Gamba Osaka made sure of their place in the quarter-finals of the AFC Champions League Two 2025/26 on Thursday evening, defeating Pohang Steelers 2-1 in the second leg of their Round of 16 clash at Suita City Football Stadium.
First-half goals from Deniz Hummet and Ryoya Yamashita were enough to seal G-Osaka’s progression, wrapping up a 3-2 aggregate win for the MEIJI YASUDA J1 100 YEAR VISION LEAGUE side after they had drawn last week’s first leg 1-1 away from home.
Hummet sent an early warning shot against the post for G-Osaka in the sixth minute, and six minutes later Ki Sung-Yueng stung the fingertips of G-Osaka goalkeeper Masaaki Higashiguchi with a fizzing low drive.
The deadlock was then broken in the 34th minute, as Hummet tapped in from close range after Shuto Abe had carved the ball across goal.
Things got even better for G-Osaka seven minutes later, when Yamashita stole in to make the most of a mix-up in the Pohang backline and tucked the ball into an unguarded net.
Hummet saw an attempt to further extend G-Osaka’s lead saved by Pohang goalkeeper Hwang In-Jae in the 59th minute, and just a couple of minutes later the visitors pulled one back when Kento Nishiya followed in to convert after Jorge Teixeira had done well to nudge the ball back across goal.
There was a late scare for G-Osaka when Lee Ho-Jae scored what he thought was an equaliser for Pohang in the 88th minute, but the finish was ruled out for offside after a VAR review.
That left G-Osaka free to celebrate their progression to the next round, where they will square off against Ratchaburi FC on Wednesday 4th March.
