Daegu, playing their first ever home game in the AFC Champions League, could not have picked a more illustrious opponent than the two-time winners and, after both had won their opening fixtures, it was forward Kim who stole the show against the Chinese side.

His inch-perfect cross from the left allowed Brazilian Edgar to volley home midway through the first half, before he found Cesinha, who played in Edgar for Daegu’s second as the interval approached.

Buoyed by a maiden Continental win away at Melbourne Victory by the same scoreline on Matchday One, the hosts were on top for the opening spell in their AFC Champions League home debut against the Chinese heavyweights.

With Japanese superstar Keisuke Honda playing his first competitive club match in Japan since he left Nagoya Grampus in 2007, it was he who had the first sight of goal but his effort was straight at Hirotsugu Nakabayashi.

But less than a minute after, the home side had the ball in the back of the net at the other end after Brazilian striker Patric, getting the better of the Melbourne defence, cut the ball back for Shunki Higashi to sidefoot the ball home to give his side a dream start.

After an even opening period, Sho Ito silenced the home crowd at Jinan Olympic Sports Centre as he gave defending champions Kashima the lead on 10 minutes, linking with Leo Silva and then striding into the area to steer home a low shot.

JDT’s Safawi Rasid forced an early save from Lee Bum-soo as his curling shot threatened to sneak in at the far post.

Diogo Luis Santo must have impressed the watching Ronaldo with an audacious attempt in the 24th minute. After a flowing move, the ball made its way to S. Kunanlan on the right and his cross was met with an overhead kick that flew just over.

The match at Jassim bin Hamad Stadium was a repeat of the 2018 semi-final which the Iranian team edged 2-1 on aggregate, but, after dominating large spells of the game, the Qatari team got their revenge in the dying moments.

Al Haydos floated in a free-kick four minutes into added time that was met by Abdelkarim Hassan at the back post and the 2018 AFC Player of the Year’s header back across goal was knocked in by Baghdad Bounedjah as Al Sadd claimed all three points in dramatic fashion.

Both sides were looking for their first win of the competition, and that attacking intent resulted in end-to-end action early on. Persepolis were unlucky not to score in the ninth minute after somehow failing to tap the ball in during a goalmouth scramble.

Al Sadd's Akram Afif then saw his curling effort take a deflection and miss the goal by inches. Over at the other end, Al Sadd goalkeeper Saad Al Sheeb produced a stunning reflex save to deny Ahmed Noorollahi.