Gamba Osaka suffered a blow in reaching the AFC Champions League round of 16 on Wednesday with a 2-0 loss at home to Shandong Luneng.
Wu Lei and Lu Wenjun scored in the second half against the 2015 semi-finalists, who sit at the bottom of Group G with two points and are riding a four-game losing streak across all competitions.
FC Tokyo on the other hand took a giant step towards advancing past the group stages with a 2-1 win at Jiangsu Suning.
Following his two-goal performance against Nagoya Grampus on Saturday, captain Masato Morishige stepped up again with another brace to seal three points against the well-funded Chinese side.
With two matches remaining, Tokyo now sit atop Group E with seven points, one ahead of South Korea’s Jeonbuk Motors who will visit Tokyo Stadium on April 20.
