Match Report
28 points separated the sides: Cerezo Osaka 10th on 52, Albirex Niigata 20th on 24. Cerezo Osaka had been over-performing their table position on recent form: 5th in the league over the last five rounds against 10th overall. Scoring rates set the scale: Cerezo Osaka 1.58 scored and 1.5 conceded per game, Albirex Niigata 0.95 and 1.76, with the league averaging 1.2.
Albirex Niigata entered with six losses in a row. Cerezo Osaka had banked 7 of the last 15 points on offer; Albirex Niigata, 0.
The sides have met 8 times in the GioScore results database: 2 wins for Cerezo Osaka, 3 draws and 3 for Albirex Niigata, at 2.38 goals per meeting. Hosting has counted for little in this fixture — the home side has won only 38% of those meetings.
KINCHO Stadium, capacity 25,000, hosted the game. The referee was A. Ikeuchi, with 68 matches in our database and 1.0 yellows per game on average. It was 1-1 at the break, and the second half added 2 goals for the 3-1 full-time score.
Goal scorers
Cerezo Osaka: M. Nakajima (13'), Lucas Fernandes (54'), Soya Fujiwara (81' og) · Albirex Niigata: Yuto Horigome (2')
Key stats
Possession: Cerezo Osaka 52% · Albirex Niigata 48% · Total shots: 26-10 · On target: 5-2 · Corners: 12-4