Unbeaten Group E winners with a club record 16 points, Beijing were one of the standout sides in the group stage, but they’ll need to buck a historical trend if they are to go any further in the competition.

The Chinese outfit have reached the knockout stage on three separate occasions - the most recent coming in 2015 - but fell at the first hurdle each time, with all three defeats coming against Korean opposition.

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.

Frustrated to have narrowly missed out on domestic league and cup honours, Kim Do-hoon’s side have been untouchable in Doha, winning all five matches since arriving in the Qatari capital to register a total 16 points from six matches.

Such was their dominance of Group F that an Ulsan outfit featuring just one of the 11 players from their previous outing eased to a 4-1 win over Shanghai Shenhua on Thursday, in a match where the Chinese side were fighting to stay alive in the tournament.

Postecoglou changed the entire line-up from Tuesday’s 4-1 win over Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors – which qualified Yokohama for the Round of 16 – with Yuki Saneto firing the Japanese side ahead in the 18th minute before Sydney’s Trent Buhagiar levelled the tie just before the half-hour mark.

The 55-year-old joined Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors in 2018, replacing club legend Choi Kang-hee at the helm, and despite the magnitude of the task in hand, Morais established himself as a fan favourite, bringing home back-to-back K League 1 titles in his two seasons at the club and added a Korean FA Cup trophy just before travelling to Doha.