The match at the Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum Stadium had looked set to finish goalless until Iskanderov latched on to a cutback by Igor Sergeev and fired home from close range to give his side all three points against the club from the United Arab Emirates.

Al Shabab dominated the second half but they were left to rue a series of missed opportunities including a Luiz Henrique effort that came back off the underside of the crossbar. After a cagy opening to the match, Armenian winger Zhora Hovhannisyan crafted the first real opening for Pakhtakor in the 15thminute when he made a surging run down the left flank before cutting into the middle and shooting straight at goalkeeper Salem Abdulla.

Shortly after that the Uzbek side were awarded a free-kick on the left flank and Oybek Kilichev fired in an excellent curling effort that Abdulla tipped over his crossbar. The Al Shabab goalkeeper was called into action in the 18thminute when Aleksandr Merzlyakov launched a stinging drive from the edge of the box that Abdulla did superbly to palm away for a corner.

The home side fashioned few chances early on but they nearly made the breakthrough in the 33rd minute when Henrique sliced through the Pakthtakor defence on a run from the left flank. His weak shot was stopped by Alexander Lobanov but the goalkeeper could not hold on to the ball and it bounced up to a lurking Essa Obaid who headed wastefully wide with the goal at his mercy.

The opening half was a fairly even affair but the hosts dominated after the interval.

On 52 minutes, a cross floated in from the right by Ciel (Jociel Ferreira Da Silva) was met at the far post by Henrique but he was unable to direct his header on target. On the hour, Walid Abbas escaped his marker on the left and sent a low cross into the middle where it was met by Edgar (Edgar Bruno da Silva) who turned his effort over the crossbar.

The closest that the home side came to breaking the deadlock was a 66th minute effort by Henrique from the edge of the Pakhtakor box that hit the underside of the crossbar and bounced down but not over the goalline.

Obaid got to the rebound first and directed in a header that was turned over by Lobanov although the effort would not have counted as the Al Shabab player was in an offside position.

Lobanov then made a superb save five minutes later to palm away a fierce shot by his Uzbek compatriot Azizbek Haydarov.

The game looked like finishing goalless until the visitors scored against the run of play with just five minutes left. The ball came to Temurkhuja Abdukholoiqov on the right corner of the Al Shabab box and the substitute fired the ball towards the far post where Sergeev acrobatically turned the ball back towards the middle for an unmarked Iskanderov to fire home the winner.