The Uzbek side gave a good account of themselves but a late goal by Magno Alves earned the two-time AFC Champions League winners all three points at the Prince Abdullah Al Faisal Stadium.

The win saw the Saudi side move level on points with Syrian counterparts Al Ittihad Aleppo after their earlier 2-0 win against last year’s beaten finalists, Sepahan from Iran.

"We missed out on a golden opportunity as we had the chances to win the game on many occasions but Al Ittihad scored and won the game, but that is football," said Kasimov.

"Experience was a big factor in this match as Al Ittihad have played more than 20 games in the AFC Champions League while this was our first.

"It is our first appearance in this big competition but we still have a chance to do something in our next games.

"We played a very good match and we expect to do better in the future," the Uzbek football legend added.

Al Ittihad coach Estevam Soares paid credit to his beaten opponents.

"Congratulations to Kuruvchi for their great display in this match. They made the match difficult for us with their great performance in the second half," said the Brazilian.

"We had problems with our team after our 1-1 draw against Al Wahda in the Saudi league last week and I had to field Talal Asiri, Abdullah Haider and Mohammed Salem because of injuries in my squad.

"But Asiri played well as a replacement for Redha Tukar in defence, Abdullah strengthened the midfield and Mohammed Salem did a good job when he came on in the last five minutes to help our defence to secure the result.

"I played defensively at the end to preserve the victory against a strong Kuruvchi side as winning the match was the important thing.

"Our win today will help the players to regain their confidence and I promise our fans that we will improve our performance in the future.

"It is our first match in this year’s competition and I will try to fix our mistakes in the next few days."