Moussa Diaby cut inside from the right to see an early effort blocked while Roger Fernandes blazed his attempt well off target as Al Ittihad made a spirited start. Diaby threatened again in the 11th minute, flashing a left-foot drive across Kosei Tani’s goal.

With the backing of a raucous crowd, the home side dominated the early exchanges to leave Machida relying on counterattacks to cause trouble. Na Sang-ho did exactly that in the 17th minute, driving forward from deep only to hit a weak effort straight at Predrag Rajkovic.

The Japanese outfit were growing into the game, however, and Rajkovic had to be on his toes when Hiroyuki Mae shot towards goal, the Serbian goalkeeper tipping the ball over the bar in the 29th minute. Two minutes later Rajkovic was helpless as Machida went in front.

Kotaro Hayashi’s long throw from the Machida right caused chaos in the Al Ittihad penalty area, the ball eventually falling at the feet of Yengi, whose shot towards goal was directed into his own net by Fabinho.

Halftime substitute Steve Bergwijn almost made an immediate impact for Al Ittihad, the Dutchman slaloming towards the Machida goal before stroking a right-foot shot marginally high and wide of the top corner of Tani’s goal.

Houssem Aouar went closer in 52nd minute, his deflected effort looping up beyond Tani before the ball bounced back off the Machida goalkeeper’s right post while Youssef El-Nesyri nodded Abdulrahman Al Obud’s centre across goal eight minutes later.

Al Ittihad hit the woodwork again 17 minutes from time, El-Nesyri throwing himself at Al Obud’s inviting cross from the right to head against Tani’s left upright with the Machida goalkeeper beaten.

The Saudi side thought they had levelled with four minutes to go when Danilo’s header looped over Gen Shoji on the line but referee Ma Ning ruled against Al Ittihad due to the ball brushing the Brazilian’s hand on the way to goal to leave Machida to progress.