Al Zawraa returned to Karbala having won their first-ever AFC Champions League game on Iraqi soil 5-0 over Al Wasl on Matchday Two, while Al Nassr were buoyed with their 4-1 victory in the reverse fixture.

Fahd bin Jumayah fired the first warning shot after less than 180 seconds. The Al Nassr midfielder skipped past two defenders and launched a long-range effort, forcing Jalal Hassan into his first save of the night.

Esteghlal had won the previous encounter 2-1 two weeks ago, but Al Hilal remained top of the group with six points going into Matchday Four.

With their hopes of progressing from Group F all but extinguished after their 4-0 loss to Guangzhou on Matchday Three, Kevin Muscat made eight changes to his starting 11 from their A-League game last Friday.

After losing their opening match of the campaign to Guangzhou Evergrande, the Japanese side responded well with back-to-back wins, including a 2-0 win over Daegu on Matchday Three.

Hiroshi Jofuku’s side rode their luck early, however, as the home side had the better of the early chances as Cesinha and then Edgar spurned good chances to open the lead for the Korea Republic side.

The result leaves the group finely balanced, with just two points separating the teams between second and fourth place.

SIPG’s Zhang Wei had a good early effort saved by Andrew Redmayne as the home side started brightly.

But Sydney worked their way into the match and in the 20th minute, Rhyan Grant’s cross found Adam Le Fondre but the Englishman’s volley went wide.

Siem De Jong’s excellent through ball then found Reza Ghoochannejhad but the angle was tight and Yan Junling came out to smother the shot.

It took just eight minutes for the home side to take the lead as Ulsan conceded for the first time in this year’s tournament. Following a corner, the ball broke to Ryota Oshima at the edge of the Ulsan box.

Oshima played the perfect pass through a crowd of bodies and found Yu Kobayashi, who rifled home from an angle.

But 10 minutes later, Ulsan equalised against the run of play when Sin Jin-ho’s corner from the left dropped for Park Yong-woo to direct home from close range at the far post.

It’s now more than a decade since the teams – who have picked up four AFC Champions League titles between them – first clashed on the Continent and Choi still clearly remembers that first encounter.

After winning the 2006 edition of the competition, Jeonbuk received a bye to the quarter-finals of the 2007 tournament where they were paired with debutants Urawa.