Qatar league leaders Al Gharafa took the lead in the 13th minute through Araujo only for Mouslim Mobarak to level the scores just after the hour mark as both teams shared the points.

And while the spoils were divided evenly between the two sides, so both coaches agreed that the state of the pitch had a negative impact on the game.

"The game was hard on both teams mainly because of the bad pitch conditions and if we had played on a better pitch, the players would have had a better game," said former Saudi Arabia coach Marcos Paqueta

"In general we played a good game right from the beginning and we tried to play quick counter attacks and from one of them we scored the opening goal in the game.

"After Arbil scored the equaliser, the game was open and both teams wanted to get out with a draw at least."
"The bad pitch didn’t help us to play our game," said Salman, who is leading his side into their first-ever appearance in the continental championship.

"Our main problem was the lack of preparations like other Iraqi teams and we don’t have any foreign players like Al Gharafa do."

Salman is hoping picking up a point against the Qatari champions can stand his side in good stead for the long battle ahead for a place in the quarter-finals.

"We were surprised with the early goal which came after a defensive mistake and we tried to get back into the game in the first half," he said.

"However, the equaliser came in the second half and we tried to add another goal but we couldn’t beat the Qatari defence.

"I hope that this point will be good for us especially that the group is very hard and hopefully we can continue our good performances in order to finish at the top of the group and qualify to the next round."