Fabio Cannavaro endured a frustrating return to the head coach's role at Guangzhou Evergrande on Wednesday evening as the two-time champions were held to a 1-1 draw by Thailand's Buriram United in the Asian Champions League.
Cannavaro's side had two strong penalty claims and a goal disallowed in the opening 15 minutes before Ricardo Goulart put Guangzhou in front against the Thai champions.
But, rather than being the launch pad for a commanding victory, Guangzhou were pegged back by an Edgar Silva leveller 13 minutes after the restart as Cannavaro cut an agitated figure on the home bench.
The former Juventus and Real Madrid defender was marking his first game since returning to the club that fired him two-and-a-half years ago from the same role after just six months in the position as Marcello Lippi's replacement.
And it could have been worse for Cannavaro, with Buriram just inches away from taking all three points when Sasalak Haiprakhon's diving header nine minutes from time clipped the top of the Guangzhou crossbar.
"I'm very happy with our first half performance, but very disappointed with the second half," said Cannavaro. "We ended up playing too many high balls and long passes. This was what our opponent wanted because they had lots of players in the box. What I wanted was more short passes to put the ball in the box.
"The away match against Cerezo Osaka [next week] will be very difficult. They are a strong team with discipline and good individuals. We will prepare carefully. I just told my players that today we lost two points and we are going to take them back."
Guangzhou and Buriram sit level on one point in Group G, two points behind Cerezo Osaka, who opened their campaign with a last-gasp win over Jeju United from South Korea thanks to Kota Mizunuma's injury time winner.
Shanghai Shenhua, meanwhile, were also forced to share the spoils as their meeting with Japan's Kashima Antlers ended in a 1-1 draw, despite Wu Jingui's side taking the lead after just three minutes.
Giovanni Moreno gave last season's Chinese FA Cup winners the lead after just three minutes, but Shenhua spent much of the remainder of the game on the back foot until Yasushi Endo levelled for the home side six minutes into the second half.
Suwon Bluewings lead Group H thanks to their 2-0 win over Sydney FC in Australia, with both goals coming from former FC Seoul striker Dejan Damjanovic.
The first gave Sydney's Andrew Redmayne no chance as he struck from 25 yards to beat the goalkeeper low and to his right in the 62nd minute, before he doubled his side's lead 14 minutes from time from the penalty spot.