The team from the Chinese capital finished as runners-up behind Guangzhou Evergrande to qualify for the AFC Champions League for the second season in a row - and the ninth time since 2008 – and they will be aiming to advance to the knockout rounds for the first time since 2015.

A record six-time winner of Uzbekistan’s Player of the Year Award, a league champion in both his homeland and China PR, and voted best player at a club which featured Roberto Carlos and Samuel Eto’o – only one of whom makes this list – Akhmedov’s career has seen him team up with footballers of global renown, and match them every step of the way.

With his professional career now in its 15th year, Akhmedov selects a team comprising the very best of his teammates, drawing on his experiences of 104 international caps and fruitful club stints at Pakhtakor, Anzhi Makhachkala, FC Krasnador and current home Shanghai SIPG.

The Montenegrin’s first foray into the Asian game, however, came with a short stint in Saudi Arabia in 2006. But it is in East Asia where the now 38-year-old truly made his name and, after moving to Korea Republic’s K League in 2007, he has not looked back since.

Having found a home away from home on the other side of the world, and collected plenty of prizes along the way, Damjanovic tells the-AFC.com about his life and times in Asia and reflects on a move that has proved an unequivocal success both on and off the pitch.

Wise words indeed and an undeniable truth that has inspired an army of photographers to document the exhilarating highs and lows of Asian football. To produce images that – sometimes years on from when they were first produced – never fail to resonate, never fail to stir the emotions, never fail to excite.

Though the country boasts only one title, several players have left a lasting mark on the competition since it was inaugurated in the 2002-03 season.

After previously featuring the finest acrobatic goals, solo goals, volleys, long-range screamers and chips, this week's selection sees stunning set-piece specials from some of the biggest names of the Continental game including Paulinho, Theerathon and Abdulrahman, so enjoy the trip down memory lane and vote for your favourite in the poll below!

Only one player has scored a hat-trick in the Premier continental final since the first Asian club champions were crowned more than 50 years ago.

That remarkable feat occurred on April 22, 2000 – 20 years ago today – when Al Hilal’s on-loan Brazilian striker Sergio Ricardo scored a third-minute free-kick, a last-gasp equaliser and a decisive 103rd-minute golden goal to bring the Asian crown back to Riyadh for the second time in history.

Al Hilal’s 3-2 win over a Jubilo Iwata side featuring the likes of Masashi Nakayama and Naohiro Takahara sent a vibrant King Fahd Stadium into euphoria and gave the Saudi giants a title they would need to wait 19 years to replicate.