Brazilian striker Leandro scored a hat-trick as defending champions Gamba Osaka continued its impressive start to the 2009 Asian Champions League campaign with a 4-2 win over South Korea’s FC Seoul.
The win at Seoul World Cup Stadium was Gamba’s second in two games and put it in control of Group F after Akira Nishino’s side kicked off their campaign last week with a win over China’s Shandong Luneng.
Leandro claimed all three of his goals in the second half as Gamba won its fourth game in a row in all competitions, following on from a pair of victories in the new J-League season.
In the other match in the group, two goals each from Li Jinyu and substitute Mrdakovic Miljan helped Shandong Luneng collect its first points in this season’s campaign with a 5-0 drubbing of Indonesian side Sriwijaya in Jinan.
Qatari side Al Gharafa bounced back from a disappointing loss in their Group B home opener with an important 2-0 away victory over United Arab Emirates league side Sharjah.
Iraq international Nashat Akram setting up goals for Nasser Kamil and Clemerson either side of half-time.
The other match in the group featured the two winners from matchday one, but there was to be no winner this time with Piroozi Athletic gaining an important away point with a 0-0 draw at Al Shabab.
Pakhtakor preserved its position at the top of Group A as Zaynitdin Tadjiyev’s strike salvaged a 1-1 draw against Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia in Tashkent.
Mirel Radoi put the visitors ahead at Pakhtakor Stadium with a penalty in the 55th minute but Tadjiyev levelled two minutes later to give the Uzbek side four points from two games.
The match between Iran’s Saba Battery and UAE’s Al Ahli also ended in a draw with neither side able to break the deadlock.
There was another 0-0 stalemate in Group E between Nagoya Grampus and Beijing Guoan, meaning that Newcastle’s impressive win has them in third place, just one point behind first.
