On a chilly night at the Changwon Football Center Stadium, both sides started well in an evenly contested opening half.

Shandong had the first chance of the match when Wu Xinghan was left free in the box from a free-kick, but he couldn’t direct his header on target.

At the other end, Shandong’s star signing, Belgian international Marouane Fellaini made a crucial defensive header on 11 minutes as Song Ju-hun looked to get on the end of Lee Yeong-jae’s in-swinging free-kick.

There was an early scare for the visitors when JDT goalkeeper Farizal Marlias brought down Takeshi Kanamori on the edge of the box. The away side were relieved that the referee blew for a free-kick and not a penalty.

In their very first AFC Champions League campaign, the 2018 Korean FA Cup champions were on the back foot early as the home side jumped out of the blocks to dominate early proceedings, with Raul Baena and Terry Antonis both having early efforts from long range.

The Japanese side defeated Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal in the final two years ago to add to the title they won a decade earlier, but they failed to qualify for last year's edition. However, after winning the 2018 Emperor’s Cup, Urawa will make their seventh appearance on the Continent.

Oswaldo de Oliveira’s team have had a poor start to their domestic season, losing the Super Cup to Kawasaki Frontale and then picking up one point from their opening two J.League games, with a 2-0 loss to Consadole Sapporo at the weekend their latest result.

Jeonbuk are one of the most decorated teams in Asia, having lifted the trophy in 2006 and 2016 as well as finishing runners-up in 2011, and they return to the competition after winning their fourth K League 1 title in five years.

The hosts, who were eliminated at the quarter-final stage by domestic rivals Suwon Samsung Bluewings last year, began the defence of their K league 1 title with a 1-1 draw against Daegu FC on Friday.

Shanghai finally ended Guangzhou Evergrande’s dominance in China after winning the league in 2018 and return to the competition for the fourth successive year. Their best performance was when they reached the semi-finals in 2017.

The hosts, who remain unbeaten at home in the AFC Champions League, began the defence of their domestic title with a 4-0 win over city rivals Shanghai Shenhua on Friday and also defeated Beijing FC to win the Super Cup a week earlier.

The A-League side, who are making their fifth appearance in the competition, were eliminated at the group stage in 2018 after failing to win a game or score a goal at home. Their best performance to date was when they reached the Round of 16 in 2016.

Unlike the other teams in their group, they are well into their domestic season and currently sit second in the A-League after winning their last two games, against Wellington Phoenix and Adelaide United.