An inspired solo goal from Japanese football star Ritsu Doan secured Eintracht Frankfurt a 1-0 win at home to Mainz in the German Bundesliga on Sunday.

Doan broke the deadlock with nine minutes left in the Rhine-Main derby at Deutsche Bank Park, receiving the ball at the right edge of the box and dancing past two defenders before calmly firing inside the opposite post from a difficult angle.

“I saw there was space behind the defender,” said Doan, who has provided three league goals and three assists since transferring from fellow Bundesliga outfit Freiburg in the offseason.

Doan’s Samurai Blue teammate Kaishu Sano played the full match for Mainz, while compatriot Sota Kawasaki came off the bench late for the visitors.

After struggling to keep clean sheets early in the season, Frankfurt have been employing more defensive tactics, making Doan’s ability to create scoring opportunities particularly valuable.

“The manager’s ideas or tactics may have changed, but I’m still gradually becoming the player he needs me to be,” the 27-year-old Doan said.

Elsewhere in the German top division, Japanese midfielder Yuito Suzuki netted his first Bundesliga goal to help Freiburg beat St. Pauli 2-1.

The 24-year-old, who moved from Danish outfit Brondby in the offseason, volleyed home the opener shortly before halftime against a St. Pauli side featuring Samurai Blue midfielder Joel Chima Fujita.

In the Dutch Eredivisie, Japan defender Tsuyoshi Watanabe bagged his first goal for Feyenoord in a 2-1 loss away to Go Ahead Eagles.

In the Scottish Premiership, Celtic’s Reo Hatate assisted on the opening goal and Daizen Maeda netted late for his third goal of the season in a 4-0 win against visiting Kilmarnock.