Kawasaki Frontale coach Shigetoshi Hasebe hailed his young players after they "stepped up" to reach the Asian Champions League Elite final by stunning Cristiano Ronaldo's Al-Nassr.
Frontale will play another Saudi side, Al Ahli, in Saturday's final after prevailing 3-2 in a fierce test against Al Nassr that came three days after being taken to extra time in their quarterfinal.
Despite having only 25% of possession on Wednesday night, Frontale went up 3-1 in the 76th minute and were holding on comfortably until Ayman Yahya pulled one back three minutes from time.
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