Mohammed Abusabaan scored twice and Faouzi Abdelghni and Abdulla Omar were also on target for the two-time AFC Champions League winners as they romped home against the Uzbek side, who played with 10 men for the majority of the game at an empty Prince Abdullah Al Faisal Stadium.

The Saudi side had been ordered to play the match without spectators following unruly behaviour by their fans during their AFC Champions League quarter-final clash against FC Seoul last September.

But the lack of a crowd did not seem to affect the home side as they stormed ahead after only three minutes. Moroccan forward Faouzi Abdelghni won a foot race with Aleksey Nikolaev to a long ball on the right of the Pakhtakor box and he rounded advancing goalkeeper Temur Juraev before firing the ball into the far corner of the net.

Striker Naif Hazazi had two good chances to extend the lead. On 10 minutes, he rounded Juraev but saw his shot from a narrow angle cleared off the line by Murod Khalmukhamedov before heading past Juraev only to see his effort rebound off the crossbar.

But the visiting custodian was left exposed on the half-hour mark as Abusabaan deservedly doubled the home side's lead.

Al Ittihad surged forward down the left, and with Abusabaan holding his run in centre of the field, Hazazi played a perfectly weighted through ball for the onrushing midfielder to stretch and guide the ball past the onrushing Juraev.

And Pakhtakor's task was made significantly harder nine minutes before half-time as Kletskov was sent-off after picking up a second yellow card in quick succession after upending Hazazi.

Abusabaan notched his second of the game and Al Ittihad's third just six minutes after the restart. A shot by Mohammed Noor was stopped by a defender but the Moroccan was on hand to guide home the loose ball.

And the Saudi side added another seven minutes later when substitute Abdulla Omar raced unchallenged from the halfway line before hammering an unstoppable effort past Juraev to complete the rout.