With Jeonbuk choosing to rest a number of key players for next week’s second leg at home, the Thai champions pounced to take the advantage heading into that clash, although a late goal from the Korea Republic side did take some of the gloss off the win.

The Brazilian put the home side ahead in just the sixth minute when he got on the end of Yoo Jun-su’s cross to head the ball back across goal and out of the reach of Song Beom-keun.

One of Jeonbuk’s own Brazilians, Adriano, had a chance to draw the visitors level after 17 minutes but his header lacked any power and was easily saved by Sivarak Tedsungnoen.

In the first minute of the second half Kim Shin-wook had a header saved off the line by Sivarak as Choi Kang-hee’s side turned up the heat in search of an equaliser, and it would come just five minutes later.

Kim was involved in the lead up play, chesting a long-ball down on the edge of his area for Ricardo Lopes to run onto, with the Brazilian driving into the area and shooting past a helpless Sivarak.

The Iranian side looked to dominate from the start but Al Jazira of the United Arab Emirates succeeded in keeping them at bay for most of the first half, but Persepolis forward Ali Alipour broke the hosts' resilience in the 42nd minute, heading in Vahid Amiri’s cross into the top right corner to put the visitors in front.

Al Jazira boss Henk ten Cate started the second half by replacing midfielder Yaqoub Al Hosani with forward Ahmed Al Hashmi, and the Dutchman's strategy worked right away when Al Hashmi won a challenge and supplied a pass to Ali Mabkhout who dribbled through the defence and struck a powerful effort that hit the back of the net in the 52nd minute.

The visitors added a second through Romarinho, who received Mabkhout's pass and quickly advanced into the area before slotting home in the 77th minute.

Persepolis responded instantly from the spot as Godwin Mensha converted on his second attempt after reacting quickest to Ali Khaseif's save from his penalty kick six minutes from time.

Just as the Iranians thought they had come back from Abu Dhabi with a 2-2 draw, defender Khalifa Mubarak won it for Al Jazira with a last-gasp goal, directing his header from Mbark Boussoufa's free-kick into the back of the net in the final minute of added time to give the Emirati side a slight advantage going into the second leg.

Persepolis, however, will be encouraged by their two away goals going into next week's return leg in Azadi Stadium in Tehran.

Al Sadd started their first AFC Champions League knockout game since 2015 brightly, and made the breakthrough in just the third minute as Khoukhi got into the box after a fine exchange with Xavi and coolly slotted home with his left foot for the opener. 

Despite the early setback, the visitors seemed confident of levelling the scores and came close to scoring twice in the space of one minute. However, Ahmed Suhail and Salem Al Hajri produced two goal-line clearances to deny Abdulfattah Asiri and Hussain Al Mogahwi respectively.

Just as Al Ahli looked to make their mark, Khoukhi struck again in the 28th minute, doubling Al Sadd's lead with a powerful header past Mohammed Al Owais following Baghdad Bounedjah's cross from the right. 

Al Sadd thus went into the break with a 2-0 lead but a revitalised Al Ahli side emerged from the tunnel with a desire to change things around. They were rewarded just two minutes into the second half, with Mohannad Aseri heading in Amir Kurdi's cross to reduce the deficit.

That goal set the stage for a feisty second half which saw both sides carve up numerous chances but no goal materialised. Tournament leading scorer Bounedjah was caught offside on multiple occasions while Saad Al Dosari stood his ground at the other end to deny the Al Ahli forwards.

The result leaves the tie nicely poised going into next week's second leg in Jeddah's King Abdullah Sports City.

Esteghlal’s Farshid Esmaeili almost opened the scoring for his side 16 minutes into the first-half after he directed Server Djeparov’s cross to the right corner of the net but goalkeeper Mohammad Rashid Mazaheri was alert to make the save.

Despite having more ball possession and creating more chances, Winfried Schafer’s men were unable to use their domination wisely in the first half as the whistle signalled for the two sides to head into the break level.

Goalkeeper Mehdi Rahmati denied Zobahan their most dangerous chance in the 54th minute after making a tremendous save from Seyed Mohammad Reza Hosseini’s superb header.

Zobahan were reduced to 10 men in the final minute of regular time after Mohammad Nejadmahdi was sent off for a second bookable offence. The visitors looked to take the advantage but it was Zobahan who eventually managed to break the deadlock in the third minute of added time from the penalty spot.

Rouzbeh Cheshmi handled the ball inside the box and Gvelesiani stepped up to convert the penalty and give his side a slight advantage heading into the second leg which will take place on May 15 at Azadi Stadium in Tehran.

The visitors started the game the more energetic side and stunned the home fans when Moroccan striker Youssef El Arabi struck in the 16th minute. 

Al Ain goalkeeper Khaled Eisa did well to save El Arabi's initial header but the Al Duhail frontman pounced on the rebound and hit a powerful effort that went in off Mohamed Ahmed.

Nam Tae-hee then doubled the lead for the Qataris in the 39th minute with a magnificent solo effort. The Korea Republic star nutmegged Ahmed Barman near the halfway line before sprinting away from Mohammed Abdulrahman and netting past Eisa to make it 2-0.

The home side had the first sight of goal, but Frenchman Anthony Modeste powered his shot from just inside the area straight at Zeng Cheng.

Tianjin Quanjian’s Brazilian superstar Alexandre Pato looked dangerous down the left as he regularly got the better of his opponents in an otherwise tight and tense first half of football.

Things opened up a little more in the second half and Alan should’ve given the visitors the lead, but somehow blasted the ball over the bar from close range 10 minutes into the second half.

Zhang Lu then produced a fine save for the home side to deny Yu Hanchao as both teams pushed in search of an opener.