Trailing 2-0 from the first leg in Japan after goals from Fabricio and Takahiro Sekine, two-time Continental champions Guangzhou are up against it when they host Urawa at Tianhe Stadium in the return meeting of their final four tie.

However, the southern Chinese heavyweights have not yet lost hope. A 21-match unbeaten record in the AFC Champions League on home soil is an excellent foundation for faith and a stacked attacking line-up including some of China and Brazil's top talent is capable of finding the goals needed.

China PR's Guangzhou Evergrande, Urawa Red Diamonds of Japan, Qatari club Al Sadd and Saudi Arabia's Al Hilal will resume their quest to become Asia's kings next week when the AFC Champions League recommences with the second legs of the semi-finals.

Before then, the-AFC.com looks at how their international stars got on for their nations in the most recent rounds of the Asian Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and AFC Asian Cup China 2023.

Bafetimbi Gomis netted twice in Al Hilal's 4-1 victory to move on to nine goals in the competition – level with Al Wahda's Leonardo in the race for the top scorer accolade. For that, and much more, here's the-AFC.com's look at the the week in numbers.

Game-changers, sensational strikes and the 12th man as the 2019 semi-finals got under way in exciting style with rollercoaster matches in Qatar and Japan. Here's the post-match reaction from some of the key men involved.

Brazilian star Talisca’s previous visit to Japan just a fortnight ago culminated in individual and team joy.

The 6’3” man rose highest at a corner to head home what proved to be the match-winner in Guangzhou’s away goals victory against Continental champions Kashima Antlers in the quarter-finals.

Kuala Lumpur: Bafetimbi Gomis has been named as the Toyota Player of the Week after the striker scored a brace in Al Hilal's 4-1 victory away at Al Sadd on Tuesday to help his side put one foot into the 2019 AFC Champions League Final.

However, it was far from an ideal start for Gomis in Doha as he inadverently netted past his own 'keeper on 14 minutes to give the hosts the lead. The Frenchman bounced back, though, netting twice in the right goal to steer Al Hilal to a convincing win at Jassim bin Hamad Stadium.

As well as his double, which came from three shots on target, Gomis also created three chances for his teammates as he earned an 8.7 rating.

From the other side of the continent, Takahiro Sekine (below), came in second in this week’s rankings after the Urawa Red Diamonds winger scored in the Japanese side's 2-0 win over Guangzhou Evergrande of China PR.