Al Nassr had cruised through the group stage, beating Sepahan FC twice and drawing against Al Sadd SC twice, while their previous match against Al Ain on Matchday Two was decided by goals from Mukhtar Ali and current top scorer Abderazzaq Hamdallah.

A win for coach Rui Vitoria’s men would secure the top spot, but a draw could also be enough for Al Nassr to snatch the top spot, provided Al Sadd fail to defeat Sepahan in the other Group D fixture on Thursday.

Talented players, however, will beat the best of defences and that was indeed the case as Sharjah's Welliton led the way with a 12-minute hat-trick against Saudi Arabia's Al Taawoun.

It was a clash of champions as the league winners of Qatar and IR Iran met in Doha on Matchday Five with the exciting attack of Duhail, led by 2019 AFC Asian Cup Top Scorer Almoez Ali, trying to break through against the sturdy defence of Persepolis led by Iranian icon Jalal Hosseini.

As it turned out, a single goal proved to be enough to swing the tie but there were various subplots of interest that played out in the tie.

Doha: Sharjah winger Caio has been voted by the fans as the 2020 AFC Champions League Matchday Five Toyota Player of the Week. In data provided by OPTA, the official data provider for the Asian Football Confederation, Caio had earned a rating of 8.4 for his performance against Al Taawoun in Group C, with the Brazilian scoring once in the 6-0 win.

The Algerian international salvaged a point for Al Sadd with three minutes left on the clock, cancelling out Khalid Al Ghannam's lead for Al Nassr on 22 minutes.

With Sepahan having to settle for a 0-0 draw with Al Ain in Monday's late match, the result saw Al Sadd joining Al Nassr in the Round of 16 from Group D.

The Brazilian striker played a starring role in the emphatic win as he notched his hat-trick in the space of 12 minutes as Sharjah maintained their winning form following the 4-2 triumph over Qatar's Al Duhail on Matchday Four.

More importantly for the UAE Pro League side, the back-to-back wins keep them firmly in sight of a place in the Round of 16, with Sharjah facing Persepolis of Islamic Republic of Iran on Thursday.

The result meant Sepahan joined Al Ain as the two sides exiting the tournament from Group D as Saudi Arabia’s Al Nassr and Qatar’s Al Sadd secured their places in the Round of 16.

It was a result Al Duhail badly needed after suffering a 4-2 defeat to Sharjah on Matchday Four and they bounced back in style against Islamic Republic of Iran's Persepolis, who had gone into the tie at the Education City Stadium as group leaders.

Ali scored the only goal of the match from the penalty spot in the 56th minute for his third goal of the competition as Al Duhail moved to nine points, two ahead of Persepolis and UAE's Sharjah, who defeated Saudi Arabia's Al Taawoun 6-0 in the group's other tie on Monday.