The 28-year-old, who moved to Waasland Beveren from Dutch side SC Heerenveen last year, joins the Qatar Stars League side a day after new head coach Frederic Hantz was unveiled by the club.

It was a result Al Duhail badly needed after suffering a 4-2 defeat to Sharjah on Matchday Four and they bounced back in style against Islamic Republic of Iran's Persepolis, who had gone into the tie at the Education City Stadium as group leaders.

Ali scored the only goal of the match from the penalty spot in the 56th minute for his third goal of the competition as Al Duhail moved to nine points, two ahead of Persepolis and UAE's Sharjah, who defeated Saudi Arabia's Al Taawoun 6-0 in the group's other tie on Monday.

The result meant Sepahan joined Al Ain as the two sides exiting the tournament from Group D as Saudi Arabia’s Al Nassr and Qatar’s Al Sadd secured their places in the Round of 16.

Persepolis entered the Matchday Five fixture knowing a win would keep them top of the group going into the final matchday, while for Al Duhail - defeated by Sharjah in their previous match - the three points would take them past their opponents and boost their chances of progress to the Round of 16.

Sepahan had started their campaign with a 4-0 defeat of Al Ain at the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium courtesy of Mohammed Mohebi, Kiros, Soroush Rafiei and Mohammad Tayyebi but couldn't find a way past their opponents at the second time of asking.

The two sides shared the spoils when they met on Matchday Two, with top scorer Abderrazak Hamdallah and Abdulrahman Al Obaid getting on the scoresheet for Al Nassr, while Hassan Al Haydos’ goal was supplemented with Abdulelah Al Amri’s own goal to for Al Sadd.

With Sepahan having to settle for a 0-0 draw with Al Ain in Monday's late match, Al Sadd joined Al Nassr in the Round of 16 from Group D.

Sharjah got off to a flying start and within six minutes they had handed goalkeeper Cassio his first test of the night. Brazilian forward Welliton broke free down the right and squared for his compatriot Igor Coronado who applied a powerful low finish, but the Al Taawoun goalkeeper was up to the challenge and made the save.

Halfway through the first 45 minutes, Cassio repeated his heroics in an almost-identical manner. This time it was Khalid Bawazir who was set up by Welliton’s cross from the right and the midfielder watched Al Taawoun’s Brazilian goalkeeper make a fine save to keep the scores level.