Marcello Lippi sings same tune ahead of 'fifth' Champions League final
The Italian says the Seoul clash is as important to him as his four Uefa Champions League finals
Throughout Guangzhou Evergrande's run to the final, Marcello Lippi has been unfailingly consistent. Not only has the Italian World Cup winner stuck to the same core players, he has also repeated the same line as Guangzhou have gone deeper into the tournament.
"It's my fifth Champions League final," he has said consistently since qualification for the final was sealed with an emphatic 8-1 aggregate win over Japan's Kashiwa Reysol, "whether in Europe or in Asia".
In the eyes of Lippi, the meeting with FC Seoul carries the same weight as his Juventus side's win over Ajax in 1996, or the significance of the games he lost in 1997, 1998 and 2003; for the 65-year-old there is no difference.
"I give the AFC Champions League a lot of importance," he said. "Not only are we talking about the tournament but also because I've been with this team two years now and I've seen them psychologically and physically and the team is much more organised.
"I also appreciate a lot of the support that the fans give us back at home for any sort of tournament we take part in. So, obviously, I would give it a lot of importance to win this tournament. I won the Uefa Champions League and this would be at an equal level."
The shadow of European football often - and understandably - hangs over the Asian club game, but for Lippi the AFC Champions League brings with it a new phenomenon: a final played over two legs.