Kawasaki Frontale manager Takashi Sekizuka was joyous after his team pulled off an inspirational victory over reigning Asian champions Gamba Osaka.

Sekizuka led his players to a wonderful win over a powerful side and was reaping the rewards after the match.

"We beat the defending champions Gamba, which make us really happy," said Sekizuka.

"Our players fought really hard to the very end of the game. We were dominated by Gamba in the first half as we couldn't mark them well enough." "We were able to fix our problems in the second half and Kurotsu and Renatinho did their jobs well.

"Kengo Nakamura showed his determination and commitment to the game. Not only scoring a goal, he also worked hard offensively and defensively, which helped us to get going.

"Winning such an important game today will bring us good confidence, and we'd like to move on and keep fighting hard as a representative of the J.League clubs and Japan," Sekizuka added.