Cerezo Osaka climbed to ninth place in the 2025 MEIJI YASUDA J1 LEAGUE table on Monday, as they came from behind to defeat bottom club Albirex Niigata 3-1 at YODOKO SAKURA STADIUM.
Niigata opened the scoring in just the second minute, when Yuto Horigome seized on a loose ball on the edge of the D and steered a delightful effort into the bottom corner of the net with the outside of his left foot.
Hosts C-Osaka were level within 11 minutes though, as Motohiko Nakajima controlled and spun slickly in the area before getting a shot off that squeezed through Niigata goalkeeper Kazuki Fujita’s grasp and into the back of the net.
Fujita soon made up for that slip with a terrific save from Masaya Shibayama in the 20th minute, and after Shion Homma sent an effort just off target 12 minutes later the Niigata stopper again came to his side’s rescue when he denied Nakajima in the first minute of first-half stoppage time.
The second half started in much the same fashion as C-Osaka applied attacking pressure, and Fujita had to be at full stretch to tip another Shibayama shot behind six minutes after the restart.
He was powerless to stop Lucas Fernandes putting C-Osaka ahead three minutes later though, as the Brazilian closed in and slotted home after Homma had squared an inviting ball across goal.
The only other other goal of the game came after an unfortunate error in the Niigata defence in the 81st minute, when Soya Fujiwara got his feet in a tangle after a cute pass into the area from Lucas Fernandes and ended up sending the ball past Fujita and into the net to make it 3-1 and ensure C-Osaka would be taking all three points from the contest.
Cerezo Osaka vs. Albirex Niigata - Game Highlights | 2025 J1 LEAGUE HIGHLIGHTS | MW 25
