Arema Indonesia is on the brink of crashing out of the competition after being pummeled by Shandong Luneng of China 5-0. The Indonesia side remains on the bottom of Group G and has yet to win a match.

In the other Group H match, Gamba Osaka of Japan beat Jeju United 3-1 to move into a tie for second, a point behind leader Tianjin.

Thirty-two teams are split into eight groups of four, with 16 progressing to the knockout stage. The top two teams in each group advance.

In Melbourne, the home side scored two goals in three minutes just before halftime to secure its first win in this season’s competition. The win came despite the sending off of Surat Sukha with eight minutes to go.

Tianjin took the early lead in the 37th minute, courtesy of a goal from Chen Tao.

But Melbourne tied the match seven minutes later, after Carlos Hernandez’s 35-yard free kick got past Tianjin goalkeeper Zhao Yanming and ended up in the net.

Less than two minutes later, Melbourne took the lead for good after Kevin Muscat slotted home from the penalty spot for his third goal of the campaign.

The match got ugly in the second half with both sides repeatedly clashing resulting in nine yellow cards being handed out and Sukha picking up a red.

In South Korea, a late strike from Lee Dong-gook gave Jeonbuk the win over Cerezo Osaka.

With the game heading for a goalless draw, Lee broke the deadlock 12 minutes from the end to give the hosts a vital three points in a tight group. With two games remaining, three points separate Jeonbuk in first and Cerezo in third.

After losing 1-0 to the Japanese team two weeks previously, Jeonbuk attacked from the start and went close after just five minutes. Kim Dong-chan was released by Park Won-jae down the left side and the striker took the ball past his marker only to shoot straight at Cerezo goalkeeper Kim Jin-hyeon.

Just after the half-hour, Cerezo almost took the lead. On the halfway line, Takashi Inui spied Yeom Don-hyun off his line and his 50-yard lob just cleared the crossbar with the goalkeeper desperately scrambling to get back in position.

In the second half, both teams had their chances but it was the South Koreans who capitalized. Park Won-jae pulled the ball back from the left byline to behind the penalty spot and Lee fired the ball past goalkeeper Kim for the winner.