Al-Sadd has plenty of history in the playoff rounds. Sandwiched in between the aforementioned classic against Al-Wahda and a tense affair against Esteghlal in 2017, it was defeated by the UAE's Al-Jazira, also on penalties, when Xavi Hernandez was among those to fail from the spot as the FIFA World Cup winner missed out on a first appearance in the group stage.
Just under 75,000 turned out at Azadi Stadium the following year as the Spaniard got his first taste of the Iranian passion for football. However, after the action on the pitch did not reach the heights the bumper attendance had hoped for, there would again be penalty drama as, for the third time in three years, Al-Sadd's fate would be decided from the spot.
This time Xavi was successful from 12 yards but Ibrahim Majid and Mohammed Kasola were not, allowing Khosro Heydari to confidently dispatch his penalty and send the blue half of Tehran in raptures as it returned to the competition proper.