A three-goal defeat away against Nagoya Grampus left Sagan Tosu empty handed in Sunday’s J1-League Fixture. The locals arrived to the game after four back-to-back wins and they wrote had a new chapter versus Massimo Ficcadenti’s squad ending a good run of three games unbeaten. Fernando Torres was on the starting line-up and played the full 90 minutes of the game being a permanent threat up front. Now the attentions turn to next emperor’s Cup midweek fixture against Andres Iniesta side Vissel Kobe.

At the early start Sagan Tosu fought hard to take the lead of the game and could do so after 15 minutes when Kanazaki received the ball on the area but his right-footed shot was cleared by Langerak.

The locals did not wait long to look for response as Gabriel Xavier crossed a shot near the far post, but it was a former Sagan Tosu player -Takashi Kanai- who finally broke the deadlock whit a strong shot from inside the box (21’) after a skilled heel pass by Naoki Maeda.

Fernando Torres was determined to convert the equaliser but his effort to the top corner went wide. Soon after he tried again with a right-footed drive from the edge of the box but it was slightly wide too.

After the break Sagan Tosu was back to the pitch with the aim of getting an early goal and Torres was almost there when Ono crossed a pass from the right. The visitors were back on the driving site with a nice passing game near the box. A header by Fernando Torres from a corner kick went wide and soon after a good play performed by the Spaniard and Kanazaki threated the local’s one-goal advantage.

But despite the strong display of the white team Nagoya Grampus took up to 2-0 their lead on the score after a strike in the far post by substitute Izumi to a clinical cross by Eduardo Neto. Gonda deflected after a shot by Gabriel Xavier, but he couldn’t do the same minutes after when Naoki Maeda converted a rebound in the third goal for the local side.


- Match stats:

Nagoya Grampus: Kangerak; Nakatani, Maruyama, Kanai, Miyahara, Kobayashi, Neto (Soma 75’), Kodama, Maeda, Gabriel Xabier, Tamada (Enomoto 90’).

Sagan Tosu: Gonda; Kim, Takahashi, Kobayashi (Anzai 68’), Fujita, Takahashi, Fukuta (Shimaya 66’), Harawaka, Ono (Tagawa 84’), Kanazaki, Fernando Torres.

Bookings: Yuji Takahashi (70’)

Goals:

4-0 (21’) Takashi Kanai.
5-0 (75’) Izumi.
6-0 (64’) Maeda.