The sides in Groups A and C are first up when they take to the field on Monday, while those in Groups B and D will take their turn a day later.

Persepolis’ run to the 2017 AFC Champions League semi-finals introduced Asian football fans to striker Mehdi Taremi who finished the campaign with seven goals, a tally bettered only by Al-Hilal’s Omar Khrbin and Brazilian duo Rafael Silva and Hulk.

But by January 2018, Taremi had departed for Qatar, joining Al Gharafa on an 18-month deal. With a transfer ban in place on Persepolis, the Tehran-based side had to find a replacement from within as they looked to mount a title defence on the domestic front, as well as a second consecutive continental challenge.

Ali Alipour had started six games in last season’s AFC Champions League, scoring once in the second leg of the quarter-finals against Saudi Arabia’s Al Ahli, but coach Branko Ivankovic saw in the 23-year-old the man to replace Taremi in his attack.

Mohannad Assiri’s Al Ahli career has been intertwined with that of Omar Al Somah since the very beginning. The 31-year-old arrived at the club from Al Shabab in August 2014, a month after the arrival of his Syrian teammate. Since then Assiri has constantly played second fiddle to Al Somah.

When news emerged in late December that Al Somah had suffered a serious ankle injury that would keep him out for three months, Al Ahli fans feared their entire season was in danger of falling apart. After all, Al Somah was the league’s top goal scorer for the past three years and had already netted 10 league goals for them this season.

But in their talisman’s absence, forward stepped Assiri, confident that he had found the perfect opportunity to present his credentials as an equally prolific poacher.

The 2011 champions followed up their Matchday One win over Al Wasl with a solid performance against Persepolis at the Jassim bin Hamad Stadium, picking up their second straight win courtesy yet another brace from Baghdad Bounedjah.

Bounedjah strikes again for Al Sadd

After coming off the bench to score twice and deliver an Al Sadd comeback win over Al Wasl in Dubai last week, Bounedjah showcased his array of abilities once again with two well-taken goals against Persepolis.

While the first goal had Bounedjah hoodwinking an entire defence with a stealthy run, his second saw him show great composure while facing two defenders head-on, before calmly slotting home to make it 2-0.

The visitors rode their luck, but a late strike from substitute Alexandre Pato saw them leave Japan with a valuable point in their pocket.

Pato Impact

Paulo Sousa made a big call pre-match when he decided to leave Brazilian star Pato on the bench. If it was done to elicit a response from the former AC Milan star then it worked a treat.

Sousa pulled him on late in the first half, bringing Pato off the bench in the 37th minute, and he made an immediate impact, giving life to a Tianjin Quanjian side that had looked a little lifeless up until that point.

While he only registered 10 passes, it was the work he did off the ball and the little deft touches that made all the difference. As evidenced by his attacking graph (below), while he didn’t amass a large number of passes, those he did make were almost always moving forward.

After more thrills and spills on Matchday Two, the continental competition takes a two-week break, while the-AFC.com takes a look back at some of the key statistics from the week that was.