{"id":31490,"date":"2018-04-18T14:39:02","date_gmt":"2018-04-18T21:39:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/?p=31490"},"modified":"2018-04-18T14:39:02","modified_gmt":"2018-04-18T21:39:02","slug":"afc-champions-league-2018-round-of-16-set-to-thrill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/2018\/04\/18\/afc-champions-league-2018-round-of-16-set-to-thrill\/","title":{"rendered":"AFC Champions League 2018 &#8211; Round of 16 set to thrill"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>AFC &#8211; KUALA LUMPUR, <strong>The Continent\u2019s top 16 teams advanced to the knockout stage of the 2018 AFC Champions League as the group stage concluded on Wednesday.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Round of 16 stage promises to be a thrilling affair with several former AFC Champions League winners taking their place alongside teams who will be aiming to win the coveted title for the first time.<\/p>\n<p>Among those seeking to win the title for the first time will be Qatar\u2019s Al Duhail, who advanced to the last 16 stage with a perfect record of six wins in Group B.<\/p>\n<p>Al Duhail\u2019s title ambitions are sure, however, to be tested by Al Ain. The United Arab Emirates club were champions in 2003 and more recently, quarter-finalists in 2017.<\/p>\n<p>With 2017 champions Urawa Red Diamonds failing to qualify for the 2018 AFC Champions League and runners-up Al Hilal eliminated in the group stage, last year\u2019s semi-finalists Persepolis and Shanghai SIPG will be aiming to go one better this time around.<\/p>\n<p>The Islamic Republic of Iran\u2019s Persepolis, who finished as Group C winners, will play Al Jazira of the UAE in the last 16 while China PR\u2019s Shanghai SIPG, the Group F winners, will face Japanese side Kashima Antlers.<\/p>\n<p>Two-time winners Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors will face Thailand\u2019s Buriram United with the Korea Republic club last having tasted AFC Champions League glory in 2016.<\/p>\n<p>Guangzhou Evergrande, also two-time AFC Champions League winners, will square off against fellow Chinese side Tianjin Quanjian. <\/p>\n<p>There will be an all-Korean affair between Suwon Samsung Bluewings and Ulsan Hyundai, both former champions, while Zobahan and Esteghlal, also two-time winners, will square off in an all-Iranian tie.<\/p>\n<p>Qatar\u2019s Al Sadd, twice winners, will face two-time runners-up Al Ahli in the remaining Round of 16 tie.<\/p>\n<p><strong>ROUND OF 16 FIXTURES:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>1ST LEG FIXTURES (MAY 7-9)<br \/>\n<strong>AL JAZIRA (UAE) v PERSEPOLIS (IRN)<\/strong><br \/>\nAL SADD (QAT) v AL AHLI SAUDI (KSA)<br \/>\n<strong>ZOBAHAN FC (IRN) v ESTEGHLAL (IRN)<\/strong><br \/>\nAL AIN (UAE) v AL DUHAIL (QAT)<br \/>\nTIANJIN QUANJIAN (CHN) v GUANGZHOU EVERGRANDE<br \/>\nBURIRAM UNITED (THA) v JEONBUK HYUNDAI MOTORS (KOR)<br \/>\nULSAN HYUNDAI v (KOR) SUWON SAMSUNG BLUEWINGS (KOR)<br \/>\nKASHIMA ANTLERS (JPN) v SHANGHAI SIPG FC (CHN)<\/p>\n<p>(Return Leg: May 14-16)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>AFC &#8211; KUALA LUMPUR, The Continent\u2019s top 16 teams advanced to the knockout stage of&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26307,"featured_media":31491,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[90,84,164,136],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-c17-asian-competitions","category-c47-featured-news","category-ipl","category-iran-first-division"],"views":2412,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26307"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31490"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31490\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31492,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31490\/revisions\/31492"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}