AFC Champions League Two
Brazilian Welton Felipe opened the scoring for the J1 League side while countryman Gil Martins replied almost immediately before goals from second-half substitutes Takashi Usami and Deniz Hümmet sealed the match.
Gamba Osaka were upfront from the start, with Keisuke Kurokawa picking up a pass from Tokuma Suzuki, running into the left of the box and forcing an acrobatic save from Yapp Hung Fai in the seventh minute.
Issam Jebali found space on the left five minutes later, but his goal-bound shot was quickly intercepted by captain Leung Chun Pong before it could trouble Yapp. The Tunisian international then sent a direct free-kick sailing over the bar in the 18th minute.
Jebali and Felipe continued creating trouble for their opponents on the left, and the latter slammed in the first goal from six yards in the 28th minute after being set up by Makoto Mitsuta.
The Hong Kong Premier League side equalised in the very next minute when Martins picked up Yu Okubo’s headed cross, ran down the left and sent the ball curling from the edge of the area past the outstretched arms of Masaaki Higashiguchi.
Another break down the left in the 42nd minute by Felipe saw defender Yiu Ho Ming reach the ball in the six-yard box before Juan Alano and safely guide it to Yapp’s waiting hands a split second before a lurking Jebali could make his move.
Yapp dived to his left to pull off a spectacular save from Riku Handa’s stinging header in the 59th minute as Alano, Felipe and Shuto Abe all fell short of their intended target in the following minutes.
The custodian tipped Usami’s shot from distance onto the bar in the 68th minute, but could not prevent the forward from drilling the ball from the top of the area past him into the net two minutes later.
Eastern’s Calum Hall was sent off for a foul on Kanji Okunuki in the 75th minute, and Hümmet, who had come on 15 minutes earlier, placed the ball beyond Yapp’s reach from the ensuing free-kick to give Gamba Osaka a winning start to their campaign.
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