Al-Ain continued their unblemished ‌start to their Asian Champions League Elite campaign on Monday by beating hosts Al-Ittihad 4-1 in Jeddah to earn Vladimir Ivic’s side their fourth victory in a row in the competition’s western league phase. Goals from Alejandro Romero and Rafael Rodrigues in the first half put the 2024 champions on the path to a win that moves them onto 12 points at the halfway stage of the opening round.

Marwan Al-Sahafi gave Al-Ittihad hope eight minutes after the interval but Jan-Carlo Simic deflected Houssine Rahimi’s strike into his own goal five ‌minutes later ‌and Matias Palacios’ last-minute penalty completed the rout.

Defending champions Al-Ahli were held to a 0-0 draw ‌by Al-Sadd in Qatar while 10-man Tractor FC of Iran twice came from behind to draw 2-2 with Neftchi from Uzbekistan after Masoud Kazemayni equalized in the 99th minute. Brendan Rodgers’ Al-Qadsiah eased to a 5-0 win in ‌Doha over an Al-Gharafa side that remain without a point from their four matches.

Julian Quinones scored twice for the Saudi club as Al-Qadsiah moved onto eight points from four matches.

Al-Wasl secured their first win of the campaign with a 4-3 victory over Iraq’s Air Force Club despite Murad Mohammed’s 81st-minute goal giving the visitors late hope.

“It was a great game for us, we did an amazing job,” said Mehdi Taremi, who opened the scoring for Al-Wasl in the sixth minute. “We suffered three goals but we were a little bit unlucky not to score more.”

The first eight finishers in the 16-team groups in both east and west Asia will advance to the knockout rounds. The quarter-finals, semifinals and final will be played in Saudi Arabia in April and May.