Adelaide had taken the lead in each half at Jar Stadium through Iain Fyfe – with only four minutes on the clock – and substitute Jeronimo Neumann - who scored just after the hour mark – after the A-League side had been forced to settle for a 2-2 draw in the first leg on home soil last month.

But Lutfulla Turaev and Akmal Shorakhmedov hit back for the Uzbekistan champions during the second leg and, after both sides had been reduced to 10 men, Alibobo Rakhmatullaev’s header with six minutes remaining secured the home side a 3-2 win and a place in the semi-finals with a 5-4 on aggregate victory.

“In the second half we had a red card which made it very hard and just like the first leg, we were about to make a change to become a little more attacking and try to win the game, but with the red card we had to change our plans,” said Valkanis.

“Playing with 10 men was very hard and you have to consider two games playing with a man less and travelling such a long way took its toll.

“But we are extremely proud of our players and they showed enormous character and fight until the end and even tried to poach a goal in the end.”

Nigel Boogard’s red card just before half-time in the first leg opened the door for Bunyodkor in the first leg, and the Swallows were handed another numerical advantage in the last minute of normal time in Tashkent as Fabian Barbiero was sent-off with the scored tied at 2-2.

That advantage only lasted until just before half-time of the first period of extra-time as Bunyodkor’s Anvar Gafurov suffered the same fate, although Adelaide did finish the game with nine men as Fyfe saw red in stoppage time following Rakhmatullaev’s header.

“We knew that it was going to be a tough game and it was certainly a real battle. It had lots of goals, red cards, extra-time and a very late goal which made it very hard for us to get back,” added Valkanis.

“Bunyodkor were very good in the first half even though we opened the scoring, but it seemed like after our first goal they picked up and went into third gear. We should have probably controlled the game a little more as we turned over the ball and put ourselves under a lot of pressure.

"The game had a lot of yellow cards but it is a quarter-final and meant a lot to the players and sometimes players make mistakes when the passion is high, but that’s because it meant a lot to us.”