-Gharafa in a rollercoaster match at the Al Bayt Stadium in Qatar.
Late goals from Seydou Sano and Yacine Brahimi condemned the champions to defeat in Doha after Al-Ain’s Kaku Romero and Sofiane Rahimi had cancelled out an opening double from former Real Madrid striker Joselu.
Published in Dawn, October 3rd, 2024
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