AFC Champions League Group Stage Highlights

After six enthralling rounds of fixtures, the group stage of the 2018 AFC Champions League drew to close last week as the final places in the knockout rounds were confirmed.

The continental competition will resume again in early May, before which the-AFC.com looks back at the numbers that stood out from a week that saw 16 teams depart Asia’s premier club tournament.

Some 384 minutes have passed since Persepolis’s goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand last conceded. He kept his fifth clean sheet in six games in the 1-0 victory over Qatar’s Al Sadd.

A total of five teams advanced to the knockout rounds with unbeaten records as Iran’s Esteghlal, Al Ahli of Saudi Arabia, Al Ain of the UAE and China’s Guangzhou Evergrande joined Al Duhail of Qatar as the sides which have yet to taste defeat.

Al Duhail completed a perfect six wins from six with a 1-0 victory over Al Wahda of the UAE to become the first team since Kashima Antlers in 2010 to progress to the knockout rounds with a 100 percent record.

Uzbekistan’s Lokomotiv bombarded Zobahan of Iran penalty area with a tournament high 51 crosses but none resulted in a goal as a 1-1 draw saw the Iranian side pip their Uzbek opponent to a place in the last 16.

Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors of South Korea netted three more times in the 3-0 win over Kitchee SC of Hong Kong as the competition’s leading scorer took its tally to 22.

Lim Sun-young scored the 271st and final goal in the AFC Champions League group stage in Jeonbuk’s win over Kitchee, although that total is 32 fewer than the 303 scored in last year’s group stage.

Dejan Damjanovic netted his 32nd AFC Champions League goal in S. Korea’s Suwon Samsung Bluewings’ 1-0 win over Japan’s Kashima Antlers and the Montenegrin is now just four behind all-time top scorer Lee Dong-gook.

Sydney FC’s Brandon O’Neill touched the ball more times than any other player on Matchday Six (125 times) but the 0-0 draw with Shanghai Shenhua saw the Australian side eliminated.