Al Shehri gave the home side the lead midway through the first half with a thunderbolt from 30 metres that flew past goalkeeper Alexander Lobanov into the top corner of the net.

Jamaan Al Jamaan then marked his first appearance in this season’s competition by curling in the Saudi club’s second four minutes before the break to seal the three points.

Having managed only one point from their first three games, Al Ettifaq picked up their second win in a row to move up to second in the group, level on seven points with Pakhtakor and one behind leaders Lekhwiya of Qatar.

With Al Shabab Al Arabi of the United Arab Emirates just a further point behind Al Ettifaq and Pakhtakor following their 3-1 win over Lekhwiya on Wednesday, the battle for the two knockout stage berths in the group will go down to the final round of games next week.

Having broken their goal drought in the competition with a 4-1 win over Al Shabab two weeks ago, Al Ettifaq began the match in confident mood with Ali Ahmed forcing an early save out of Lobanov with a shot on the turn.

At the other end, Igor Sergeev was sent clear by a long pass but his weak effort was easily saved by goalkeeper Faiz Al Subaiei.

The deadlock was broken in spectacular fashion by Al Shehri in the 24th minute. There appeared to be little danger as he gathered the ball near the halfway line and accelerated towards the Pakhtakor box. But from 30 metres, he unleashed a thunderous drive that flew past a hapless Lobanov into the top right corner.

The visitors could have equalized just three minutes later as Davronbek Khashimov launched a fierce shot of his own that went through the hands of Al Subaiei and came back off the crossbar.

Al Ettifaq would extend their advantage in the 41st minute after some fine work by Al Jamaan, who went past a crowd of Pakhtakor defenders and played a one-two with Saleh Bashar before curling the ball past Lobanov.

Pakhtakor came back strongly in the second half but they failed to make the most of their chances as Temurkhuja Abdukholiqov screwed a shot wide from close range before Gulom Urunov sent a free-kick just wide of the target.