JEDDAH : Kawasaki Frontale coach Shigetoshi Hasebe was left ruing his side’s defensive errors as the Japanese club slipped to a 2-0 loss to Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ahli in the Asian Champions League Elite final on Saturday.
The expensively-assembled Saudi Pro League side won the title for the first time through first-half efforts from Galeno and Franck Kessie, but it was mistakes in the build-up to both goals that left Hasebe shaking his head.
“For us, if we could play as we planned, we could have won,” he said. “We showed that in the last two games, but tonight it didn’t work so we have to do more in the future.
“This result is not what we expected. They played well. We conceded two goals and they deserve to be champions.
“Al-Ahli could show their strength in the first half and we couldn’t show ours. The key was the second goal that we conceded.”
Kawasaki put on a disciplined display throughout the opening period at the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium only to gift possession to pacy winger Galeno deep inside their own half in the 35th minute.
It was to prove a costly mistake as the Brazilian fed compatriot Roberto Firmino, and his return pass to Galeno bounced up nicely off the turf to allow the former Porto wideman to bend a perfectly-flighted shot into the top corner.
Seven minutes later Al-Ahli hit their second with Kawasaki left back Sota Miura off the field receiving treatment on a knee injury.
Firmino exploited the space left by the defender’s absence to drive into the area and deliver the cross for Kessie to head home.
“I don’t think they did anything special against us tonight,” said Hasebe. “We made mistakes when we conceded the goals.
“When we conceded the second goal at that time we had 10 players on the pitch. If I think about it now, maybe I could have replaced another player in that position. That could have been my mistake.”
Kawasaki went into the decider as underdogs despite defeating Qatar’s Al-Sadd in the quarter-finals and Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr in the last four, with Al-Ahli’s foreign imports the difference between the sides.
Hasebe, though, felt defensive inadequacies that saw his backline concede twice in each of the three matches they played in Jeddah in the finals phase of the competition were to blame.
“The individual levels might be different but I believe both the individual and the team are very important,” he said.
“We showed our skill in the last game, but in every single game we played here we conceded two goals. That’s something we need to improve in the future.”
