JEDDAH :Kawasaki Frontale’s Tatsuya Ito compared lining up beside Cristiano Ronaldo before their Asian Champions League Elite semi-final to being in “a video game” as the J-League outfit handed the Saudi club a 3-2 defeat to progress to the final.
Ito shrugged off any sense of being starstruck to open the scoring in spectacular fashion in the 10th minute at Jeddah’s King Abdullah Sports City Stadium to send Kawasaki on their way to a place in Saturday’s final against Al-Ahli.
“Al-Nassr have Cristiano Ronaldo, Sadio Mane and such big names and in that game at some moments there were difficulties for us to play against them,” said Ito.
“They were attacking well but I was happy to be on the pitch with them tonight.
“There were some big names playing here. Before we went on the pitch they were next to me. It felt like it was a video game.”
Kawasaki were unfancied before the game having needed extra time to defeat Qatar’s Al-Sadd on Sunday to progress to the semi-finals, but Ito’s perfectly struck first-time volley from the edge of the penalty area gave his side the ideal start.
Mane equalised with a deflected effort just before the half-hour mark only for Ito to be heavily involved again as Kawasaki regained the lead.
The former Hamburg forward’s pace caught the Al-Nassr defence out and, while goalkeeper Bento saved Ito’s attempt on goal, Yuto Ozeki netted the rebound to restore his side’s lead.
Substitute Akihiro Ienaga hit Kawasaki’s third 14 minutes from time, and Frontale needed that additional cushion as Aiman Yahya struck from distance with three minutes remaining to set up a grandstand finish from which Kawasaki prevailed.
“This is very important, not only for the club but for Japanese football and the J-League as well,” Ito said of the win. “This is a great opportunity to show the level of the J-League. We are representatives of Japan.
“Before the game today the manager said to us that we came here to make history. Now we are doing that. Hopefully in the next game we can win the title and bring the trophy back to Japan.”