Sharjah found themselves behind after only nine minutes at the Sharjah Stadium on Tuesday as Ali Alipour gave the visitors the lead before Mohammed Khalfan leveled the tie for the home side.

Alipour struck again on 27 minutes but Ryan Mendes scored the equaliser just before the half-time break for the teams to share the points.

Both sides went into the match hopeful of overturning a rough patch; Sharjah had lost their last three games in the competition, although two of those dated back to their last appearance in 2004.

Persepolis, meanwhile, had lost four of their last six.

The Saudi side were looking to build on their opening day win over Sharjah as they hosted 2018 quarter-finalists Al Duhail who had yet to beat a Saudi team in the AFC Champions League.

The 50-year-old Serbian has been replaced by Abdulghani Shahad, who took charge of Iraq in the AFC U-23 Championship Thailand 2020, and was presented to the media on Wednesday.

Ilic took charge in August 2019 after the departure of Montenegrin coach Nebojsa Jovovic who steered Al Shorta to the Iraqi league title last season.

Omar Yaseen gave UAE's Al Ain the lead in the first half but Saudi Arabia's Al Nassr made a second-half comeback to level the tie through Mukhtar Ali before Abderazzak Hamdallah netted the winner 10 minutes before the end at the Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium.

After a scoreless first half, a brace from Hassan Al Haydos after Akram Afif had opened the scoring early in the second period gave Qatar's Al Sadd their first win of the competition, having played to a 2-2 draw with Saudi Arabia's Al Nassr on Matchday One.

Pakhtakor have lost just once in the last 26 competitive ties and Monday's 3-0 win over Islamic Republic of Iran's Shahr Khodro was another example of just why Shota Arveladze's side have been in such fine fettle.