The draw ensured the China PR side stay two points above the Australians in the Group H standings.

There was a stunning start as Sydney scored after just three minutes. Siem De Jong brought the ball down on the edge of the SIPG penalty area and his low shot was deflected into the net.

Goals from former English Premier League stars Marouane Fellaini and Graziano Pelle handed the Chinese side a 2-0 half-time lead in the Group E clash at Jinan Olympic Sports Centre.

The Malaysian champions rallied after the interval and pulled a goal back through Safawi Rasid’s stunning long-range effort, but defeat leaves them with an uphill challenge to reach the knockout rounds.

Making his first appearance in this year’s competition after a lengthy injury lay-off, the Spanish midfielder opened the scoring in the sixth minute at Pakhtakor Stadium with a sweetly struck curling effort from the edge of the area.

Then, after the Uzbek side levelled through Khojiakbar Alijonov's rocket from distance, the 2010 FIFA World Cup winner netted a delightful free-kick from just outside the right side of the penalty area.

The Tehran team went into the match having picked up just one point from two games, but an acrobatic first-half effort from Shoja Khalilzadeh opened the scoring before Ali Alipour’s close-range finish shortly after the restart secured the 2-0 victory.

There are now just two points separating first-place Pakhtakor and bottom-of-the-table Al Ahli in a compact Group D, with both Persepolis and Al Sadd sandwiched in between the pair.

The two sides went into the fixture level on three points, with goal difference favouring Al Wahda.

Al Rayyan looked to pump crosses into the box for Gelmin Rivas throughout the first half with the Venezuelan striker seeing his header saved by goalkeeper Mohammed Al Shamsi at the 15-minute mark.

Rivas was again at the receiving end of a Mohammed Juma cross six minutes later, but he failed direct his header goalward.

Both teams had lost their previous matches in the group, with Al Ittihad falling to a 4-1 defeat against Al Wahda and Lokomotiv losing 2-1 to Al Rayyan.

The first opportunity of the game came Lokomotiv’s way after 10 minutes as Oleg Zoteev whipped a cross for Jovan Djokic who headed it wide.

The 2018 finalists took the lead for the first time this campaign after 18 minutes with what was the first real chance of the match.

Al Ahli's defence failed to deal with a long throw-in from Mehdi Shiri and defender Shojae Khalilzadeh was in the right spot and went for the spectacular, volleying home from inside the box past a helpless Mohammed Al Owais.

Two minutes later, Ahmad Noorollahi tried his luck for Persepolis from distance, but his shot missed by inches.