Sanfrecce Hiroshima's Asian Champions League title aspirations took an early hit as the J. League champions went down 2-1 at home to China's Shandong Luneng in their opening Group F. match on Tuesday.
Hiroshima took the lead midway through the second half at Edion Stadium, thanks to a blistering effort from Kohei Shimizu, but Shandong leveled moments later through Yang Xu. Diego Tardelli then snatched victory for the visitors 12 minutes from time.
It was a bad night all around for Japanese clubs as playoff qualifier FC Tokyo went down 2-1 away to South Korea's Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors in Group E.