Wellington now trail the runaway leaders by 11 points with only three games left to play after substitute Ulises Davila saw his 88th-minute penalty saved by in-form Reds gloveman Paul Izzo at Bankwest Stadium.

Jaushua Sotirio levelled five minutes after Kristian Opseth had put Adelaide ahead on the hour mark and, although the draw lifts Phoenix ahead of Melbourne City into second place, the Sky Blues cannot be caught in the race for the Premiers Plate.

The Barcelona legend and 2010 FIFA World Cup winner – who will be absent when Al Sadd meet Al Khor in Saturday’s league fixture - announced his diagnosis via the club’s official Twitter account, telling fans that he was “feeling okay”.

Yahya Golmohammadi’s side prevailed 2-1 in the match at Behnam Mohammadi Stadium.

Needing a single point on the night to close out the title race, Ali Alipour and Mehdi Abdi Qara scored either side of half-time to put Persepolis in a commanding position, with Hossein Ebrahimi’s 71st minute penalty serving as consolation for the hosts.

A traditional giant of the Chinese game, Beijing were last crowned champions in 2009 – a season that saw a teenage Zhang make his debut for the side – but they have endured numerous near misses since, with three runners-up finishes and twice coming third in the past decade.

The last two years, however, have seen Beijing lift the FA Cup in 2018 and run Guangzhou Evergrande close to the 2019 CSL title, finishing just two points adrift of the Guangdong club after a pulsating title race that saw Beijing achieve a record points tally of 70.

Asia has had no shortage of these storylines, with a range of pioneering football exports and national team icons going back to where it all started to cap off their careers.

To coincide with FC Seoul’s signing of former Korea Republic captain Ki Sung-yueng, the-AFC.com looks at eight local heroes who returned, and thrived, after years abroad.

Victory languish in 10th place in the 11-team A-League standings and make their first appearance since the post-COVID-19 shutdown when they face Western United harbouring slim hopes of breaking into the top six to secure a place in the Championship playoffs.

But Melbourne, who are also playing in the 2020 AFC Champions League, will have to face Mark Rudan’s side without the former Bayer Leverkusen man, who picked up an injury to his left knee that means he will play no part in what remains of the campaign.

Despite commendable performances in their four games to date, the South Asian side have picked up just a solitary point – from last October’s meeting with India.

In a recent interview with FIFA.com, Day insisted his side could have collected more points given their solid showing thus far in the group stage.