Al Rayyan had suffered their joint-heaviest AFC Champions League defeat in the reverse fixture, falling to a 5-1 humbling by Al Ittihad in Jeddah on Matchday One. They needed a win on home soil to stand a chance of grabbing one of the two Round-of-16 tickets.

The hosts threatened through Abdulaziz Al Hasia whose seventh-minute touch of Mohammed Ala Eldin’s cross was not strong enough to direct it goalward. Al Ittihad responded a few minutes later as Nasir Al Shamrani stabbed Abdullah Al Amar’s cross wide off target.

Zobahan needed one point to advance to the next round with a game to spare, while Al Zawraa’s hopes hinged on them bagging the three points at home.

Mohammad Zobeir Niknafs headed the visitors into the lead in the 28th minute. An in-swinging corner from Marion was nodded on by Mohammad Reza Hosseini for Niknafs who powered home his header at the far post to open the scoring.

The home side came into the match on the back of three consecutive victories; their best-ever run in the AFC Champions League. Lokomotiv, on the other hand, took confidence from their head-to-head record, having won all three previous encounters against the Emirati side.

It was the visitors who had the first chance of the game after a calm opening 10 minutes. Temurkhuja Abdukholikov tried his luck from long range, but his effort sailed high over the crossbar.

The two-time champions moved on to seven points from their first five games and will take on Beijing FC at the Saitama Stadium 2002 in two weeks’ time, needing a win to advance to the last 16 after goals from Shinzo Koroki and Yuki Muto earned Urawa the points at the Buriram Stadium.

The result leaves Beijing needing to win against Urawa Red Diamonds on Matchday Six to be certain of joining the club from Korea Republic in the next round of the competition.

Jeonbuk will face the runners-up in Group H – either Shanghai SIPG or Kawasaki Frontale – in the next phase of the competition as they progress to the knockout rounds for the 11th time in 12 appearances in the AFC Champions League.

The three points earned from Ulsan’s third win of the group phase mean Kim Do-hoon’s side cannot finish outside the top two places and they will advance to the Round of 16, while Sydney FC crash out.

Diskerud’s goal came 14 minutes into an even second half when the United States international’s quick thinking allowed him to score after the ball had been deflected into his path in the penalty area, and his improvised finish gave Andrew Redmayne no chance in the Sydney goal.

Hulk struck either side of half-time to deny the Japanese the win with Leandro Damiao and Shogo Taniguchi scoring for Kawasaki, who remained stuck in third place in Group H behind leaders Ulsan Hyundai and Shanghai.