Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Kuala Lumpur: Serginho has been named the Toyota Player of the Week after the Brazilian scored for Kashima Antlers in the first leg of the 2018 AFC Champions League Final, with the Japanese club now taking a 2-0 lead into the return meeting with IR Iran's Persepolis on Saturday.
The summer signing's 70th minute strike was the 23-year-old's fifth consecutive goal in the AFC Champions League since joining from Santos and it could arguably have been among his most important as the J.League side head to Tehran two goals to the good.
Having netted against in both legs of the quarter-finals against Tianjin Quanjian of China and then again against Korea Republic's Suwon Samsung Bluewings, Serginho showed that West Asian defences were also fair game, with a deft finish past Alireza Beiranvand with twenty minutes remaining at Kashima Soccer Stadium.
Serginho also record two shots on goal and completed 34 passes to register an 8.7 rating to top the rankings for the Toyota Player of the Week.
Second in this week’s ranking is Seriginho's teammate Daigo Nishi (below), who put in an all-action performance for Kashima and as the club took a step towards lifting their maiden AFC Champions League title.
www.the-afc.com/en/more/photo/daigo_nishi_2.html
www.the-afc.com/en/more/photo/d55_0597_1.html
