Pakhtakor’s scoring struggles in the competition continued despite the arrival of new coach Pedro Moreira, with the Uzbeks unable to add to the two goals they had claimed in the previous six matches.

The home side, in contrast, made moves to open the scoring from the first whistle, Joselu lofting an attempt over the crossbar inside the first 50 seconds while Nani’s fourth minute header from a Yacine Brahimi corner also cleared the Pakhtakor goal.

Pakhtakor were playing in their first game of the new season and the side from Tashkent were slow to find their rhythm with Brahimi, in particular, causing problems.

The 34-year-old winger was denied by Jhonatan Luiz in the 25th minute, the goalkeeper pushing away a shot across goal and, a little over six minutes remaining in the half, the Algeria international unlocked the visiting defence.

Brahimi drove through the heart of the Pakhtakor defence to pick up a return pass from Joselu on the edge of the penalty area, feeding Sassi on his right and he slid his strike past Luiz via the inside of the goalkeeper’s left post.

Al Gharafa looked to have doubled their lead in the 64th minute when Brahimi again forced Pakhtakor onto the back foot, his pass releasing Ahmed Al Ganehi and a deflected cross was nodded in by Joselu. But VAR ruled the goal out on review.

Moreira introduced Ulugbek Khoshimov with 10 minutes remaining but the former Neftchi striker, like his team mates before him, was unable to find a way through and Al Gharafa comfortably held on to take the points.