‘Winnie’, as he is endearingly known, made his name as a midfielder in the German Bundesliga, where he played over 400 games with Borussia Monchengladbach, Kickers Offenbach and Karlsruher FC, before hanging his boots and embarking on a coaching career that would take him around the globe.

Schäfer’s first foray into international football saw him guide Cameroon’s golden generation to the 2002 African Cup of Nations, before leading the Indomitable Lions to the final of the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup, which they lost to the hosts France.

Hosts Esteghlal never looked troubled by the visitors, who were restricted to half-chances by an impressive back-line. One of many long-distance shots almost reduced the deficit later on in the second half, but the post denied Al Rayyan a way back into the match.

Noorafkan leads from the back

Starlet Omid Noorafkan shone brightly at left-back against his Qatari opponents, who rarely threatened down his flank all match long.

Much is expected of the youngster, who broke into the first team aged just 18, a club record. Just days after scoring his first-ever league goal, a winner against Naft Tehran on Thursday, Noorafkan completed three dribbles and had 94 touches of the ball against opponents who had no answer to his quality.

The final round of fixtures take place in just over a week's time, before which the-AFC.com takes a look at some of the numbers that caught that eye in the week gone by.

It was a very hard game. Suwon played well, but we took our chances and scored goals. We are very happy as this was a very important game for us. We are looking forward to the next game and we still believe we have a chance to go to the next round.

Tsing Tao Player-of-the-Match winner Adrian Mierzejewski remains optimistic of a place in the Round of 16 after Sydney FC's 4-1 win away at Suwon Samsung Bluewings.

Orsic scored a rating of 9.4 in a match that saw him create four chances for his teammates and add what was his second double of the campaign as the hosts secured their passage to the next round with a game to spare.

Ulsan were two up inside 20 minutes before the Croatian forward all but secured the victory on 38 minutes and, with 15 minutes to play, Orsic added the final goal – his fourth of the campaign – as the Korea Republic side eased through.

Adrian Mierzejewski (pictured below) was another player who stood out in the fifth round of fixtures on the continent, with the Sydney FC midfielder scoring the third goal in a 4-1 win at Suwon Samsung Bluewings to throw Group H wide open.

Despite an early goal for last year's runners-up, Al Ain regrouped and applied constant pressure on their opponents to force Al Hilal defenders into conceding three penalties, two of which Marcus Berg converted for a 2-1 win.

Al Hilal go narrow and tight

Juan Brown set up his Al Hilal side in a conservative 4-2-3-1 formation, experimenting with several players in new positions . Full-back Yasser Al Shahrani was employed in the left-wing position to cut inside and combine with the likes of Mohammed Al Shalhoub and Fahad Al Rashidi in midfield, while also providing coverage for Abdulla Al Zori in the defensive phase.