Kawasaki Frontale's Tatsuya Ito compared the Asian Champions League elite semifinal next to Cristiano Ronaldo with the "video game" as J League costumes defeated the Saudi club in a 3-2 loss.
Ito shrugged and in the 10th minute, at the stadium of King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah, shrugged in a surprising way, dispatching Kawasaki to enter a place in Saturday's final against Al Ali.
"Al Nassr has Cristiano Ronaldo, Sadio Mane and big names like that, at some point, it's hard for us to fight against them."
“They have a good offense, but I’m so glad to play with them tonight.
“There are some big names here.
Before the match, Kawasaki had no ready-made before he needed extra time to beat Katar's Al Sadd to the semifinals on Sunday, but Ito completely beat his first volley from the edge of the free throw, making him the ideal start.
Mane balanced with a skewed effort before the half-hour mark, just because Kawasaki regained the lead, so the ITO was involved again.
The former Hamburg forward's pace caught Nasr's defense and Yuto Ozeki won the rebound to restore his lead despite goalkeeper Bento saving Ito's goal attempt.
Replace Akihiro Ienaga's third 14-minute hit rate starting with Kawasaki, while Frontale requires extra mats as Aiman Yahya hits three minutes from a distance to build the stands where Kawasaki prevails.
"It's important not only for the club, but also for Japanese football and J League," Ito said of the victory. "It's a great opportunity to show the level of J League. We are representatives of Japan.
"Before today's game, the manager told us that we were here to make history. Now we are doing that. Hopefully in the next game we can win the championship and bring the trophy back to Japan."
Ronaldo went on social media and his dream of "must wait" expressed his disappointment with his loss and his fans of the console.
Sometimes dreams have to wait. I am proud of this team and all we have put in on the court. 🟡🔵
Thank you to all the fans who believe in us and stand by us in every step of our way. Your support means the world. 🙏 pic.twitter.com/slp6k4ihrh
-Cristiano Ronaldo (@Cristiano) April 30, 2025