2008 AFC Champions League final

2008 AFC Champions League final
Event2008 AFC Champions League
First leg
Date5 November 2008
VenueOsaka Expo '70 Stadium, Suita, Osaka
RefereeMalik Abdul Bashir
Attendance20,639
WeatherClear
17 °C (63 °F)[1]
Second leg
Date12 November 2008
VenueHindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide
RefereeSubkhiddin Mohd Salleh
Attendance17,000
WeatherClear
28 °C (82 °F)[2]

The 2008 AFC Champions League Final was a two-legged football tie to determine the 2008 champions of Asian club football. Gamba Osaka defeated Adelaide United 5-0 on aggregate to take the title. The first leg took place on 5 November 2008 at 19:00 local time (UTC+9) at Osaka Expo '70 Stadium in Osaka, Japan and the second leg took place on 12 November 2008 at 19:30 local time (UTC+10:30) at Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide, Australia.

It was the first final to feature a club from Australia and the second consecutive season with a Japanese finalist, in 2014 a second Australian club, the Western Sydney Wanderers made the final and won it. The winners, Gamba Osaka, received US$600,000 prize money and qualified to represent Asia in the 2008 FIFA Club World Cup, where they were defeated in the semi-finals by Premier League and UEFA Champions League winners Manchester United. Despite losing this final, Adelaide United also qualified for the FIFA Club World Cup by replacing the conventional host country berth, which was provisionally reserved for the J. League champions, and were defeated once again by host team Gamba Osaka in the quarter-finals.

Format

The rules for the final were exactly the same as for the previous knockout rounds. The tie was contested over two legs with away goals deciding the winner if the two teams were level on goals after the second leg. If the teams could still not be separated at that stage then extra time would have been played with a penalty shootout taking place if the teams were still level after that.

Route to the final

Note: In all results below, the score of the finalist is given first (H: home; A: away).

Gamba Osaka Round Adelaide United
Opponent Result Group stage Opponent Result
Chonburi 1–1 (H) Matchday 1 Pohang Steelers 2–0 (A)
Chunnam Dragons 4–3 (A) Matchday 2 Changchun Yatai 0–0 (H)
Melbourne Victory 4–3 (A) Matchday 3 Bình Dương 2–1 (A)
Melbourne Victory 2–0 (H) Matchday 4 Bình Dương 4–1 (H)
Chonburi 2–0 (A) Matchday 5 Pohang Steelers 1–0 (H)
Chunnam Dragons 1–1 (H) Matchday 6 Changchun Yatai 0–0 (A)
Group G winner
Pos Team Pld Pts
1 Gamba Osaka 6 14
2 Melbourne Victory 6 7
3 Chunnam Dragons 6 6
4 Chonburi 6 5
Final standings Group E winner
Pos Team Pld Pts
1 Adelaide United 6 14
2 Changchun Yatai 6 12
3 Pohang Steelers 6 5
4 Bình Dương 6 1
Opponent Agg. 1st leg 2nd leg Knock-out stage Opponent Agg. 1st leg 2nd leg
Al-Karamah 4–1 2–1 (A) 2–0 (H) Quarter-finals Kashima Antlers 2–1 1–1 (A) 1–0 (H)
Urawa Red Diamonds 4–2 1–1 (H) 3–1 (A) Semi-finals Bunyodkor 2–1 3–0 (H) 0–1 (A)

Pre-final buildup

Adelaide United considered applying for permission to play their home leg in a stadium larger than Hindmarsh such as Adelaide Oval or AAMI Stadium but the club eventually decided that it would not be right to play such a big match away from their traditional home despite its smaller capacity.[3]

Final summary

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Gamba Osaka 5–0 Adelaide United 3–0 2–0

First leg

Gamba Osaka 3 – 0 Adelaide United
Lucas 37'
Endo 43'
Yasuda 68'
Report
Gamba Osaka
Adelaide United
GAMBA OSAKA:
GK 22 Yosuke Fujigaya
DF 2 Sota Nakazawa
DF 5 Satoshi Yamaguchi (c)
DF 21 Akira Kaji
MF 7 Yasuhito Endo
MF 10 Takahiro Futagawa
MF 13 Michihiro Yasuda  75'
MF 16 Hayato Sasaki  69'
MF 17 Tomokazu Myojin  64'
MF 27 Hideo Hashimoto
FW 9 Lucas
Substitutes:
GK 1 Naoki Matsuyo
DF 3 Mineiro
DF 6 Yohei Fukumoto
DF 19 Takumi Shimohira  75'
FW 11 Ryuji Bando
FW 18 Roni  69'
FW 30 Masato Yamazaki  64'
Manager:
Akira Nishino
ADELAIDE UNITED:
GK 30 Eugene Galekovic  90'
DF 4 Angelo Costanzo  41'
DF 6 Cássio  84'
DF 14 Scott Jamieson
DF 18 Robert Cornthwaite
DF 19 Sasa Ognenovski
MF 7 Lucas Pantelis  73'
MF 8 Kristian Sarkies  35' 
MF 13 Travis Dodd (c)
MF 22 Diego Walsh
FW 10 Cristiano
Substitutes:
GK 20 Mark Birighitti
DF 5 Michael Valkanis
MF 21 Jason Spagnuolo  73'
MF 24 Paul Reid
MF 26 Fabian Barbiero
FW 25 Robert Younis  84'
Manager:
Aurelio Vidmar

Second leg

Adelaide United 0 – 2 Gamba Osaka
Report Lucas 4', 15'
Adelaide United
Gamba Osaka
ADELAIDE UNITED:
GK 20 Mark Birighitti
DF 5 Michael Valkanis  41'
DF 6 Cássio
DF 14 Scott Jamieson
DF 18 Robert Cornthwaite
DF 19 Sasa Ognenovski
MF 8 Kristian Sarkies   58'
MF 13 Travis Dodd (c)
MF 22 Diego Walsh  69'
MF 24 Paul Reid
FW 10 Cristiano  37'  69'
Substitutes:
MF 7 Lucas Pantelis  69'
MF 21 Jason Spagnuolo  58'
MF 26 Fabian Barbiero
MF 27 Matthew Mullen
FW 25 Robert Younis  69'
Manager:
Aurelio Vidmar
GAMBA OSAKA:
GK 22 Yosuke Fujigaya
DF 2 Sota Nakazawa
DF 5 Satoshi Yamaguchi (c)
DF 21 Akira Kaji
MF 7 Yasuhito Endo  68'
MF 10 Takahiro Futagawa
MF 13 Michihiro Yasuda  64'
MF 16 Hayato Sasaki  58'
MF 17 Tomokazu Myojin  81'
MF 27 Hideo Hashimoto
FW 9 Lucas
Substitutes:
GK 1 Naoki Matsuyo
DF 3 Mineiro
DF 6 Yohei Fukumoto
DF 19 Takumi Shimohira  83'  64'
FW 11 Ryuji Bando  81'
FW 18 Roni
FW 30 Masato Yamazaki  58'
Manager:
Akira Nishino

See also

References

  1. ^ "Local Weather Forecast, News and Conditions | Weather Underground".
  2. ^ "Local Weather Forecast, News and Conditions | Weather Underground".
  3. ^ "Adelaide toasted by Oz media". the-afc.com. 23 October 2008. Archived from the original on 28 December 2008. Retrieved 4 November 2008.