Chinese champion Guangzhou Evergrande reached the Asian Champions League quarterfinals beating FC Tokyo 1-0, while South Korea's Ulsan Hyundai beat J-League champ Kashiwa Reysol 3-2 to also advance on Wednesday.
Brazilian Cleo scored the lone goal in the 30th minute as Evergrande reached the last eight in its competition debut and remained undefeated under Italian coach Marcello Lippi, who was hired by the Chinese Super League team on May 17.
Lippi, who guided Italy to the 2006 World Cup final, has made an unbeaten start at Guangzhou, with a 1-1 draw against Shandong Luneng last week coming after the 1-0 win over Qingdao Jonoon in his first match in charge.
Tokyo had several chances to equalize with Lucas hitting the post in the 85th minute and Shuichi Gonda heading wide deep in stoppage time but Ranko Popovic's side couldn't find an equalizer.
In Ulsan, Lee Keun-ho gave the hosts a 3-1 lead with a header with two minutes remaining in regulation. Junya Tanaka pulled one back for Kashiwa in stoppage time but it was too late.
Ulsan's Kim Shin-wook opened the scoring in the 54th minute but Leandro equalized for Kashiwa in the 68th. Ulsan restored the lead through a Kashiwa own goal by Naoya Kondo.
With the victory, Ulsan ensured there will be a Korean side in the quarterfinals for the eighth time in the nine seasons.
