Abirex Niigata, who went into their tie against Hougang United FC with a one-point advantage, confirmed their fourth SPL title in five seasons, with a 1-0 win at Hougang Stadium.

The Brazilian-born striker, formally known as Alan Carvalho, scored the decisive goal in the 59th minute, stretching Bruno Génésio’s side’s unbeaten run in the tournament to seven matches, and taking them to within three wins of a maiden Asian title.

Tokyo’s defeat ends their stay in Doha but extends a run of outs at this stage of the competition, with Chinese opposition now bringing them undone in all three of their visits to the Round of 16.

Topping Group G, the Kobe-based side had a rather less intense schedule having only played three games since the restart following Johor Darul Ta’zim’s withdrawal from the tournament leaving just three teams battling for the group’s two qualifying spots.

Qualification was achieved with two games to spare, leaving coach Atsuhiro Miura with the luxury of rotating his players and experimenting as back-to-back 2-0 defeats did little to change their status as group winners.

In their fourth appearance in the competition, and the first since 2014, Yokohama F. Marinos have reached the knockout stage for the first time in their history under the guidance of Australian head coach Ange Postecoglou who hopes to become the first manager to be crowned Asian champion at national and club levels, having led the Socceroos to the 2015 AFC Asian Cup title at home.

While Al Nassr’s seven-goal striker Abderazzaq Hamdallah announced himself as the king of the West earlier in the competition, there are still several candidates from the East who could topple the Moroccan star in the remaining rounds.

Join the-AFC.com as we examine five of the current contenders for most important scoring title in Asian football, all of whom could still be crowned the Golden Boot winner for 2020.

Some of the Continent's finest players have been on show in Qatar with established names and emerging talents displaying their ability in Asia's most prestigious club competition.

With the knockout rounds now leaving no margin for error, the-AFC.com profiles eight stars who have shone in the group stage and will be crucial to their sides' chances of going deeper into the tournament.

Doha: FC Tokyo's Daiki Niwa has been voted by the fans as the 2020 AFC Champions League (East) Toyota Player of the Week after an impressive performance in his side's 1-0 win over Perth Glory on Matchday Six as they advanced to the knockout rounds.

The veteran defender had an 83 percent duel success rate, made three interceptions and completed 62 passes at an 87 percent accuracy that saw him ranked fifth in Stats Perform's – the Asian Football Confederation's official data provider – list of nominees for the accolade with a 7.6 rating.