At the age of 36, Shojaei is just six years his manager’s junior. Both men were part of the Islamic Republic of Iran squad that competed in the 2006 FIFA World Cup. That summer after their return from Germany, young midfielder Shojaei (20) and forward Khatibi (26) were recruited by UAE side Sharjah FC.

While Khatibi lasted just half a season at Sharjah, scoring four goals before moving to fellow UAE side Emirates Club, Shojaei stayed put, establishing himself as a fan favourite at Sharjah Stadium and becoming one of the league’s finest midfielders over two seasons before earning a big money move to Spanish La Liga side Osasuna where he would go on to make over 100 appearances.

With no shortage of attacking talent on display, we shine the spotlight on six frontmen who are on fire in their clubs’ domestic campaigns and could be set to bring those hot streaks onto the Asian stage in this year's continental club competition.

Some of these starlets are established players for their club sides and some have even appeared in previous AFC Champions League seasons, while several are just breaking into the starting XI, but those U23 players are all eyeing a milestone campaign over the next three weeks.

With the 20 remaining teams from East Asia set to begin their continental campaigns a little later in the year, the-AFC.com looks at some of the numbers that stand out ahead of the start of the 19th edition of the AFC Champions League.

The Iraqi side had won Asia’s second club competition in 2016, 2017 and 2018 and were eliminated from the AFC Champions League playoff in 2019 before overcoming Saudi Arabia’s Al Wehda in this year’s qualifying playoff.

The 2021 campaign will be Pakhtakor’s 15th involvement in Asia’s top club competition, a record matched by few teams across the continent. And throughout that journey, the Uzbek powerhouse have recorded some impressive results, including two semi-finals and two quarter-finals.

In a winner-takes-all tie, the victors will advance to the playoff stage of the 2021 AFC Cup, with either Bangladesh's Abahani Limited Dhaka or Club Eagles of Maldives their next opponents.