It has been a remarkable rise for a club that only arrived in China’s top flight in 2013 and have since gone on to to acquire talent of the calibre of Hulk and Oscar, the Brazilian duo who helped inspire them to their maiden Chinese Super League title in 2018 after three successive top-three finishes.

Arguably, however, no one has been more important in their surge to prominence than Wu Lei, who was the league’s top scorer last year before he signed for La Liga side Espanyol at the beginning of 2019 where he has since gone on to become the first player from his country to score in Spain’s top flight.

Needing a win to secure a place in the last 16, Oscar’s first-half brace calmed any nerves among the Chinese Super League champions, before Li Shenglong added a third – his first-ever goal in the competition – to effectively secure the three points and qualification.

Oscar grabbed his hat-trick soon after and Hu Jinghang rounded off the scoring late on as Shanghai progressed to the knockout rounds for the fourth successive year and Li was left with a night to remember.

The Continental competition will not return until mid-June but there remain plenty of talking points, not least the-AFC.com’s look back at the facts and figures that have caught the eye so far.

With the Leagues in Chinese Taipei, Macau and Mongolia having already entered the international break - and the domestic season for Hong Kong, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands already concluded - the focus was on last weekend's fixtures in Japan, Korea Republic and China PR.

The K League side were unable to break down Buriram’s well-organised back line throughout the 90 minutes at Jeonju World Cup Stadium, but the result mattered little as Morais and his team had already guaranteed themselves top spot in the group.

The two-time champions went close to exiting at the Group Stage for just the second time in their proud eight-tournament history, but they were indebted to their former FC Barcelona midfielder once more.

Only victory over visitors Daegu FC would suffice for Fabio Cannavaro's side to leapfrog the Koreans into the runners-up spot in Group F and it was Paulinho's 64th minute intervention that proved to be the difference-maker.

FIFA World Cup winner Xavi, who played his last competitive match in a 2019 AFC Champions League tie against Islamic Republic of Iran's Persepolis on May 20, had announced his retirement on May 2.