Sanfrecce had entered the tie at Kashima Soccer Stadium on the back of a five-match winning run in the Continental tournament, but on 24 minutes the hosts' Brazilian star Serginho rediscovered his golden touch at this phase of the competition to net his sixth goal in seven knockout stage appearances.

The away side responded to going behind and would ultimately dominate possesion (60 percent to 40 percent) as well as have more efforts on goal than their hosts in the match, but they were unable to make their chances count.

The late sending off of midfielder Sho Inagaki also compounded matters on a difficult night for Morishima and his teammates.

Serginho proved to be the lone goalscorer of the match with a first-half header for the defending champions. This was the first all-Japanese tie in the Round of 16 since 2011 and the 17th overall between clubs from Japan in the history of the AFC Champions League.

Both sides were coming off inspiring 2-0 home wins in domestic competition at the weekend as the title holders and Hiroshima clashed for the first time in Asia’s flagship club tournament.

The clash at Kashima Soccer Stadium paired the two sides against Japanese opposition for the first time ever in the Continental competition and it was Sanfrecce who went into the game as the form team having won five in a row in the group stage.

But in a closely contested match it was defending champions Kashima who gained the upper hand after Brazilian Serginho scored the only goal of the game midway through the first half following excellent work from Doi.

The 24-year-old had been out of action in recent weeks, missing China PR’s games against the Philippines and Tajikistan, but returned for the 2-0 victory over Shanghai SIPG on Friday and then played a crucial role in the win over domestic rivals Shandong in the 2019 AFC Champions League.

Having missed a gilt-edged opportunity early in the game, Wei put the two-time winners in front in the 35th minute and was then quick to show his appreciation to doctor Silvano Cotti, running straight to the bench to embrace the Italian.

Moon Seon-min gave Jeonbuk a dream start when Jose Morais’ side took the lead with less than a minute on the clock only for Wang Shenchao to level the scores six minutes before half-time with a close range header.

But Moon’s goal means a goalless draw next week at the Jeonju World Cup Stadium will be enough for the 2006 and 2016 winners to advance to the last eight of the competition for the ninth time in their history.

Hwang Il-su came off the bench to bury a late winner to hand Ulsan not only the win but two crucial away goals ahead of next week’s tie in Korea Republic. Kenyu Sugimoto opened his AFC Champions League account in the first half before Joo Min-kyu restored parity ahead of the intermission.

The game pitted the two former winners of the tournament against one another for the first time in the AFC Champions League, which could be considered surprising given the frequent appearance of the clubs on this stage.

Wei Shihao put two-time champions Guangzhou Evergrande in front 10 minutes before halftime but a stunning strike from Zhang Chi midway through the second period earned Shandong an away goal ahead of next week’s clash in Jinan.

But Yang’s effort in the 80th minute which took a deflection off Shandong defender Zheng Zheng means Guangzhou are 90 minutes away from booking their place in the last eight of the competition for the sixth time in eight seasons.