Li struck nine minutes after the interval to cancel out Yanko Valkanov's first-half opener for the Chinese side, but Hleb put the ball past Lee Woon-jae 16 minutes from time to give Shenhua the win as they joined Suwon and Kashima Antlers at the top of the group on six points.

With Mao Jianqing creating problems for the Suwon defence, the home side dominated the first half and went close with a Chen Tao free-kick which went narrowly wide.

It was only a matter of time before the hosts went ahead and the breakthrough arrived in the 17th minute when Hleb's free-kick from the left picked out an unmarked Valkanov, who glanced a header past South Korea goalkeeper Lee.

The visitors had won both of their previous games in the group but did not threaten until midway through the first half when Yang Sang-min sent a 40-yarder narrowly wide.

Hernan Barcos went close to grabbing a second for Shenhua at the end of the half when he sent a header over the crossbar and the Argentinian was again in the thick of action shortly after interval when he turned an inviting cross by Hleb wide of the target.

That miss would appear costly when Li, a former Shenhua skipper, got on the end of a Kim Dea-eui free-kick in the 54th minute and headed past goalkeeper Qiu Shengjiong to level the scores.

The visitors very nearly took the lead when Oliveira's close-range attempt shaved the left upright.

But Hleb put Shenhua back in front in the 74th minute, running on to an excellent through ball by Wang Hongliang and stroking the ball home after being denied by Lee on his initial attempt.

Suwon turned up the heat in the dying minutes and nearly got an equaliser when Li's late attempt was scrambled off the line by a Shenhua defender.