Vissel Kobe claimed the fourth win of their AFC Champions League Elite 2025/26 campaign on Wednesday, defeating Shanghai Shenhua FC 2-0 away from home thanks to two goals in eight first-half minutes from Yosuke Ideguchi and Tetsushi Yamakawa.
The hosts started the brighter of the two sides at Shanghai Stadium, and threatened twice in the early exchanges.
First, Kobe goalkeeper Shuichi Gonda got down quickly at the feet of Andre Luis to make a smart stop in the eighth minute, and then Yuya Osako made a vital block with his head three minutes later when it seemed an Andre Luis header was destined to cross the line.
Kobe then took the lead themselves in the 31st minute, as Osako found Daiju Sasaki in the penalty area and he nudged the ball into Ideguchi’s path, with Ideguchi adjusting his body well before prodding home with his left foot.
Captain Yamakawa doubled Kobe’s lead eight minutes later, terrifically glancing a header across goal and into the far side of the net after Nanasei Iino’s teasing in-swinging cross from the left flank.
Andre Luis thought he had halved the deficit for Shanghai in the sixth minute of the second half when he touched in from close range, but the Brazilian striker had strayed just offside as the ball was played into him.
Shanghai then had another goal chalked off in the 66th minute, after Saulo Mineiro bore down on goal from the halfway line and rounded Gonda before tucking home. After a VAR on-field review Saulo Mineiro was adjudged to have fouled Kobe defender Yuki Honda in the build-up though, and his effort was also disallowed.
Gonda then performed more heroics when he denied Andre Luis from the penalty spot in the 82nd minute, getting down well to his right to make the save after Andre Luis had himself been brought down inside the area by Iino.
There was still time for Shanghai to have a third goal ruled out in the second minute of stoppage time - Andre Luis again having been offside before looping a sublime effort over Gonda and into the net - leaving Kobe to celebrate another three points to leave the 2025 MEIJI YASUDA J1 LEAGUE side sitting pretty at the top of the ACL Elite East table.
