The weekend highlight for Japanese players in Europe was clearly Dortmund's goal-filled affair with Stuttgart, which featured two of the country's most-anticipated young players
In Germany‚ Bundesliga matchday started in Dortmund with the reigning champions hosting Stuttgart for the Friday night game. In what turned out to become one of the most memorable matches of the season‚ Shinji Kagawa had his first say in the second minute when he shot wide from outside the box.
After being denied an effort in the fifth minute‚ it was the 23-year-old's third attempt which finally found the net after the half hour when he smashed home a nice ball headed to him by skipper Sebastian Kehl. The goal not only marked the attacker's fourth strike in three matches but also his 12th league goal this season - a feat accomplished for the first time by a Japanese player in Europe.
Dortmund went on to double their lead after the break but the visitors staged an amazing comeback hitting three goals before Kagawa was subbed off in the 81st minute. The Swabians, for whom Gotoku Sakai started, fell behind again before grabbing the equaliser deep into injury time‚ ending the game a spectacular 4-4 draw.
The Japanese-German youngster, who played another full match as Stuttgart's right full-back, once again proved his worth as he emerged the player with the most ball touches of either team‚ showed some spirited moves forward‚ and last but not least‚ contributed with his long feed‚ eventually leading to his side's third in the 79th minute.
In Italy‚ Takayuki Morimoto scored his fourth goal of the season in Novara's 5-2 loss to Roma. After coming off the bench at the hour mark‚ he found himself unmarked on the left side of the goal just two minutes later. After taking Andrea Caracciolo's through pass‚ Morimoto calmly handled the one-on-one with the goalkeeper and settled the goal with his right foot. It was the 23-year-old's first goal since January 15.
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