The 39-year-old, a veteran of Japan’s run to the knockout rounds of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, will be joining the 12th club of his professional career after first making his debut for Kyoto Purple Sanga in 2000.

Matsui moved to France in 2004, joining Le Mans before stints with Saint-Etienne, Grenoble and Dijon as well as spells with clubs in Russia, Bulgaria and Poland before returning to Japan in 2014, when he signed for Jubilo Iwata.

He has spent the last three seasons with Yokohama FC and was instrumental in the club’s promotion to the top flight of Japanese football last season. However, his involvement in the current campaign has been limited to three appearances.

Chiangrai looked set to inflict Beijing's first defeat of the competition when substitute Ekanit Panya put them ahead in the 55th minute, but another replacement, Beijing’s A Lan, squared the ledger with 14 minutes remaining, only to miss a penalty kick in the dying moments.

With the top spot in the group secured by Beijing FC, the two sides went into the game with the knowledge that their future in the competition hung on achieving a result on the night, for Melbourne Victory that meant the three points only, while a draw would be enough for FC Seoul.

The Japanese capital side had first competed in the 2012 AFC Champions League, reaching the Round of 16 before exiting at the hands of Guangzhou Evergrande.

Four years later, they repeated the feat and it was Shanghai SIPG who knocked them out. Now four more years afterwards, they are set to face a third Chinese team, Beijing FC at the same stage.

The K League runners up made sweeping changes to their line-up but there was little difference in terms of the result, with Park Jeong-in and Lee Sang-heon both scoring early before Bjørn Johnsen added a late brace in a fifth consecutive win for Kim Do-hoon’s side.

While Ulsan can look forward to the business end of the competition, it was the end of the road for Shenhua, who pulled a goal back through Bi Jinhao at the hour mark.

Doha: Yokohama F. Marinos' Theerathon Bunmathan has been voted by the fans as the 2020 AFC Champions League (East) Toyota Player of the Week after a goalscoring performance in his side's 4-1 victory over Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors on Tuesday.

The Thai left-back's blistering strike was his standout moment in an excellent all-round display that saw him ranked third in Stats Perform's – the Asian Football Confederation's official data provider – list of nominees for the accolade with an 8.4 rating.