ACL 2019 SF Second Leg Toyota Player of the Week: Shusaku Nishikawa

Kuala Lumpur: Shusaku Nishikawa has been named as the Toyota Player of the Week after the goalkeeper's stand-out performance in Urawa Red Diamonds' 1-0 victory away at Guangzhou Evergrande on Wednesday helped his side into the 2019 AFC Champions League Final.

The custodian had blanked Guangzhou's dangerous attacking line-up in the first leg in Saitama at the beginning of October and he recorded a second clean sheet at the intimidating Tianhe Stadium.

Unlike in Japan, where he was rarely troubled, Nishikawa was called into action on multiple occasions in southern China and pulled off eight saves, the highest in the knockout stage and joint-third highest overall at the 2019 AFC Champions League, to earn an 8.7 rating.

On the same pitch but wearing the red shirt of Guangzhou, Zhang Linpeng (below), came in second in this week’s rankings after the full-back put in an impressive shift despite his side ultimately failing to progress to a third final.