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AFC - Iran defender Yahya Golmohammadi has said that Pirouzi's quest to win the US$3 million AFC Champions League is driven by the club's failure to ever win the Asian Club Championship, previously the continent's premier competition.

"We've never been the champions of Asia," said Golmohammadi, who joined the four-time Asian Club Championship semi-finalists after a protracted transfer from Foolad in August 2002.

"It's something that's missing in our club's history and is a real motivation for us," added the 31-year-old international.

Pirouzi, whose only continental success was in the inaugural Asian Cup Winners' Cup in 1990, were seeded into the group stage of the inaugural AFC Champions League after winning the first edition of the Iran Pro League.

Although Uzbekistan double winners Pakhtakor, Nisa of Turkmenistan and Iraq's Al Talaba lack Pirouzi's pedigree in Asian competition, Golmohammadi is adamant the Tehran giants won't underestimate their opponents when Group D gets underway in Tashkent on March 9.

"Our opponents are strong, but if we want, we can beat them," he said. "We'll have very difficult matches against these teams, but we hope to succeed."

Pirouzi's hopes of qualifying from Group D will be improved if former international Karim Bagheri fully completes his rehabilitation from injury.

"Karim is now going to be better. We've had some problems recently in midfield, but if he recovers completely from his dislocated shoulder we'll be much stronger."

The return of Bagheri, who left Pirouzi for the German Bundesliga before becoming the first Iranian to sign for an English Premiership side when he had a brief spell at Charlton Athletic, has brought the number of 1998 World Cup veterans at Pirouzi to four.

Along with the midfield general, there's defensive mainstay 'Afshin' Peirovani, Reza Shahroodi and Hamidreza Estili, scorer of Iran's first goal in the 2-1 victory over the USA in a match coined 'the mother of all games'.

Although Golmohammadi wasn't in the France 98 squad, the experienced defender, who can also operate in midfield, has emerged as one of the most influential players in the national team, heading the winner in Iran's 1-0 defeat of the Republic of Ireland in a World Cup play-off match in 2001.

Most recently with the senior squad as Iran lost on penalties to Uruguay in the final of February's Carlsberg Cup in Hong Kong, Golmohammadi played a key role in the side's gold medal success at last year's Asian Games in Busan.

One of Iran's three permitted overage players at the Under-23 event, Golmohammadi took over the captain's armband when Ali Daei returned to Tehran following the death of his father, scoring the deciding penalty in the 5-3 shootout victory over hosts Korea Republic in the semi-finals.

The AFC Champions League was launched last August, and replaced the Asian Club Championship, Asian Cup Winners' Cup and Asian Super Cup. The 16-team group stage (March) will be followed by the two-leg semi-finals (April) and final (May), with the winning side taking home US$500,000.

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