Hamburger SV, where Gotoku Sakai and Tatsuya Ito play for, failed to return to the top flight after missing out on promotion from the second division. In the final match of the season, Sakai became the target of abuse from the home supporters, to which newspaper Hamburger Abendblatt came to his defence.

After watching the team throughout the year, the local newspaper released a report card for the season on 19 May, where all the players were not given positive reviews. But it showed a high regard for Sakai.

About the defender being made the sacrificial lamb, it wrote, “He was badly abused in what could possibly be his final match for HSV. Even if all the criticisms leveled against him (his performance this season) were taken into account, that behaviour towards the Japanese player was not right.”

On the other hand, the newspaper expressed strong disappointment in Ito. The forward had a bright debut last season, but did not match the resultant huge expectations. It wrote, “He was very disappointing. Everyone believed that this diminutive Japanese would flourish this season.”

Sakai is most likely to leave Hamburger SV this summer.

For Japanese football news, follow CoolJapan Soccer.

Source: Yahoo

Image: gettyimages