“I feel very happy and relieved,” said Cirelli. “As I said before the game, it's going to be tough because they are a good team.

“But I told the team that we are playing at home and we're not only playing for Yangon United but also for Myanmar. It was extra motivation for the players and we were able to win.

“When you play this game, it's like a final and you have to suffer. There's only one chance to go to the next stage. We had to learn to be effective with our opportunities. They also had some chances but our defence was good.”

The match was a repeat of last season’s Preliminary Stage match where Ezra had won 5-3 on penalties after the match had ended 1-1 in extra-time.

There was no such trouble this time around for Yangon, who held the upper hand for large parts of the match with goals from Moustapha Djidjiwa and Than Paing securing the win with Phoutthavong Sangvilay netting a late penalty for Ezra.

Cirelli will look to get his Yangon side prepared for the challenges of the group stage where they battle Borneo FC Samarinda (Indonesia), One Taguig FC (Philippines) and Tainan City FC (Chinese Taipei) in Group D.