An early goal from Anvarjon Soliev set the home side on their way on Wednesday before Server Djeparov effectively wrapped up the points seven minutes before the break at MHSK Stadium.

Kuruvchi top Group A on 12 points, six ahead of their Saudi opponents who were eliminated as a result of the defeat.

But Sepahan’s 2-1 loss at Al Ittihad Aleppo sent Kuruvchi through as the Iranians also trail the Uzbeks by six points going into the final round of games.

And Kasimov paid tribute to his side, in particular Bakhtiyor Ashurmatov, as they turned in a gritty erformance which eventually saw then through to the knockout stages.

"I’m happy that we beat such strong opponent as Al Ittihad," he said.

"They made mistakes when we scored goals but our players contributed to that. We forced them to make mistakes.

"I would also like to say special thanks to Bakhtiyor Ashurmatov who played until the end although he has injured his leg. I had used all three substitutions otherwise I would have replaced him."

Kasimov also stressed Kuruvchi were looking to go all the way in this season’s AFC Champions League but warned he would need to add to the squad to achieve their dream.

"We will try to win every match from here," he added.

"We want to play in final but we need to improve our squad to get there. First of all, we need to find new strikers."

Al Ittihad coach Gabriel Calderon admitted the early goal affected his side but conceded their opponents are well equipped to lift the trophy this season.

"The match was decided when Kuruvchi scored an early first goal on the counter attack," he said.

"We had chances to level the score but we could not convert them.

"I would say that Kuruvchi are the best team in our group

"I could not pinpoint one area where they are strongest because all the team played well today.

"If we talk about who has the best chance to win the tournament, then every quarter-finalist could be a winner. And Kuruvchi are among those teams."