KUALA LUMPUR: Johor Darul Ta'zim's (JDT) Arif Aiman Hanapi has overshadowed Cristiano Ronaldo of Al Nassr in the Asian Champions League Elite (ACLE).
The 22-year-old winger plundered four goals from four ACLE matches while five-time Ballon d'Or winner Ronaldo scored only two this season.
Arif is also ahead of former Manchester City star Riyad Mahrez of Al Ahli who has three goals.
The Malaysian's exploits have also put him infront of Brazilian Roberto Firmino of Al Ahli and Al Hilal's Sergej Milinkovic-Savic of Serbia, with two goals each.
Arif is currently ranked the joint second highest goal scorer in the ACLE with Al Hilal's Aleksandar Mitrovic and Salem Al-Dawsari, Soufiane Rahimi of Al Ain and Vissel Kobe's Taisei Miyashiro.
Gwangju's Albanian winger Jasir Asani leads the ACLE scoring charts with six goals.
Arif scored his fourth ACLE goal in JDT's 3-0 win over Ulsan at the Sultan Ismail Stadium yesterday.
He struck in the eighth minute against the Korean side. Oscar Arribas (67th) and Bergson da Silva (88th) were also on target for JDT.
A jubilant Arif said that he just went out there to do his job against the newly crowned K-League champions who were led by former Malaysia's national coach Kim Pan Gon.
"I'm grateful... we went in with a must-win mission. It wasn't just me, the entire team gave their best performance.
"This is motivation for me to keep progressing and it's a team effort. I'll do my best whenever I can."
Asked to comment on Pan Gon, Arif said: "He recently won the Korean K-League. We know each other well, and he was once the coach for Malaysia. That's all."
Pan Gon praised Arif's performance and sees him as one of Asia's emerging stars.
"I've seen his performances and I'm very proud. Arif played excellently in recent matches. His way of scoring goals is also remarkable," said the South Korean coach.
"He's shown his quality to Asia. He has proven himself to be stronger and more mature than before. Before long, he will become one of Asia's best players."
JDT, who have two wins, one draw and one loss in the ACLE, will meet China's Shandong Taishan at the Jinan Olympic Sports Centre Stadium on Nov 26.