Reporter Cheng Shan reported The Yokohama International Arena is all too familiar to Port Coach Muscat. However, back on the field, his role has changed to that of the away team manager. In fact, in more than two years in charge of Yokohama Mariner, Muscat's side are undefeated here, but this time, things are very different.

After arriving in Yokohama, Muscat met many old friends, the venue staff, the local media, and even the home team players, and he greeted everyone with a smile on his face, but the outside world was also well aware of his current pressure. Prior to this game, Harbour had already lost one game at home, and it was not easy to win in Yokohama.

It is worth mentioning that Muscat made a "hopeful" preparation in the preparation for this game, telling his players that in addition to fighting hard for 90 minutes, they should also pay special attention to the possibility of extra-time. But apparently, Muscat's preparation was a bit redundant. Despite being in the J-League, sitting only third from bottom in the standings, Yokohama Mariners have not been relenting against AFC Champions League rivals Harbour. In the first two meetings, they completely had the upper hand, and of course they would not give Harbour a chance to drag it to extra time on their home turf.

The suspended midfielder Yousa and central defender Wei Zhen returned from the ban, while coach Muscat continued to line up with three central defenders, four foreign players started the game, and Yokohama Mariners responded with five foreign aids.

Just two minutes into the game, Harbour was tackled by an opponent as they advanced from the back, and the opponent's easy through the middle broke through the Harbour defence, and Daiya Tono's push rewrote the aggregate score to 2-0. Harbour then had a chance to equalise, but first Vital couldn't adjust his pace and wasted a through ball from Yusa, then it was Gustavo who blocked Leonardo's shot in front of goal.

Seeing that the harbor attack has improved slightly, Yokohama, which is fighting at home, has made up for the first blow, Yusa was fouled by the opponent from under the opponent when he was fighting with Jean Claude, and the referee had the intention of blowing the whistle, but seeing Gustavo rushing forward, he adhered to the favorable principle to signal the game to continue, but he never thought that Gustavo was then cut off the ball, and the harbor middle was almost undefended, and the opponent easily drove straight into the middle circle, and the Chinese Super League veteran Anderson Lopes extended the lead again. Although the Harbour generals were unhappy that the referee did not blow the ball back, the result of the conceded goal did not change.

The harbor, which was behind by three goals by a big score, finally had some meaning of breaking the boat. In the 35th minute, the harbor team won a corner kick, Leon grabbed the front point, the ball rubbed back, and Leonardo outflanked the goal at the back point to pull a goal back. However, the game's useless three-centre-back defense once again gave the opponent a chance to score: first, Daiya Tono's clever shot from the Harbour defender's closing defense was ruled offside, and Harbour escaped; Then Li Shuai flew to clear the ball and leaked the ball, and Lopes assisted Jan Mateus to completely kill the suspense - 4 goals behind, coupled with the fighting power and fighting spirit of the Harbour players on the field, it meant that the game had ended 45 minutes early.

Yibian fought again, and it was Lopes who seized the opportunity in front of the goal in the 56th minute to complete the brace, scoring three goals in a single game. It wasn't until they were down 4-1 that Muscat began to make substitutions, but the appearances of Feng Jin, Yang Shiyuan and teenager Li Xinxiang were of limited use to turn the tide, although Gustavo once scored with a header, but it was ruled offside, and in the end, Harbour lost 1-4 away.

In this season's AFC Champions League Elite League, the Harbour team has suffered three defeats against Yokohama Mariners, with a record of 0-2, 0-1 and 1-4, and after this two-legged knockout round, Harbour also stopped in the round of 16 of this AFC Champions League.

Muscat, who was eliminated from the tournament, went to the bottom of the stands of the Yokohama fan camp to wave his hand and thank them, "It's a different feeling to have won the championship here. No matter where I am, I will bless the Yokohama team. The fans in the stands also gave the former manager the warmest applause in return.

Commenting on today's game, Muscat said: "From the start of the game we wanted to show our courage and aggression from the first minute and wanted the team to press high, but conceding in the first minute made the game tougher. But I still give credit to our team, we scored, we had a goal blown and we created a lot of chances, but because we conceded so early today, it was difficult for us. ”

Although the start of the Chinese Super League is still soaring, the problems reflected in the Asian arena, Harbour also have to face up, "Three times against the same opponent, we lost three times. It is clear that when such a situation happens, it definitely indicates that there is a gap between the two teams. After the game, Harbour coach Muscat is still used to encouraging his players, "I think in these three games, as each game goes on, the team has grown and improved. My focus is on the run-in and transformation of the team so that the team can continue to grow. I believe that with the passage of time, who knows, maybe there will be a better run-in situation later. ”