A goal from A Lan on Sunday sent Beijing Guoan into the AFC Champions League quarter-finals for the first time in club history, with the Chinese outfit winning 1-0 to eliminate FC Tokyo in their round of 16 clash at Education City Stadium on Sunday.

The Brazilian-born striker, formally known as Alan Carvalho, scored the decisive goal in the 59th minute, stretching Bruno Génésio's side's unbeaten run in the tournament to seven matches and taking them to within three wins of a maiden Asian title.

Tokyo's defeat ends their stay in Doha but extends a run of outs at this stage of the competition, with Chinese opposition undoing their efforts in all three of their visits to the final 16.

The high-stakes nature of the East Zone's first stage of the knockouts brought an increased intensity, with time on the ball a luxury for both teams in a hard-fought opening 15 minutes.

Tokyo looked to turn on the pressure at the beginning of the match, finding early success by keeping Beijing locked into their defensive half. It was also the Japanese side that had two of the better early chances of scoring thanks to shots by Tsuyoshi Watanabe and Leandro.

But coming into the game fresh with a club record 16-point group stage haul, Beijing began to find solutions and came close to breaking the deadlock just before half-time with a low shot from A Lan supplied by Fernando that went just wide of the net.

A Lan had a much better chance to open the scoring just after half-time but the Brazilian-born Chinese striker inexplicably missed the target from 12 yards after an excellent run and pass from Renato Augusto.

However, that helped Beijing kick it up a gear and the impressive Kim Min-jae kept the pressure on Tokyo with a header off of Xizhe's corner kick that went just over the bar in the 57th minute. The Chinese club's breakthrough duly arrived two minutes later.

After his two earlier misses, the third time proved a charm for A Lan, who poked home his fourth goal of the tournament from eight yards after more magic from Renato Augusto, who dribbled into the penalty area from the flank before picking out his teammate.

A Lan succumbed to a knock not long after and was replaced by Zhang Yuning, but Beijing remained on top with a thumping drive from Renato Augusto bringing out the best in Tokyo goalkeeper Go Hatano as Kenta Hasegawa's side fought to stay in the contest.

Tokyo turned their attention to the search for an equalizer but rarely managed to ask any questions of goalkeeper Hou Sen, leaving Beijing FC to prepare for Thursday's quarter-final.

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