up a goal for Marquinhos, in a 2–0 win over Urawa Red Diamonds in the opening game of the season. Uchida continued to regain his first team place, where he played in the right–back position. A month later on 8 April 2009, he scored his first goal of the season, in a 4–1 win over Warriors in the AFC Champions League campaign. Since the start of the 2009 season, Uchida started every match until he was dropped from the squad against JEF United Chiba on 2 May 2009, due to suffering from chronic fatigue. It came after when Uchida suffered fatigue and had to be substituted during a 5–0 win against Armed Forces on 22 April 2009. After missing one match, he made his return to the starting line-up and played 69 minutes, in a 2–1 win against Shimizu S-Pulse on 10 May 2009. A month later against FC Seoul in the round of 16 AFC Champions League, Uchida missed the decisive in the penalty shootout, resulting in the opposition team going through to the next round after the game finished 2–2 throughout 120 minutes. A week later against Kawasaki Frontale on 5 July 2009, however, he was sent–off for handball, resulting a penalty and was successfully converted by Juninho to give the opposition team a lead and the game finished 1–1. After serving a one match suspension, Uchida returned to the starting line-up, in a 2–2 draw against Kawasaki Frontale on 15 July 2009. Three days later on 18 July 2009, he made his 100th appearance for the side, in a 2–2 draw against Shimizu S-Pulse. His performance halfway through the season attracted interests from an unknown Serie A clubs, who made a 3 million euros bid. Despite this, Uchida continued to regain his first team place for the rest of the season. In the last game of the season, Uchida set up a goal for Shinzo Koroki to score the only goal in the game, in a 1–0 win over Urawa Red Diamonds to win the league for the third time running. At the end of the 2009, Uchida was named J. League Best Eleven for the second time. In addition, he went on to make the total of 43 appearances and scoring once for the side. Ahead of the 2010 season, Uchida's performance continued to attract interests from European clubs. Amid the transfer move, he helped the