Pham Minh Giang’s side could not contain five-time World Cup winners Brazil, who raced to a 5-1 lead at half-time and will look to bounce back when they play Panama on Thursday.

It was a heartbreaking result for Thailand, who produced a spirited performance but had to eventually concede to a superior Portugal side, with the Asian team now needing a win against Morocco - who beat Solomon Islands 6-0 in the day’s earlier match - on Thursday.

The game will be the third time two Emirati sides have faced in the AFC Champions League, and the first involving either of the two sides. The two previous such occasions saw Al Ain involved, as they faced Al Jazira in the 2014 Round of 16 and Al Ahli at the same stage a year later.

With Riyadh-based Al Hilal desperate to erase the memory of the last edition’s COVID-19 enforced group stage exit, and Esteghlal hoping to emulate their 2013 AFC Champions League semi-final appearance, both clubs have arrived in Dubai with noticeably different personnel than during April’s group stage.

Runners-up in two of the last three editions of the competition, the Iran Pro League champions have travelled to the Tajik capital to face an Istiklol side who emerged as the fairy-tale story of this year’s ACL group stage, pulling off a series of shock wins in their tournament debut in April.

With those heroics in mind, and an excited Dushanbe public ready to welcome ACL knockout stage football for the first time, Golmohammadi said he expects Persepolis to be seriously challenged at Central Republican Stadium.

Without a continental title since 1998, the Riyadh based club came agonisingly close in the previous edition of the competition, crashing out at the semi-final stage against Tractor’s domestic rivals Persepolis FC. Tractor, on the other hand, have never made it past the Round of 16, and a one-legged tie will appeal to them as they look to make club history.

The clash in Korea Republic will see the current leaders of the domestic championships in both East Asian nations face off in what should be a mouth-watering tie given both sides are currently on 100 percent records following the group stage phase of the 2021 AFC Champions League.

Two-time winners Ulsan will be looking to return to the quarter-finals for the fourth time, the same goal for Kawasaki who previously featured in the last eight in the 2007, 2009 and 2017 editions.