There was almost an hour on the clock when Silva’s fine individual effort broke the deadlock before Serginho added a second 12 minutes later to put Kashima in a strong position ahead of the second leg on November 10.
“In the early stages our opponents were applying a lot of pressure to stop us from building up,” Silva told the-AFC.com.
“If we had conceded then, the game could have finished with a different result, but we dealt with it well and made it to half time at 0-0.
“Then in the second half, we just played calmly which enabled us to play in more of an attacking style, which in turn led to us creating chances and winning 2-0," the Brazilian said.
“It’s a good result but we all have to be aware that nothing is finished yet and there are still 90 minutes left to play. We all worked together and did everything we needed, but now we have to make sure we keep our concentration and make sure that in the end we take the title,” Silva stated.