Gamba Osaka captain Yasuhito Endo lauded the never-say-die attitude his team have shown in the AFC Champions League, ahead of their semi-final showdown against Guangzhou Evergrande.

The Japanese Treble winners opened their group stage campaign in shaky form but grew from strength to strength as the tournament wore on, before only losing by a narrow 2-1 scoreline to Evergrande in the first leg clash.

But Endo remains confident of overturning the deficit in front of their own fans on Wednesday, and expressed his desire to achieve another career milestone by appearing in his second ACL final.

“We lost the first leg so we have to give everything we have in order to get a better result this time,” the veteran midfielder told reporters ahead of the match. 

“If we can score first then we’ll play to score a second goal, and if they score then we’ll need at least two [to force a draw].

“As my coach just alluded to, we stumbled in the group stage and barely escaped, then against Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors we reached the semi-finals in the very last play of the match. 

“But we’re confident in our playing style. We may have lost the first leg but we got an important away goal and we’re confident heading into tomorrow’s match.”

Endo celebrated his 500th MEIJI YASUDA J1 League appearance at the weekend against Urawa Reds, and is expected to play another crucial role in firing Gamba to the ACL final.