Lekhwiya coach Michael Laudrup.

By Sports Reporter/Doha

Lekhwiya will begin their AFC Champions League campaign today in Tehran where they take on Iranian giants Persepolis. The Qatari club, placed in Group A this year, will be looking to do better than their last year’s effort, where they failed to get past the group stage.
In the Qatar Stars League, Lekhwiya are currently in second place, one point behind leader Al Sadd. They suffered a shock loss to El Jaish two matches ago, but in their previous match they defeated Al Shamal to get back to winning ways.
With an impressive squad at their disposal, there will be a lot of expectations from Lekhwiya during this edition of the Asian Champions League (ACL). Lekhwiya have made it to the quarter-finals in 2013 where they went out to eventual champions Guangzhou Evergrande but their group stage exit last year after losing three of their six games, including a 5-0 home defeat by UAE’s Al Ain, is something that the team will be eager to put behind them.
Their opponents, Persepolis, too are a team with a lot to prove in this competition. They were winners of the inaugural Asian Cup Winners’ Cup in 1991 but they have not fared too well in the AFC Champions League, never managing to get beyond the last 16 in their previous four appearances in the competition.
Lekhwiya have had mixed fortunes in their previous two visits to Iran in the AFC Champions League, losing 2-1 at Sepahan in 2012 but winning 1-0 at Tractorsazi Tabriz last year.
As for Persopolis,their only previous Qatari opponents in the AFC Champions League are Al Gharafa. They beat them 3-1 in Tehran in 2009 but were held to a 1-1 draw at the Azadi Stadium in 2012. In their previous four appearances in the ACL, Persepolis have made it past the Group Stage twice but they have yet to progress beyond the last 16, losing 1-0 to Bunyodkor in 2009 and 3-0 to Al Ittihad of Saudi Arabia in 2012.
In the other match in this group, Saudi Arabia’s Al Nassr will take on Uzbekistan’s Bunyodkar. Winners of the Asian Cup Winners’ Cup and the Asian Super Cup in 1998, Al Nassr secured a berth in the AFC Champions League for only the second time after they captured the Saudi league title in 2014 for the first time in 19 years.
Overshadowed in recent seasons by their Riyadh rivals Al Hilal and Al Shabab, ‘The Global’ have reasserted themselves by opening up a big lead in the defence of their Saudi league title this season and they will now look to translate their domestic form onto the international stage in Group A of the AFC Champions League.
Eliminated in the last 16 in the their only previous campaign in 2011, they will kick off their 2015 campaign with a home match against Uzbek side Bunyodkor, who qualified for the continental tournament for the eighth year in a row after Sardor Rashidov’s 52nd minute strike gave them a 2-1 win over Al Jazira of the United Arab Emirates in a Play-off Round match in Tashkent last Tuesday.
Bunyodkor finished fourth in the Uzbek league last year, their lowest placing since they won promotion to the top flight in 2006, but they have a good AFC Champions League record, reaching the Knockout Stage in all seven of their previous appearances.

Fixtures
Persepolis (IRN) vs Lekhwiya (QAT)
Azadi Stadium, Tehran

Al Nassr (KSA)  bunyodkor (UZB)
King Fahd International Stadium, Riyadh

Rookie boss Cannavaro faces Asian test
Former world player of the year Fabio Cannavaro faces a tough start to his managerial career when he leads 2013 winners Guangzhou Evergrande into the AFC Champions League this week.
Glittering honours as a player do not guarantee success in the dug-out and World Cup-winner Cannavaro, 41, is taking the plunge at a club where expectations are sky-high.
Four Chinese titles in a row, plus China’s first Champions League win, add up to a tough act to follow as Cannavaro takes over from his former Italy boss Marcello Lippi.
However Lippi remains involved as director of football and he will be well placed to closely mentor Cannavaro, his captain when Italy won the 2006 World Cup.
Guangzhou lost last month’s Super Cup final to Shandong Luneng in Cannavaro’s first game in charge, but his career starts in earnest against FC Seoul tomorrow.
The South Korean club thrashed Hanoi T&T 7-0 in the play-offs and they will be eyeing revenge for the 2013 final, when they missed out to well-heeled Guangzhou.
The southern club has been on another spending spree in the close season, splashing out a Chinese-record 15 million euros on Brazilian player of the year Ricardo Goulart.
Guangzhou, part-owned by e-commerce giant Alibaba, also spent 11 million euros on Red Bull Salzburg’s Brazilian striker Alan as they continue their policy of blending South American flair with a core of Chinese players.
The “Manchester United of Asia” became China’s first Champions League winners in 2013 but they were shocked in last year’s quarter-finals by eventual victors Western Sydney Wanderers.
But Guangzhou have an early chance for revenge with the defending champions, currently rock-bottom of the A-League with one win from 16, also in Group H.
City rivals Guangzhou R&F are making their debut and they  also face a difficult start when they take on Japanese treble-winners Gamba Osaka today.
Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal were enraged by their narrow loss in last year’s final, and they will be without striker Nassir Al Shamrani who is serving an eight-match suspension. Al Hilal start their campaign against Uzbek Cup winners Lokomotiv tomorrow.