ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'pyodbc'. Cannot find module. When deploying python Azure functions from CI/CD pipeline

Deploying Python functions using my CI/CD pipeline succeeds. But when the functions are invoked after that the following error is thrown

Strangely enough, when I deploy the functions using the Azure extension from my VSCode, the function invocations are working as intended and no longer throw the ModuleNotFoundError error

The ModuleNotFoundError error only arises when I deploy the functions from the yml pipeline.

This is how my deployment.yml task looks like

- task: AzureFunctionApp@2
  displayName: 'AF: Deploy New Azure Functions'
  condition: and(succeeded(), eq('${{ parameters.deploy_af }}', 'true'))
  inputs:
    connectedServiceNameARM: 'spName'
    appType: 'functionAppLinux'
    isFlexConsumption: true
    appName: 'appName'
    package: '$(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)/af_001/drop/*.zip'

And this is how the build is created

jobs:
- job: AFBuild
  displayName: Build AF Artifact
  pool: Self Hosted Pool
  steps:
  - task: UsePythonVersion@0
    displayName: 'Use Python 3.11'
    inputs:
      versionSpec: 3.11

  - bash: 'pip install --target="./azurefunctions/af-001/.python_packages/lib/site-packages" -r ./azurefunctions/af-001/requirements.txt'
    displayName: 'Install Requirements'

  - task: ArchiveFiles@2
    displayName: 'Archive files'
    inputs:
      rootFolderOrFile: '$(Build.SourcesDirectory)/azurefunctions/af-001'
      includeRootFolder: false
      
  - task: PublishBuildArtifacts@1
    displayName: 'Publish Artifact'

My requirements.txt file

azure-functions
azure_data_tables==12.4.3
pyodbc==5.2.0
python-dateutil==2.9.0
google-auth==2.38.0

Downgrading the function app from python 3.11 to 3.10 works in our case i.e. we don't get the ModuleNotFoundError anymore for pyodbc, but since we have multiple functions deployed in production which were developed on python 3.11, downgrading is not really an option for us.

Any help on this matter would be greatly appreciated!!!