The 25-year-old Saudi Arabia international picked up the injury in the first leg of the semi-final win over Qatar’s Al Sadd last month and only made a late appearance as a substitute in the first leg as Al Hilal picked up a 1-0 win over the Japanese side.

Andre Carrillo’s second-half goal in the first leg means the Saudi side will start the return meeting 1-0 up as they aim to win the competition for the first time, while the hosts are targeting an unprecedented third title.

The teams also squared off at Saitama Stadium in the second leg two years ago, with Urawa claiming a 1-0 victory to be crowned champions after a 2-1 aggregate win.

With Urawa a goal down but seeking an unprecedented third AFC Champions League crown and Al Hilal targeting a first to add to the many Asian titles they have won before, the-AFC.com has chosen five things to look out for ahead of the game.

Andre Carrillo’s goal separates the teams after the first game in Riyadh two weeks ago to leave Urawa needing to score twice at Saitama Stadium to claim a record third AFC Champions League crown.

But while Otsuki will look to find the balance between pushing his team to score the goals needed to add this year’s title to the ones won in 2007 and 2017, he knows his players must strike the right balance between attack and defence in their bid to make history.

And to grow the national team game in Asia, in line with the AFC’s Vision and Mission of keeping football the number one sport on the Continent, it was agreed that a ‘week of football’ should be introduced for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Qualifiers Final Round.

The second meeting of the Committee for the cycle 2019 to 2023, chaired by Dr Tran Quoc Tuan, heard that the idea of expanding the AFC Champions League to 40 teams was to transform the competition from ‘exclusive’ to ‘inclusive’ by increasing the number of Member Associations competing from 12 to 20.

Despite having netted eight goals in this year's AFC Champions League campaign so far, more than double his previous best tally, Koroki and his Urawa teammates came up short against Saudi Arabia's Al Hilal in the first leg of the tournament's final in Riyadh; with the J.League side blanked for the first time in nine Continental matches.

At the other end of the field, Andre Carrillo was on target for the hosts and the Saudi heavyweights would have been disappointed not to have scored more after profligate finishing and some fine goalkeeping by stand-in Urawa custodian Haruki Fukushima.

Nevertheless, at only 1-0 down, the Reds' number 30 believes there is still hope for his side when they host Al Hilal at Saitama Stadium – if they can switch their emphasis from defence to attack.

In 16 previous finals, history shows that the team that loses the first leg tends not to be crowned champions. Only Saudi Arabia’s Al Ittihad have managed the feat and that was back in 2004.

That does not, however, mean there haven’t been some classic encounters over the years and the-AFC.com has picked out five to whet your appetite ahead of Sunday’s game at Saitama Stadium.