Reporter Cheng Shan reported In the final round of the AFC Champions League Elite League East Asia group stage, Harbour lost 0-2 at home to Yokohama Mariner. The new season suffered three consecutive defeats on both fronts, however, according to the existing AFC Champions League competition rules, they still joined hands with Shenhua to advance to the quarterfinals of the East Asian region. It is worth noting that in the 1/8 finals, the first round opponent of the harbor knockout round will still be Yokohama Marinos, and the advancing team of the two teams will go to Saudi Arabia with the top three East Asian teams to compete for the final stage.

After losing 4-0 to Vissel Kobe in the AFC Champions League, the port returned to Shanghai to prepare for the final game of the AFC Champions League and the first round of the Chinese Super League. Head coach Muscat wants his players to stay 100 per cent, play at their level and "do their best".

Muscat is all too familiar with the Yokohama Mariners, because it used to be his team. During his tenure at the helm of Yokohama Mariner, Muscat achieved great success, taking over halfway to the J1 runner-up, J1 winning the championship in the 2022 season, and winning the Super Cup and the league runner-up in the 2023 season amid the team's heavy attrition. At present, many players in the Yokohama Mariners team have played under him, and when he adapts to the field before the game, Muscat specially greets his former disciples.

Before the game, Yokohama Mariners midfielder Riku Yamane said that Muscat was the first coach to coach him in the professional arena and that he was very grateful to him. However, although Yokohama Mariners have already qualified early, Yamane said that he is happy to play against the harbor and hopes to show his growth in front of Muscat at the same time, "As long as I step on the green field, no matter who the opponent is, I will only give my best to help the team win." ”

In this game, the starting lineup of the Yokohama Mariners, who aim to lock the top spot in the standings, still sent 5 foreign aids, and on the harbor side, due to Gabriel's knee ligament injury, he was out of action for at least a month, so only 4 foreign aides played, but Jiang Guangtai's comeback still made the harbor fans feel at ease.

In the 11th minute, the harbor counterattacked, Vital's long-distance run shot was blocked, Feng Jin's supplementary shot was blocked again, and Leonardo, who came back from the ban, scored a supplementary goal, but the linesman signaled that the offside position was invalid. However, after that, the opponent was clearly in better form, and although the score was 0-0 in the first half, Harbour was much inferior in overall control.

And captain Li Ang's half-time injury retirement also sounded the alarm bell for the harbor defense. In the 64th minute, Yokohama Mariners played a smooth cooperation, Asahi Uechu and Jun Amano completed a wonderful shot after cooperating, and Yan Junling, who saved many times in the first half, was powerless; Just five minutes later, it was Jun Amano who scored in front of the goal, and Harbour fell behind by two goals at home, and the score was finally maintained until the end.

However, despite the loss, according to the existing AFC Champions League competition rules, Harbour still advanced to the quarterfinals of the East Asian zone. According to the AFC's current updated rankings, Shenhua and Harbour will face Kawasaki Frontale and Yokohama Mariner respectively after advancing to the quarterfinals of the East Asian zone. Among them, the eighth port in the East Asia zone will face Yokohama Marino, the first in the East Asia zone, and Shanghai Shenhua, the seventh in the East Asia zone, will face Kawasaki Frontale in the second place in the East Asian zone.

In the three group stage games this season, Harbour have not performed well, except for a two-goal defeat at home, after losing 1-3 away to Kawasaki Frontale and 0-4 away to Vissel Kobe. Therefore, the AFC Champions League 1/8 finals that will start in March will be another test for Harbour and Muscat at that time, when Gabriel may still not be able to return, and Harbour is facing similar problems as this one.

Speaking after the game, Muscat said: "Today's result was not what we wanted, and in the game I saw that the players were working hard and everyone was sticking together and trying to get a good result as planned. We still have areas to improve and improve, and I believe that we will get better and better as time goes by. ”

Three games at the beginning of the year, a Super Cup, two AFC Champions Leagues, Harbour suffered three consecutive defeats, and the number of goals conceded reached 9.

"In the first three games, the opponent was very strong, and although they lost, the team showed strong mental strength." Muscat says he still believes in his players. Next, Harbour will have a day off and start preparing for the first round of the Chinese Super League on Friday, and Muscat will be hoping that Harbour can perform better in Sunday's game.