Former Germany striker Lukas Podolski marked his J. League debut in style with a superb brace to help Vissel Kobe beat struggling Omiya Ardija 3-1 on Saturday.
The World Cup-winning ex-Bayern Munich, Arsenal and Galatasaray star started to repay the estimated $5.3 million Kobe has invested in him on a two-and-a-half year deal, when he opened the scoring four minutes into the second half at Noevir Stadium.
Kazuma Watanabe had his shot charged down but the loose ball came back to Yoshiki Matsushita, who teed up Podolski to rifle into the bottom right-hand corner from 20 meters out.