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Shabab Al Ahli into AFC Champions League Round of 16; Al Rayyan, Al Faisaly also advance

Shabab Al Ahli secured a Round of 16 appearance in the AFC Champions League for the fourth time on Tuesday with a 1-1 draw with Foolad, who are also headed for the knockout stage. Asian Football Confederation

Shabab Al Ahli booked their place in the knockout rounds of the AFC Champions League on Tuesday after a 1-1 draw with Iran's Foolad in Jeddah earned the club from the United Arab Emirates a last 16 spot.

Yahya Al Ghassani scored eight minutes from time to cancel out Luciano Chimba's 71st minute penalty and the point earned means Shabab Al Ahli finish in second place in Group C behind Foolad.

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The five group winners in west Asia advance to the next round automatically, where they are joined by the three clubs with the best runners-up records and Shabab Al Ahli's 10-point haul guarantees them one of those second placed slots.

Tuesday's results also mean Qatar's Al Rayyan and Al Faisaly of Saudi Arabia advance to the next round before their final round of group games on Wednesday.

Al Faisaly, who currently lead Group E, are guaranteed to take at least one of the runners-up spots after amassing nine points from their first five games while Al Rayyan's tally of 10 points in Group A is also enough to advance.

The trio join Saudi Arabia's Al Hilal and Al Shabab as well as Al Duhail from Qatar, who had already secured their places in the last 16 prior to the final round of group matches.

The round of 16 matches involving teams from west Asia will be played in February next year.

Foolad topped Group C with 12 points while Qatar's Al Gharafa finished third in the standings despite enduring a 4-2 loss against Turkmenistan side Ahal in the final round of matches.

In Group B, Iraqi side Air Force Club were denied the opportunity to progress to the last 16 as runners-up behind Al Shabab when a 1-0 loss against Mumbai City meant they fell short of a place in the knockout rounds.

Air Force went into the game needing to win to advance but Brazilian striker Mauricio scored for Mumbai, who had already been eliminated.

Al Shabab celebrated their progress to the next round with a 2-0 win over Al Jazira of the UAE to ensure the Saudis ended the group phase undefeated.

Al Duhail completed their Group D commitments with a 5-2 thrashing of Iran's Sepahan, with Michael Olunga and Edmilson both scoring twice for the Qatari club.

Al Taawoun's hopes of joining them in the last 16 were extinguished, however, as the Saudis lost 5-4 to already eliminated Pakhtakor from Uzbekistan with Abbos Ergashboev scoring the winner four minutes from time.