The Uzbeks won with second-half goals from the Zaynitdin Tadjiyev and Farhod Tadjiyev after Mohsen Yousefi had been controversially red carded just before the half-hour mark.

The match was the first of a double-header between the sides who meet in Tashkent in a fortnight.

"I said before that we’re in the hardest group with all four teams at the same level," said Jalilov.

"So it’s difficult for me to say that we’ll definitely beat Saba in the next match.

"We knew how to beat Saba because we’ve watched their matches in detail and know all about them.

"But I admit that Yousefi’s red card was the turning point. After that we changed our tactics and won.”

Saba fans were hoping that their 2-0 defeat of Iranian champions Piroozi at the weekend would act as a spur.

But Jalilov thought it ended up having a negative effect on them.

"Our players were physically stronger than them and I think that Piroozi tired Saba out which let us play better,” he added.

Saba coach Firouz Karimi left it up to his assistant, Ali Nazarzadeh, to face the reporters after the match.

Nazarzadeh agreed that Saba’s first home defeat of the season hinged on Yousefi’s red card but praised his players’ work ethic.

"We controlled the play at the start of the game and scored a goal which the referee said was offside,” he said.

“We played well but Yousefi’s sending off disrupted us and before we could reorganise they took control.

"We’re happy with how we played and the players’ effort. We played for 70 minutes with 10 men and that’s against a team who were physically stronger.

"Firouz Karimi had said that the third and fourth games will be the important ones in the group and for this reason we’ll try to win the next match (in Tashkent) and get back on course to qualify.”