A whopping 37 goals were scored, with an astonishing 10 coming from the Gwangju FC-Yokohama F. Marinos tie, which saw the debutants from Korea Republic announcing their arrival on the continental stage with a 7-3 win over the AFC Champions League™ 2023/24 runners-up from Japan.

Jasir Asani starred for Gwangju with a hat-trick, opening the scoring in the second minute with his further efforts coming in the 55th and 90+2 minutes. He was the only player to net a treble on Matchday One, with Arif Aiman (Johor Darul Ta'zim), Cephas Malele (Shanghai Shenhua FC), Jose Da Silva (Yokohama F. Marinos) and Valeri Qazaishvilli (Shandong Taishan) all scoring braces.

Gwangju may have been the highest scorers but they were upstaged by Shanghai Shenhua in terms of chances converted with the China PR side scoring from four of their five shots on target. Gwangju found the back of the net seven times from 11 attempts on target.

Al Hilal SFC began their bid to claim a fifth Asian title with a 3-1 win over Qatar's Al Rayyan as the Saudi Arabia side stretched their unbeaten run in opening matches on the continental stage to 11.

Ramin Rezaeian, unsurprisingly, was among the scorers as Islamic Republic of Iran's Esteghlal cruised 3-0 past Al Gharafa of Qatar. Despite playing as a defender, the 34-year-old has scored six goals and made two assists in his last seven matches on the continental stage.

There is something about Kawasaki Frontale that Ulsan HD FC can't crack as the two-time Asian champions fell to an opening day defeat against their Japanese opponents. The Korea Republic side have only failed to score in three of 38 matches on the continental stage since the start of the 2020 season and their opponents for all those games were Frontale - at the last 16 stage in 2021, 2023/24 group stage and on Wednesday.

Qatar's Al Sadd SC were denied three points by Matias Palacios' 80th minute goal, with their tie against AFC Champions League 2023/24 winners Al Ain FC of the UAE finishing 1-1. The result meant that 2011 AFC Champions League winners Al Sadd have now failed to win their opening match on the continental stage for the sixth consecutive time, with five straight draws.

If losing 7-3 wasn't bad enough for Yokohama F. Marinos, Carlos Eduardo's sending off made it worse with the Brazilian binned less than two minutes after coming on for a foul on compatriot Gabriel who was through on goal - the only red card on Matchday One.