on 22 january 2014, forlán signed an 18-month deal with japanese j1 league side cerezo osaka. he made his afc champions league debut in a 1–1 draw with pohang steelers, and his j. league debut in a 1–0 loss against defending champions sanfrecce hiroshima. he scored his first goal for cerezo in a 4–0 win over buriram united in an afc champions league match. on 12 april, forlán scored two goals in the osaka derby against local club rivals gamba osaka. he scored a crucial goal against shandong luneng on 23 april to put his team through to the knockout stage of the afc champions league. cerezo osaka were knocked out in the first round by guangzhou evergrande, losing 5–1 at home in the first leg. in spite of the disappointing home defeat, they managed to secure a 1–0 away win after an own goal by liao lisheng. however, this was not enough to overcome the 5–2 aggregate lead.