After a shy start to the game from both sides, it was Pakhtakor who took the initiative at the quarter-hour mark as Dragan Ceran advanced down the middle and supplied a fine through pass for Erin Derdiok who fired low from inside the box, but Tractor goalkeeper Mohammadreza Akhbari produced a quick save with his feet at the near post.

Persepolis, who lost last year's final to Korea Republic's Ulsan Hyundai, kicked off their 2021 campaign with a hard-fought win at the Pandit Jawaharial Nehru Stadium that gives Yahya Golmohammadi’s side the ideal start to their quest for an elusive continental club title.

Following the success of the 2020 competition held in Qatar, this year’s group stage takes place in a centralised format but across four cities in three different countries as the AFC continues to find solutions for the beautiful game in the continent to navigate the challenges of the pandemic.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and - for the first time - India are hosting the 2021 AFC Champions League group stage games. the-AFC.com profiles the host grounds.

With the 20 remaining teams from East Asia set to begin their continental campaigns a little later in the year, the-AFC.com looks at some of the numbers that stand out ahead of the start of the 19th edition of the AFC Champions League.

Some of these starlets are established players for their club sides and some have even appeared in previous AFC Champions League seasons, while several are just breaking into the starting XI, but those U23 players are all eyeing a milestone campaign over the next three weeks.

With no shortage of attacking talent on display, we shine the spotlight on six frontmen who are on fire in their clubs’ domestic campaigns and could be set to bring those hot streaks onto the Asian stage in this year's continental club competition.