Brazilian striker Serginho scored the only goal of the game to give the holders the upper hand going into next week’s return leg in Hiroshima and Jofuku knows his team face an uphill battle to turn the tie around despite Kashima only having a narrow advantage.

"I think the boys gave it everything they had,” he said. “We were aware of Kashima's strengths and thought that we did a good job of stopping them from creating legitimate chances.

The clash at Kashima Soccer Stadium paired the two sides against Japanese opposition for the first time ever in the Continental competition and it was Sanfrecce who went into the game as the form team having won five in a row in the group stage.

But in a closely contested match it was defending champions Kashima who gained the upper hand after Brazilian Serginho scored the only goal of the game midway through the first half following excellent work from Doi.

Serginho proved to be the lone goalscorer of the match with a first-half header for the defending champions. This was the first all-Japanese tie in the Round of 16 since 2011 and the 17th overall between clubs from Japan in the history of the AFC Champions League.

Both sides were coming off inspiring 2-0 home wins in domestic competition at the weekend as the title holders and Hiroshima clashed for the first time in Asia’s flagship club tournament.

Wei Shihao put two-time champions Guangzhou Evergrande in front 10 minutes before halftime but a stunning strike from Zhang Chi midway through the second period earned Shandong an away goal ahead of next week’s clash in Jinan.

But Yang’s effort in the 80th minute which took a deflection off Shandong defender Zheng Zheng means Guangzhou are 90 minutes away from booking their place in the last eight of the competition for the sixth time in eight seasons.

Guangzhou managed to mute the duo for much of the 90 minutes at Tianhe Stadium on Tuesday evening as the two-time champions ran out 2-1 winners in the all-Chinese Super League encounter and a draw will now be enough for Evergrande to advance to the last eight for the sixth time in eight seasons.

Hwang Il-su came off the bench to bury a late winner to hand Ulsan not only the win but two crucial away goals ahead of next week’s tie in Korea Republic. Kenyu Sugimoto opened his AFC Champions League account in the first half before Joo Min-kyu restored parity ahead of the intermission.

The game pitted the two former winners of the tournament against one another for the first time in the AFC Champions League, which could be considered surprising given the frequent appearance of the clubs on this stage.

Moon Seon-min gave Jeonbuk a dream start when Jose Morais’ side took the lead with less than a minute on the clock only for Wang Shenchao to level the scores six minutes before half-time with a close range header.

But Moon’s goal means a goalless draw next week at the Jeonju World Cup Stadium will be enough for the 2006 and 2016 winners to advance to the last eight of the competition for the ninth time in their history.