2018 AFC Champions League knockout stage

Qualified teams

Region	Group	Winners	Runners-up
West Region	A	Format In the knockout stage, the 16 teams played a single-elimination tournament, with the teams split into the two regions until the final. Each tie was played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. The away goals rule, extra time and penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary. Schedule The schedule of each round was as follows. Matches in the West Region were played on Mondays and Tuesdays, while matches in the East Region were played on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Round First leg Second leg Round of 16 7–9 May 2018 14–16 May 2018 Quarter-finals 27–29 August 2018 17–19 September 2018 Semi-finals 2–3 October 2018 23–24 October 2018 Final 3 November 2018 10 November 2018 Bracket The bracket of the knockout stage was determined as follows: Round Matchups Round of 16 ;West Region Runner-up Group A vs. Winner Group C Runner-up Group C vs. Winner Group A Runner-up Group B vs. Winner Group D Runner-up Group D vs. Winner Group B ;East Region Runner-up Group E vs. Winner Group G Runner-up Group G vs. Winner Group E Runner-up Group F vs. Winner Group H Runner-up Group H vs. Winner Group F Quarter-finals ;West Region QF1 QF2 ;East Region QF3 QF4 Semi-finals ;West Region SF1: Winner QF1 vs. Winner QF2 ;East Region SF2: Winner QF3 vs. Winner QF4 Final Winner SF1 vs. Winner SF2 The bracket was decided after the draw for the quarter-finals, which was held on 23 May 2018, 16:00 MYT, at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Round of 16 Summary In the round of 16, the winners of one group played the runners-up of another group from the same region, with the group winners hosting the second leg, and the matchups determined by the group stage draw. West Region 4–4 on aggregate. Persepolis won on away goals. ---- Al-Sadd won 4–3 on aggregate. ---- Esteghlal won 3–2 on aggregate. ---- ''Al-Duhail won 8–3 on aggregate.'' East Region 2–2 on aggregate. Tianjin Quanjian won on away goals. ---- Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors won 4–3 on aggregate. ---- Suwon Samsung Bluewings won 3–1 on aggregate. ---- ''Kashima Antlers won 4–3 on aggregate.'' Quarter-finals Summary The draw for the quarter-finals was held on 23 May 2018. In the quarter-finals, the four teams from the West Region played in two ties, and the four teams from the East Region played in two ties, with the matchups and order of legs decided by draw, without any seeding or country protection. West Region Al-Sadd won 5–3 on aggregate. ---- ''Persepolis won 3–2 on aggregate.'' East Region Kashima Antlers won 5–0 on aggregate. ---- ''3–3 on aggregate. Suwon Samsung Bluewings won 4–2 on penalties.'' Semi-finals Summary In the semi-finals, the two quarter-final winners from the West Region played each other, and the two quarter-final winners from the East Region played each other, with the order of legs determined by the quarter-final draw. West Region ''Persepolis won 2–1 on aggregate.'' East Region ''Kashima Antlers won 6–5 on aggregate.'' Final In the final, the two semi-final winners played each other, with the order of legs reversed from the previous season's final. Kashima Antlers won 2–0 on aggregate.