The Iraqi side are chasing an unprecedented hat-trick of titles after winning the last two AFC Cup titles, and they showed in a powerful display why they are so difficult to beat.

Needing to overturn a 3-1 deficit from the first leg, Al Ahed had the better of the early running at the Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium, with Mohamad Haidar in particular looking quite threatening.

But against the run of play it was the visitors who took the lead when Iraqi international Humam Tareq threaded a perfectly weighted ball through to Hammadi Ahmad who made no mistake to put Air Force Club ahead after 23 minutes.

Having come into the home leg with the away goal advantage after drawing 1-1 in the reverse fixture, Al Faisaly looked to get an early goal to move into a comfortable position. Alban Meha tried his luck from distance, but his effort was saved by Al Jazeera goalkeeper Ahmad Nawwas halfway through the first half.

Al Faisaly had a golden chance to take the lead five minutes before the end of the first half, when Polish striker Lukasz Gikiewicz was shackled by defender Zaid Jaber inside the box. Gikiewicz stepped up to take the resulting spot-kick himself but saw his attempt saved by Nawwas as the first half ended goalless.

Persija, however, were unable to overcome their visitors, losing 6-3 on aggregate but The Kemayoran Tigers fans exited this year’s competition boasting an incredible record in AFC Cup history.

The Gelora Bung Karno stadium first made headlines when Persija welcomed Tampines Rovers in their Group H campaign in February, attracting a crowd of 49,056, before hosting Malaysia’s Johor Darul Ta’zim on Matchday Five which broke previous AFC Cup records with an attendance of 60,157.

With three wins in their previous three matches at home in this campaign, the Indonesian side came into the second leg confident they could overturn the 3-2 deficit from the first leg but were dealt an early blow when a mistake from goalkeeper Rizky Darmawan gifted Ishak his first of the evening.

But no less than a minute later and the home side were gifted an equaliser when Novri Setiawan was taken down in the box, with Marko Simic converting the resulting spot-kick.

Scores weren’t level for long, however, as the referee again pointed to the spot, this time awarding Home United a penalty after Rezaldi Hehanusa was adjudged to have fouled Ishak in the area.

The 34-year-old Singaporean international stepped up to take the spot-kick only to see his effort saved by Rizky, but the keeper could do nothing about the follow up as Ishak made amends for his miss to restore the visitors’ lead.

The first leg finished 4-2 to Ceres, but anyone at Thuwanna Youth Training Centre Stadium who thought the outcome was a foregone conclusion was forced to reassess in just the second minute, as Yangon burst out of the traps and took the lead through a wonderful Kosuke Uchida strike.

Ceres reacted well to that early blow and restored parity and their two-goal aggregate advantage just six minutes later, as Manuel Ott robbed Aung Yan Lin deep in the Yangon half, fed Stephan Schrock, and then tucked home a return pass from Schrock after the German-Filipino had powered past the challenges of Kyaw Khant Min and Kekere Moukailou.