Having drawn 1-1 in the first-leg of their quarter-final match in Tashkent last week, Al Ittihad knew they could afford a goalless draw and still progress.

But the Saudi side shunned such a defensive approach and instead put on a scintillating attacking display in which Sultan Al Nemri, Amine Chermiti, Hicham Aboucherouane and captain Mohammed Noor all scored.

And Calderon was delighted with the application of his players.

“We had two good matches against Pakhtakor so I must congratulate my players who met their promises they made before the match,” said the Argentine.

“Pakhtakor played well and I think their technical performance in someway is similar to Barcelona. “

Despite scoring four goals, Calderon felt his side could and should have won by a bigger margin.

“We missed many chances and I believe that my team are among a number of international teams that create a lot but without scoring,” he added.

“I will work to solve this problem in the next matches.”

The win means Al Ittihad will play Japanese side Nagoya Grampus in the last four and a wary Calderon admitted he is expecting a tough test for his side.

“Our next match in the semi-finals will be not easy,” he said.

“We need to travel to Japan and we will face a strong team but since we accept no excuses I think we will secure the win and qualify to the final.”

Pakhtakor coach Viktor Djalilov, meanwhile, had no complaints with the defeat and believes his side stood up well against some difficult opponents in the AFC Champions League.

“First, congratulations to Al Ittihad for the great performance that they had and I think the team stands on the top of the list of Asian teams,” he said.

“I watched their game against Umm Salal and they won 7-1 whilst they also won another match 7-0.

“We had some scoring chances but my players failed to convert them into goals, I do not blame them as I believe that we have reached a great stage in the competition, we edged strong teams but in general this is football.”