KUALA LUMPUR: Japan's Urawa Red Diamonds thrashed Johor Darul Ta'zim (JDT) 5-0 in today's Asian Champions League (ACL) last-16 match at Saitama Stadium.
In front of 12,000-odd fans, two-time champions Urawa proved too strong with David Karlsson and Kasper Junker scoring a brace each and Alexander Scholz netting the other goal.
Urawa, who lost 3-0 to Paris Saint Germain last month, earned a penalty in the eighth minute with Scholz making no mistakes from the spot to beat JDT goalkeeper Farizal Marlias.
Matthew Davies was yellow-carded for a foul, and Karlsson scored from the resulting free-kick in the 19th minute to extend Urawa's lead.
Karlsson then added a third in the 39th minute.
Urawa, who won the ACL in 2007 and 2017, secured their fourth goal in the 84th minute thanks to Danish Junker.
And JDT were punished again in the first minute of stoppage time when Junker scored his second of night.
"We know they are a very strong team. It was not easy to reach this stage of the tournament. We worked hard to get past the group stage," said Farizal after the match.
"We came here with high motivation, but unfortunately, luck was not on our side.
"I hope we can improve further in the future and compete against teams like Urawa."
Earlier, Thailand's BG Pathum United secured their spot in the quarter-finals after a 4-0 win over Hong Kong's Kitchee at the Urawa Komaba Stadium in Saitama.