Ismaeil Matar had given the visitors a shock lead inside the opening two minutes but Bunyodkor fought back as Milos Trifunovic slid home the equaliser nine minutes later before heading the hosts into a half-time lead.

Hugo levelled for the UAE side from the spot eight minutes into the second period but Anvarjon Soliev nodded home Islom Inomov's measured cross to grab the points for Bunydokor with just six minutes remaining.

“As I expected, today both teams have shown interesting, attacking football. In such matches the win is going to go to the side that is better at converting their chances. We managed to play better than our opponent and converted our chances,” said Kasimov.

“In addition, our goalkeeper Ignatiy Nesterov played very well. As well as this, Sasha Djordjevic did not have a great performance and I decided to replace him with Islom Inomov to strengthen the attacking play on the right flank.

“I want to thank my players for a very important victory. I would like also to thank the fans who supported us throughout the match.”

The result means Bunyodkor move onto eight points and within sight of leaders Al Ittihad, whom they face in Saudi Arabia next week.

And Kasimov is keen to pinch top spot from their rivals.

“Of course, we want to give our fans at least one more home game and therefore we will play to win in Jeddah against Al Ittihad.

For Al Wahda, the defeat ends their Asian adventure for another year but boss Josef Hickersberger refused to be too downbeat over their exit.

“Today we have watched an excellent game, both teams played a spectacular game,” he said.

“We scored two goals, especially a nice first but Bunyodkor played even better. Trifunovic scored twice and Soliev made an excellent header. Substitutes also improved the game of home team, particularly Soliev.

“It seems to me that Al Ittihad are the strongest team in our group and they deserve to win the first ticket to the knock-out stage.

“However, this is football and anything can happen. If we compare Bunyodkor present from last year, I would say that today's team is better prepared."