Sanfrecce will go into the first leg at Kashima Soccer Stadium as the form team in the competition, having won five successive games on the Continent to progress to the last 16 on top of Group F.

Next up is Kashima, whose own qualification to the knockout rounds was only confirmed after a come-from-behind 2-1 victory against Shandong Luneng in their final group game as they have yet to hit top form.

In the East, defending champions Kashima Antlers are tasked with fellow J.League team Sanfrecce Hiroshima and Chinese duo Guangzhou Evergrande and Shandong Luneng will also lock horns.

On the other side of the Continent, meanwhile, Qatari powerhouses Al Sadd and Al Duhail face off, while there is also an intriguing Riyadh–Jeddah clash between rivals Al Hilal and Al Ahli. Both matches, however, will not take place until August.

Ahead of the ties, the-AFC.com looks back on five other times the last 16 has pitted clubs from the same domestic league against one another.

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.

The J.League side had already secured their passage to the next phase with their final match remaining, and goals from 2018 Asian Games silver medallist Taishi Matsumoto, Yusuke Minagawa and Tsukasa Morishima ensured Jofuku’s side notched up a fifth win in a row in Group F.

“I picked a lot of players who haven't been playing in the J.League,” said Jofuku, who has sought to juggle his squad throughout the group phase. “We've had some issues scoring in the league so we tried to make sure to address that in today's game.

“I thought the match was important because to get through an entire season we need everyone in the squad to contribute and we managed to score three goals. It's an incredible effort.”

A further 16 teams – along with Spanish legend Xavi – have now departed the competition. Ahead of the month-long break, here's the-AFC.com's look back at the week in numbers.

Photos: Getty Images

The two-time AFC champions League winners said Tsuyoshi Otsuki will assume the role of head coach, having been an assistant to Brazilian Oliveira.

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.