The Angolan forward headed Al Shabab into a 61st minute lead and doubled their advantage 12 minutes later with a clinical finish.

Substitute Alisher Azizov halved the deficit with a smart header but Al Kaabi sealed the points with a breakaway goal deep into stoppage time.

With Al Shabab leading by just a solitary goal and with time running out, Pacheco’s men resorted to more dubious means to close out the game with players staying down for prolonged periods following seemingly minor knocks, as well as trying to keep the ball in the corners.

But for Pacheco, the end justified the means.

“I am happy because we won. Pakhtakor are strong team and that’s why my happiness doubled.

“Simulation and time wasting? It’s a part of football today,” he said.

“You can see it at every big tournament. This tournament is very important, every match is very important because it’s the Champions League. If you need a result, everything is acceptable.”

Pacheco was impressed by Odil Ahmedov’s contribution and revealed he previously tried to sign the Pahktakor midfielder.

“I could mention one player on the opposite team - Odil Ahmedov,” added the former Portugal international, who was in a jovial mood in the post-match press conference.

“He is an excellent player. We tried to buy him in the transfer period but Pakhtakor requested too much for him,” continued Pacheo

“Odil, if you want to win the Champions League you have to come to our club and you’ll achieve your aim!”

Pakhtakor coach Miodrag Radulovic, meanwhile, felt his side were unfortunate to have nothing to show for their efforts after enjoying the better of the game

“We were unlucky and we missed too many chances. Whoever scored first won the game. At the other end we hit woodwork,” he lamented the Montenegrin, who also didn’t share Pacheco’s view over Al Shabab’s tactics towards the end of the game.

“Every 30 seconds, the referee stopped the game. I think we had to play 20 extra minutes. Time wasting and simulation is not the modern style of football.”