Melbourne Victory suffered a heartbreaking loss in its AFC Champions League 2008 match against Japan’s Gamba Osaka as substitute Brazilian forward Lucas netted a late goal to secure a 4-3 win for the visitors at Telstra Dome on Wednesday evening.

Lucas headed a Michihiro Yasuda cross on 89 minutes to edge Gamba in front in a thrilling Match Day 3 contest, which saw Victory striker Danny Allsopp net a brace and defender Rodrigo Vargas score his second goal of the tournament.

Despite being without international duo Archie Thompson and Carlos Hernandez, Victory dictated proceedings early and led after four minutes as Nick Ward and Adrian Caceres combined with Allsopp for the home side’s first goal.

Gamba worked its way into the contest soon after and claimed the lead courtesy of Takahiro Futagawa, who nailed a stunning long distance shot on 32 minutes, and Brazilian striker Bare, who converted the first of five headed goals from a Yasuhito Endo corner kick.

Victory equalised prior to half time as Vargas successfully headed a Caceres free kick, and led for a second time on 66 minutes as Allsopp sent a looping header over Gamba goalkeeper Yosuke Fujigaya.

However, a Satoshi Yamaguchi header quickly balanced the ledger before Lucas sealed the result for Gamba, leaving Victory four points behind the Japanese side on the Group G ladder with three matches remaining.

With only the top team from Group G to progress to the Knockout Stage of Asia’s premier club competition, Victory Coach Ernie Merrick stressed importance on the club’s next match against Gamba in Japan.

“I think it makes things very difficult,” Merrick said.

“I think what we have to do is win over in Osaka in two weeks time and rely on them dropping points.

“It's not in our hands anymore, but it's very important we win the next one.”

Merrick praised Victory’s players for their effort but acknowledged that a lack of match fitness and the class of Gamba, which currently sits third on the J.League ladder, were factors in the dying stages of the match.

"I thought the boys played their hearts out.

“The difference is that they were really fit, battle hardened and had tremendous quality off the bench.

"With seven internationals and two very good Brazilians, they make you pay for any little errors you make.

“We matched them all over the ground and the last ten minutes we died, but I thought we played very well.

“Credit to them, they are a very good side, very well drilled, very fit and very organised," Merrick added.

Victory will now focus on its crucial away fixture against Gamba at Expo ’70 Stadium on Wednesday, 23 April, before journeying to Korea Republic to face the Chunnam Dragons at Gwangyang Football Stadium on Wednesday, 7 May.

Victory will then return to Melbourne for its final AFC Champions League 2008 Group Stage match against Thailand’s Chonburi FC at Telstra Dome on Wednesday, 21 May.

Tickets for the match against Chonburi are available from any Ticketmaster outlet, by calling 136 100 or through ticketmaster.com.au.

Melbourne Victory 3 (Danny Allsopp 4’/66’, Rodrigo Vargas 42’)
Gamba Osaka 4 (Takahiro Futagawa 32’, Bare 39’, Satoshi Yamaguchi 69’, Lucas 90’)
Wednesday, 9 April 2008
Telstra Dome, Melbourne
Referee: Subkhiddin Moho Salleh
Crowd: 23,857

Melbourne Victory: 1.Michael THEOKLITOS (gk), 2.Kevin MUSCAT (Captain), 4.Steven PACE (6.Steve PANTELIDIS 39’), 7.Matthew KEMP, 9.Danny ALLSOPP, 12.Rodrigo VARGAS, 14.Adrian CACERES (13.Kaz PATAFTA 79’), 18.Leigh BROXHAM, 21.Sebastian RYALL, 22.Nick WARD, 24.Billy CELESKI (17.Daniel VASILEVSKI 82’)

Substitutes not used: 11.Nathan ELASI, 15.Leandro LOVE, 19.Evan BERGER, 20.Mitchell LANGERAK (gk)

Gamba Osaka: 22.Yosuke FUJIGAYA (gk), 2.Sota NAKAZAWA, 4.MIZUMOTO Hiroki (9.Lucas SEVERINO 46’), 5.YAMAGUCHI Satoshi (Captain), 7.Yasuhito ENDO, 10.Takahiro FUTAGAWA (6.FUKUMOTO Yohei 90’), 13.Michihiro YASUDA, 17.Tomokazu MYOJIN, 18.Jader Volnei SPINDLER, 27.Hideo HASHIMOTO, 30.Masato YAMAZAKI (8.Shinichi TERADA 62’)

Substitutes not used: 1.MATSUYO Naoki (gk), 3.Huenes Marcelo LEMOS, 16.Hayato SASAKI, 23.Takuya TAKEI