Hong Kong champions Kitchee will be looking forward to meeting star player Andres Iniesta’s Vissel Kobe after the J-League side confirmed their qualification for the Asian Champions League group stage. Kobe beat Melbourne Victory 4-3 in a thrilling playoff game on Tuesday, and booked their spot alongside Shanghai Port, Chiangrai of Thailand and Kitchee in Group J of the region’s top club competition. And the ex-Spanish international, who joined Kobe from Barcelona in 2018, is still the man to watch despite being 37 years old. “He is still a classy player even if he is playing in Asia’s top club competition,” Chu Chi-kwong, Kitchee’s head coach, said. “He always orchestras the attack from midfield with his vision and no one can underestimate him although he is not young any more. “It will be a great opportunity for your boys to play against him in the Champions League.” Kitchee take training camp to Thailand ahead of ACL group stage Iniesta, who scored his side’s opening goal after just six minutes on Tuesday, played 115 minutes before he was replaced, with five minutes of extra time remaining. The Kitchee coach however said Kobe were not a one-man team as they also have other star players with a better quality. “They play with Japanese football style with good team work and many passing games,” Chu said. “They also make great variation in attack and it will definitely be a difficult encounter for us. “We hope the players can do their best to close the gap against Kobe as much as possible as we likely start against them as the underdog.” After government closed all football venues in Hong Kong in early January, Kitchee finally arrived in Bangkok last week for a pre-tournament training camp, with the Champions League starting next month. “We are happy to be here, not only for the opportunity of resuming training after stopping playing for a long time but also the acclimatisation process,” Chu said. “It is very hot here in Thailand but the players are adapting well and their conditions are getting better. But we cannot push them, everything has to be done step by step before they can regain their match fitness for the competition.” Kitchee failed to advance to the knockout round last year, only losing the spot to Pohang Steelers of South Korea on goal difference as one of the three second-best placed finishers. “It seems the group is much stronger than last year with the inclusion of Kobe but our target remains the same and that’s making it to the next round after building on what we have learned from our experience of last year,” Huang Yang, the Kitchee captain, said.