Qatar’s Al Duhail went down fighting 1-2 against Saudi Arabi’s Al Taawoun in their opening match in Group D of the 2022 AFC Champions League at the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Al Qassim on Thursday.

The match was off to an exciting start and witnessed two goals inside 11 minutes as the teams shared the spoils at half-time.

Al Duhail, playing their first game under new coach Hernan Crespo who had recently replaced Portuguese Luis Castro, took the lead in the seventh minute through Edmilson Junior.

And Al Taawoun, who made it to the group stage by beating Syria’s Al Jaish SC 5-4 on penalties in Play-Off, soon managed to equalise through Leandre Tawamba.

In the second half, both sides tried hard to gain an upper hand and it was Al Taawoun who scored the winner in the 86th minute through Alvaro Medran, off a pass from Tawamba.

Al Duhail’s Farjani Sassi, captain Almoez Ali and Abdulrahman Moustafa all made raids into the rival territory, but The Red Knights could not be successful a second time and Al Taawoun ran out as the winners.

Uzbekistan’s Pakhtakor and Iran’s Sepahan are the other teams in Group D.

Al Duhail next play Sepahan and Al Taawoun face Pakhtakor on Sunday.