Elsewhere, Uzbekistan champions FC Pakhtakor were undone by a Russian heavyweight, while most of Tajikistan’s top clubs were in action in the FFT Cup.

Join the-AFC.com for all the key news and results from Bukhara to Bishkek.

In action over the two days are 12 West Asian teams representing seven countries, with matches from Groups A and B taking place on Monday, while Group C fixtures will be played on Tuesday.

The Continental competition will now take a two-week break ahead of Matchday Three in early March, before which the-AFC.com looks back at the stats and facts that stood out in the week that was.

A new-look Makassar side without the likes of Marc Klok and Eero Markkanen – both key in helping the team reach the 2019 ASEAN Zonal semi-finals – lost 2-1 against Singapore’s Tampines Rovers on Matchday One two weeks ago.

But with a number of the players making their maiden AFC Cup appearances for Makassar, Ferdinand remains optimistic about his side’s prospects in the 2020 campaign.

In the club’s first continental appearance since the 2011 AFC President’s Cup, Neftchi secured victory on the day thanks to Oleksandr Ihnatenko’s goal just after half time, putting the 2019 Kyrgyzstan Cup winners within 90 minutes of the group stage.

Both sides had to battle the elements at Jalal-Abad’s Kurmanbek Stadium, where the pitch had been buried under snow on the eve of the match, but Zakirov was delighted that his charges had been able achieve a positive result.

Than Quang Ninh were reduced to 10 men early on at Bali’s Kapten I Wayan Dipta Stadium but the hosts fell behind to Jamaican Jeremie Lynch’s goal and went into the interval trailing despite their man advantage.

But the Indonesian champions came out firing after the restart with Rahmat Syamsuddin equalising almost immediately, before Platje netted a fine volley and a superb curling effort into the top corner either side of an Ilija Spasojevic penalty to complete a resounding win.