After India's Salgaocar beat Oman's Al Arouba 3-1, both Al Wehdat and Neftchi were assured of a place in the last 16 before kick-off at King Abdullah International Stadium.

And the sides were level at the break as Otabek Isroilov cancelled out Shelbaieh's fifth minute opener 11 minutes before half-time.

But after Shelbaieh restored the home sides advantage just before the hour mark with his sixth goal of the campaign, Issa Al Sapah sealed Al Wehdat's fourth consecutive win to earn Branko Smiljanic's side home advantage in next month's one-off Round of 16 with a game remaining.

"The victory came after we studied our opponents and stopped their key attacking players. We managed to find some openings in their defence while we strengthened our back line," said Smiljanic.

"We have qualified now on top of the group and that's what we were looking for as we want to take advantage of playing at home in the next round.

"We are improving and we'll use the last match to give experience to our young players."

Following Salgaocar's first win of the campaign, the pressure of qualification was eased on both sides but Al Wehdat made the ideal start as Shelbaieh headed home Rafat Ali's cross after just five minutes.

The lead lasted until 11 minutes before half-time as Isroilov brought down Mansurjon Saidov's cross inside the area before beating goalkeeper Mahmoud Qandil. Al Wehdat, though, regained the lead two minutes before the hour mark as Shelbaieh collected a long ball forward before finding the back of the net.

And with five minutes remaining Al Sapah's close range finish from Monther Abu Amara's cross sealed the win for the home side.

"We were not at our best today and we didn't have a good performance," said Neftchi assistant coach Sergey Lebedev.

"We saw an organised team and we failed to put a good show against them as they surprised us with two goals in the second half.

"We achieved our target as we secured our place in the knockout stage and the most important thing now for us is to strengthen our team in the next stage to get good results."