2015 AFC Champions League knockout stage

The 2015 AFC Champions League knockout stage was played from 19 May to 21 November 2015. A total of 16 teams competed in the knockout stage to decide the champions of the 2015 AFC Champions League.[1]

Qualified teams

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The winners and runners-up of each of the eight groups in the group stage qualified for the knockout stage. Both West Zone and East Zone had eight teams qualified.

Zone Group Winners Runners-up
West Zone
(Groups A–D)
A   Lekhwiya   Persepolis
B   Al-Ain   Naft Tehran
C   Al-Hilal   Al-Sadd
D   Al-Ahli   Al-Ahli
East Zone
(Groups E–H)
E   Kashiwa Reysol   Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors
F   Gamba Osaka   Seongnam FC
G   Beijing Guoan   Suwon Samsung Bluewings
H   Guangzhou Evergrande   FC Seoul

Format

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In the knockout stage, the 16 teams played a single-elimination tournament, with the teams split between the two zones until the final. Each tie was played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. The away goals rule, extra time (away goals do not apply in extra time) and penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary.[1]

Schedule

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The schedule of each round was as follows.[2]

Round First leg Second leg
Round of 16 19–20 May 2015 26–27 May 2015
Quarter-finals 25–26 August 2015 15–16 September 2015
Semi-finals 29–30 September 2015 20–21 October 2015
Final 7 November 2015 21 November 2015

Bracket

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In the round of 16, the winners of one group played the runners-up of another group in the same zone, with the group winners hosting the second leg.[1] The matchups are determined as follows:

The draw for the quarter-finals was held on 18 June 2015, 16:00 UTC+8, at the Grand Millennium Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.[3] Teams from different zones could not be drawn into the same tie, and there was no seeding or country protection, so teams from the same association could be drawn into the same tie.[4]

In the semi-finals, the matchups were determined by the quarter-final draw: Winner QF1 vs. Winner QF2 (West Zone) and Winner QF3 vs. Winner QF4 (East Zone), with winners QF2 and QF4 hosting the second leg.[4]

In the final, the finalist from the West Zone hosted the first leg, while the finalist from the East Zone hosted the second leg (no draw was held to determine the order of legs, as it was reversed from the previous season's final).[4]

Round of 16 Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final
                
  Persepolis 1 0 1
  Al-Hilal 0 3 3
  Al-Hilal 4 2 6
  Lekhwiya 1 2 3
  Al-Sadd 1 2 3
  Lekhwiya 2 2 4
  Al-Hilal 1 2 3
  Al-Ahli 1 3 4
  Naft Tehran (a) 1 1 2
  Al-Ahli 0 2 2
  Naft Tehran 0 1 1
  Al-Ahli 1 2 3
  Al-Ahli (a) 0 3 3
  Al-Ain 0 3 3
  Al-Ahli 0 0 0
  Guangzhou Evergrande 0 1 1
  Suwon Bluewings 2 2 4
  Kashiwa Reysol (a) 3 1 4
  Kashiwa Reysol 1 1 2
  Guangzhou Evergrande 3 1 4
  Seongnam FC 2 0 2
  Guangzhou Evergrande 1 2 3
  Guangzhou Evergrande 2 0 2
  Gamba Osaka 1 0 1
  Jeonbuk Motors 1 1 2
  Beijing Guoan 1 0 1
  Jeonbuk Motors 0 2 2
  Gamba Osaka 0 3 3
  FC Seoul 1 2 3
  Gamba Osaka 3 3 6

Round of 16

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Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
West Zone
Al-Sadd   3–4   Lekhwiya 1–2 2–2
Persepolis   1–3   Al-Hilal 1–0 0–3
Al-Ahli   3–3 (a)   Al-Ain 0–0 3–3
Naft Tehran   2–2 (a)   Al-Ahli 1–0 1–2
Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
East Zone
Suwon Samsung Bluewings   4–4 (a)   Kashiwa Reysol 2–3 2–1
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors   2–1   Beijing Guoan 1–1 1–0
FC Seoul   3–6   Gamba Osaka 1–3 2–3
Seongnam FC   2–3   Guangzhou Evergrande 2–1 0–2

First leg

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Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors  1–1  Beijing Guoan
Kim Kee-hee   13' Report Batalla   85' (pen.)


Persepolis  1–0  Al-Hilal
Digão   90+2' (o.g.) Report

Al-Sadd  1–2  Lekhwiya
Al-Haydos   37' Report Soria   13'
Msakni   36'

Seongnam FC  2–1  Guangzhou Evergrande
Jorginho   23'
Kim Do-heon   90+5' (pen.)
Report Huang Bowen   42'
Attendance: 13,792
Referee: Mohsen Torky (Iran)

FC Seoul  1–3  Gamba Osaka
Yun Ju-tae   90+2' Report Usami   63', 86'
Yonekura   74'

Naft Tehran  1–0  Al-Ahli
Rezaei   34' Report
Attendance: 13,370

Al-Ahli  0–0  Al-Ain
Report
Attendance: 8,900

Second leg

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4–4 on aggregate. Kashiwa Reysol won on away goals.


Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors won 2–1 on aggregate.


Lekhwiya  2–2  Al-Sadd
Msakni   13'
Mohammad   83'
Report Muriqui   36'
Assadalla   63'

Lekhwiya won 4–3 on aggregate.


Al-Hilal won 3–1 on aggregate.


Gamba Osaka  3–2  FC Seoul
Patric   16'
Kurata   45'
Lins   86'
Report Yun Ju-tae   58', 90+2'
Attendance: 9,597

Gamba Osaka won 6–3 on aggregate.


Guangzhou Evergrande  2–0  Seongnam FC
Goulart   27' (pen.), 57' Report
Attendance: 48,761

Guangzhou Evergrande won 3–2 on aggregate.


Al-Ain  3–3  Al-Ahli
Gyan   5', 78'
Eisa   90+2'
Report Khamis   51'
Khalil   53', 56'

3–3 on aggregate. Al-Ahli won on away goals.


Al-Ahli  2–1  Naft Tehran
Al Soma   36', 42' Report Padovani   31'

2–2 on aggregate. Naft Tehran won on away goals.

Quarter-finals

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Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
West Zone
Al-Hilal   6–3   Lekhwiya 4–1 2–2
Naft Tehran   1–3   Al-Ahli 0–1 1–2
Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
East Zone
Kashiwa Reysol   2–4   Guangzhou Evergrande 1–3 1–1
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors   2–3   Gamba Osaka 0–0 2–3

First leg

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Kashiwa Reysol  1–3  Guangzhou Evergrande
Kudo   89' Report Suzuki   5' (o.g.)
Paulinho   40'
Gao Lin   58'

Al-Hilal  4–1  Lekhwiya
Aílton   11'
Kaabi   34'
Eduardo   36', 86'
Report Msakni   17'


Naft Tehran  0–1  Al-Ahli
Report Lima   62'
Attendance: 23,300
Referee: Minoru Tōjō (Japan)
Notes
  1. ^
    Al-Hilal played their quarter-final home match behind closed doors due to crowd trouble.[5]

Second leg

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Guangzhou Evergrande  1–1  Kashiwa Reysol
Huang Bowen   30' Report Cristiano   12'
Attendance: 48,643

Guangzhou Evergrande won 4–2 on aggregate.


Lekhwiya  2–2  Al-Hilal
Mohammad   45+2'
Flores   72'
Report Eduardo   26'
Digão   87'

Al-Hilal won 6–3 on aggregate.


Gamba Osaka won 3–2 on aggregate.


Al-Ahli  2–1  Naft Tehran
Lima   26'
Khalil   48' (pen.)
Report Amiri   50'

Al-Ahli won 3–1 on aggregate.

Semi-finals

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Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
West Zone
Al-Hilal   3–4   Al-Ahli 1–1 2–3
Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
East Zone
Guangzhou Evergrande   2–1   Gamba Osaka 2–1 0–0

First leg

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Al-Hilal  1–1  Al-Ahli
Aílton   82' Report Lima   57'

Guangzhou Evergrande  2–1  Gamba Osaka
Huang Bowen   36'
Zheng Zhi   57'
Report Feng Xiaoting   13' (o.g.)
Attendance: 48,946

Second leg

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Al-Ahli  3–2  Al-Hilal
Lima   17'
Ribeiro   45'
Kwon Kyung-won   90+5'
Report Aílton   51'
Eduardo   64'
Attendance: 9,800

Al-Ahli won 4–3 on aggregate.


Gamba Osaka  0–0  Guangzhou Evergrande
Report
Attendance: 17,310

Guangzhou Evergrande won 2–1 on aggregate.

Final

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Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Al-Ahli   0–1   Guangzhou Evergrande 0–0 0–1
Al-Ahli  0–0  Guangzhou Evergrande
Report
Guangzhou Evergrande  1–0  Al-Ahli
Elkeson   54' Report
Attendance: 42,499

Guangzhou Evergrande won 1–0 on aggregate.

References

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  1. ^ a b c "AFC Champions League 2015 Competition Regulations" (PDF). AFC.
  2. ^ "AFC Calendar of Competitions 2015" (PDF). AFC.
  3. ^ "Al Hilal to face Lekhwiya in ACL quarter-finals". AFC. 18 June 2015.
  4. ^ a b c "ACL quarter-finalists to learn opponents on Thursday". AFC. 16 June 2015.
  5. ^ "ACL clubs sanctioned for crowd disturbances". AFC. 16 June 2015.
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