RIYADH: Al-Nassr were held to a goalless draw by Esteghlal in the first leg of their AFC Champions League round of 16 tie on Monday.

It was a frustrating evening for the Saudi Pro League team who were missing captain and talisman Cristiano Ronaldo with a minor injury.

The Yellows had most of the ball, as well as the chances, but were unable to find the back of the net against the well-drilled team from Tehran.

The one positive is that the tie is only at the halfway stage and plenty of football is still to be played.

Al-Nassr started brightly with Marcelo Brozovic and Ayman Yahya shooting off target in the opening minutes as the visitors looked to get behind the home defence.

The Iranians started to make their presence felt before Jhon Duran — signed from Aston Villa in January — went close with a shot in the 20th minute that was pushed away by Seyed Hossein Hosseini, who had an impressive game for the Tehran team between the sticks. Yahya seized on the rebound but his effort was headed off the line by Roozbeh Cheshmi.

Al-Nassr started to get on top and were turning possession into chances but just could not find the breakthrough, although Sadio Mane should have done better in first-half added time, firing wide after a defensive mix-up.

It was not all one-way traffic, however, and early in the second half Ramin Rezaeian and Armin Sohrabian both failed to convert headed chances for the hosts.

Duran also had opportunities later in the game but the Colombian was either denied by the busy Hosseini or the woodwork to leave the tie wide open going into the return in Riyadh on March 11.

Saudi Arabia’s other two representatives, Al-Hilal and Al-Ahli, are in action on Tuesday against Pakhtakor of Uzbekistan and Al-Rayyan of Qatar respectively.