The Iranian champions came back from two goals down to return with a point and deny Al Jazira a first win in the tournament in the final Group C match that did not have any bearing on the result after Saudi champions Al Ittihad and Umm Salal of Qatar had already progressed into the last 16.

“We tried out our reserve players and they did a good job for us,” said Braga.

“I think the 2-2 draw was a fair result. Esteghlal had taller players and they used the long ball to good effect. We did well to score two goals with a line up that was playing for the first time as a team. So I can’t get disappointed.

Ali Ahmed opened the scoring in the 49th minute and the substitute Mohsin Al Meharram doubled the lead in the 70th minute.

Esteghlal reduced the deficit when Frahad Majidi’s rocket from 30 yards deflected off Ali Alizadeh 11 minutes from time and Hadi Shakouri struck the equaliser six minutes later to level the scores.

“My players didn’t give up until the end and they were rewarded for that,” said Ghalenoei.

“We were a bit unlucky, as it has been for us in the entire tournament. We had three or four scoring opportunities before Al Jazira scored.