Throughout last year's battles, the keyword for the team was "passion."
The battles that fueled them were expressed as a desire to win, creating excitement in the stadium.
This season, WE ARE GAMBA OSAKA will focus on the spirit that each player has behind their "passion." What kind of power will their soul, enthusiasm, courage, and determination give to the team this season?

In his professional career that began in 2002, he was reminded of the "joy of playing soccer," which is also connected to his own spirit, in 2003. In May, while he was steadily building his career with Sanfrecce Hiroshima, Makoto MITSUTA suffered a serious injury during a match, partially damaging the cruciate ligament in his right knee. The fact that he was forced to withdraw from the game as a result made him think about many things.
"It had been since my high school days that I had suffered an injury that would force me to take a long break... And to be honest, I was planning to move overseas that summer when this serious injury happened, so I felt like my career was about to change drastically. However, being unable to kick a ball for about two months allowed me to once again appreciate the joy of playing soccer."
He also said that the experience led to a change in his approach and way of thinking about soccer.
"Because of my injury, I've come to appreciate not only the importance of each and every day, but also the meaning of each and every play in a match or practice. I've also learned to relax my muscles in a good way and to be more creative in how I use my body in risky plays."
Perhaps that is why, after returning from injury, especially last season, he reflected that even though he had less time on the pitch compared to before his injury, he never lost his motivation.
"If I couldn't play in the game, I had to resign myself to practicing so that I could play. Especially from the middle of last year, I started to focus on improving myself through practice, and I continued to prepare, thinking that I would just show that in the game."
However, it is also true that he was growing increasingly concerned that his life as an athlete was not that long, which led to his decision to move to Gamba on a temporary basis.
"In my case, even though I became a professional after graduating from university, I started my professional career four years later than players who graduated from high school. That's why I thought that I wouldn't be able to survive in my first year as a professional unless I showed my own characteristics and strengths and didn't hold back just because I was a rookie. When this season started, I thought that the number of reserve members had increased, which might create an opportunity for more offensive players to play, but even though we played five or six official matches since the start of the season, I hardly played at all... I thought it would be difficult to continue the season in this situation, and that's when I was approached by Gamba."
With that decision, Mitsuda decided to wear the blue and black uniform, and now he has quickly fit into the team and accelerated the offense. While he realizes that all of his past experiences are being used, he often reexamines his original "strengths".
"I think it's positive that I was able to change my play depending on the job I was asked to do by playing in various positions such as defensive midfielder and wingback during my time at Hiroshima. However, it's also true that my natural strengths, such as my obsession with scoring, my ability to always choose to play facing forward, and my decisiveness, have led to me choosing to play sideways and passing more often. I don't think that making quick decisions and looking around is always a bad thing, but I would like to be more decisive, take more shots, and use my foot more often. It all depends on how the game unfolds and the position and role I'm assigned to on the team, so I'll try to play by considering my priorities at each moment."
He can accurately assess the situation, quickly identify his role and express it in his play, as he has shown at Gamba, in order to pose a greater threat to opponents.


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Text by Takamura Misa

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