Vissel Kobe coach Michael Skibbe has questioned whether clubs from Japan can compete with their counterparts from cash-rich Gulf state leagues after his side were eliminated from the Asian Champions League Elite by holders Al-Ahli.
Skibbe's team were overrun in the second half of their semifinal on Monday by the Saudi side's expensively assembled squad, with goals from Brazilian winger Galeno and England striker Ivan Toney cancelling out Yoshinori Muto's 31st minute opener.
"This big gap between the quality of the football in eastern Asia and western Asia is because the clubs in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and so on are much more powerful, they have much more money in the leagues," said Skibbe.
"They buy very special players out of Europe and South America so they have high quality in the team. This is not the same in the eastern part of Asia, we are losing our best Japanese players to go to Europe.
"It's not possible to be as powerful as the teams in Saudi Arabia. The more powerful team this evening has won."
Japanese teams have won the title on eight occasions, with the most recent success coming when Urawa Red Diamonds defeated Saudi Arabia's Al-Hilal in the 2022 final.
The balance of power started to shift in 2023 when Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund bought the country's four leading clubs.
Significant spending in top class foreign talent followed with UEFA Champions League winners such as Karim Benzema, Riyad Mahrez and Ngolo Kante moving to Saudi Pro League clubs.
Mahrez led Al-Ahli to last season's Asian Champions League Elite title with victory over Japan's Kawasaki Frontale in the final and the former Manchester City winger was again prominent in the win over Kobe.
Despite the investment, Al-Ahli were the only Saudi Arabian team to reach the semifinals of this season's competition, with Al-Hilal eliminated in the last 16 while Japan's Machida Zelvia knocked out an out-of-sorts Al-Ittihad.
Machida will take on Shabab Al-Ahli from the United Arab Emirates in the second semifinal on Tuesday with the winners facing Al-Ahli in Saturday's decider at the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium.
Al-Ahli are aiming to become the first club to win consecutive titles since 2005, when Al-Ittihad claimed the second of their two trophies.
But coach Matthias Jaissle denied the desire to emulate their cross-city rivals was prominent in his thinking.
"It's not in our head," said the German. "We're only focusing on us. We want to make it happen again, back-to-back titles are a huge goal now and being there is already a marvellous achievement."