A standout performance from Edgar Silva helped Thailand's Buriram United to one of their most famous victories as they bested two-time continental champions Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors of Korea Republic in their last 16, first leg clash last week.

The Brazilian scored his second goal of the game when he picked up the ball inside his own half and dribbled past several challenges before finding the net with a low shot into the corner to put the Thais 3-1 up. Son Jun-ho’s strike in added time put a different complexion on the scoreline and leaves the tie finely balanced.

Edgar Silva spoke exclusively to the-AFC.com before his side travelled to Korea Republic for Tuesday’s second-leg tie with a slender advantage.

Three of the four games last week ended in home wins, while the match between Tianjin Quanjian and Guangzhou Evergrande was the only draw across the East and West Zones, as all four matches remain in the balance ahead of the second legs.

Kuala Lumpur: A brace in Buriram United’s stunning 3-2 victory over Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors in the first leg of the AFC Champions League Round of 16 on Tuesday has seen Brazilian striker Edgar pick up the Toyota Player of the Week accolade.

The week’s star performer, who joined the Thai side prior to the 2018 campaign, netted a fine header to put Buriram in front early on, before the forward scored the decisive goal following a superb mazy run from the halfway line with 20 minutes remaining as Buriram eventually won 3-2.

In an excellent individual performance, Edgar had four shots on goal, completed 35 passes and scored a rating of 8.4, and Buriram now travel to Korea Republic with real hope of progressing to a first quarter-final since 2013.

Guangzhou Evergrande goalkeeper Zeng Cheng (pictured below) was another player who put in a standout performance as China’s Number 1 kept a clean sheet in his side’s scoreless draw away at domestic rivals Tianjin Quanjian.

Today's match was difficult. We tried to score as many goals as we could because we were playing at home. We pushed forward from the beginning and we could have scored at least four goals in the first half. The goal which we conceded at the beginning of the second half affected our play. We have the second leg left and what's important is that we return [from Jeddah] having secured qualification.

Man of the Match Khoukhi Boualem insists Al Sadd could have had scored more goals against Al Ahli but the midfielder’s brace in a 2-1 win means the Qatari side travel to Saudi Arabia with a 2-1 lead to defend.

With Jeonbuk choosing to rest a number of key players for next week’s second leg at home, the Thai champions pounced to take the advantage heading into that clash, although a late goal from the Korea Republic side did take some of the gloss off the win.

There was no shortage of drama in the first legs last week as the four matches all produced winners, handing the teams who suffered defeats the task of overturning deficits in the reverse fixtures.