Experienced Asian Champions League campaigners Suwon Bluewings and Gamba Osaka played out a goalless draw in their opening game of Group G.
Both sides had chances to come away with all three points at Suwon World Cup Stadium with Reinaldo firing wide for the hosts and Hideo Hashimoto hitting the crossbar for Gamba in the second half.
However, neither side could find a breakthrough.
The points were shared in the other game in the group as Henan Jianye drew 0-0 with Singapore Armed Forces at Zhangzhou Hanghai Stadium.
The hosts dominated the encounter but did not have the rub of the green with Amado Diallo, Zhang Lu and Xiao Zhi all hitting the woodwork.
In Group H, Han Peng’s second-half header saw Shandong Luneng win 1-0 at Sanfrecce Hiroshima.
The Chinese international headed home a corner 13 minutes from time as new coach Branko Ivankovic enjoyed a winning start to his side’s Asian adventure at Hiroshima Big Arch Stadium.
Pakhtakor secured a 1-0 win over UAE’s Al Ain at the Khalifa Stadium in their opening Group C game.
The Uzbek outfit is the only team to have competed in every edition of the tournament since 2003 and got this campaign off to the ideal start with Artur Gevorkyan’s 59th-minute strike settling the encounter.
Sepahan of Iran drew 1-1 at Saudi side Al Shabab in the group’s other game.
Seyed Hosseini put Sepahan ahead in the 13th minute but Al Shabab rescued a point when Faisal Al Sultan levelled in the 69th minute.
Al Hilal scored a comprehensive 3-0 win over Al Sadd at Jassem Bin Hamad Stadium in their Group D opener.
Yasser Al Qahtani scored a brace while Neves Augusto struck late on to hand the Saudi side all three points.
In the group’s other game, Mes Kerman of Iran announced its credentials with a superb 4-2 win over UAE’s Al Ahli at Shahid Bahonar Stadium.
The hosts took the lead through Mostafa Seyfi before Salem Sadir equalised for Al Ahli on the stroke of half-time.
Al Ahli then went ahead through Iranian Mehrzad Madanchi but Mahdi Rajabzade leveled before Mehdi Rajab Zadeh and Ali Samereh secured the win in the last five minutes.
