There was a scrappy opening to the game and neither side was able to gain the upper hand in the first 20 minutes.

There was finally a chance for Ulsan in the 21st minute but Kim Su-an failed to get enough power on his header, allowing Yan Junling to save comfortably.

The hosts almost gifted SIPG the opening goal when Oscar intercepted a loose crossfield pass from Dave Bulthuis. The Brazilian advanced on goal and his shot from 25 yards was pushed wide by Oh Seung-hoon.

On a chilly night in Kawasaki, the home side were looking for their first win in the AFC Champions League since 2017 and they had a great chance to take an early lead, but new Brazilian striker Leandro Damiao sliced his effort just wide after 12 minutes.

After both teams lost their opening games of the campaign, the match at Azadi Stadium took on extra significance and it was Esteghlal who dominated large spells, eventually going ahead through Farshid Bagheri’s header in the 54th minute.

But the Iranian side continued to miss chances and the longer there remained just one goal in it, the more likely the equaliser became. So it proved as Japan international Tsukasa Shiotani fired into the bottom left corner with five minutes remaining to claim a share of the spoils.

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.

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.

A cautious start to the game saw both sides limited to shy attempts in the opening 20 minutes. Al Ain’s Rayan Yaslam tried his luck on the half-volley from outside the box, but Mehdi Rahmati easily saved, and Bandar Mohamed sent his effort from the free-kick wide and high.

At the other end of the pitch Mohamed Fayez threw his body to block Farshid Bagheri’s shot in the 23rd minute, which was headed goalward with Al Ain goalkeeper Khaled Eisa fallen on the ground having punched away the cross.

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.