The comments came following Yoon’s Player of the Match performance in the club’s comprehensive 3-1 win over Shanghai Shenhua at Education City Stadium on Saturday; a showing in which they stamped their authority as possible title contenders.

Appearing for the second time in Group F, and the first time in the competition’s new centralised format, the Korea Republic side were far too strong for their Chinese opponents, with Yoon Bit-garam scoring twice to take the sting out of the contest before half-time.

While Shanghai had already played and won against Perth Glory in Doha on Wednesday, Ulsan’s impressive showing came in their first fixture in Qatar, and Kim had only minor criticisms of what had been an excellent resumption of his team’s Asian campaign.

Goals from Fernando and A Lan helped Beijing secure an important 2-1 win over Korea Republic’s FC Seoul on Saturday, taking their tally to the maximum six points from two matches in the competition.

With their next two matches against a Melbourne Victory side which hasn’t played competitively since August, the team from the Chinese capital can already see a potential path to the knockout stage.

The Chinese Super League side fielded a heavily rotated starting XI with the likes of Hulk, Aaron Mooy and two-goal hero from the previous game Li Shenglong being introduced in the second half.

The Portuguese manager’s plan paid dividends as Shanghai SIPG added a second win in three days to hit six points in Group H of the 2020 AFC Champions League.

Jeonbuk play Australia's Sydney FC on Wednesday while Shanghai SIPG and Yokohama F Marinos will square off in a top-of-the-table clash on the same day.

Both teams collected their first point of the 2020 AFC Champions League campaign, with Guangzhou Evergrande having played one less match than their opponents.

The Koreans side now face an eight-day wait for their next game, a period during which Guangzhou Evergrande face Group G leaders Vissel Kobe of Japan twice.

Chiangrai qualified for the Continental competition for the first time in their history after winning the 2019 Thai League 1 but suffered back-to-back 1-0 losses against Melbourne Victory and Beijing FC in February before the East Asia section of the tournament was brought to an eight-month halt by COVID-19.

While a long-term injury ruled the attacking midfielder out of the opening two games, the 21-year believes Chiangrai learnt plenty of lessons in defeat and will now look to put in an improved performance in Qatar, starting with the match against Seoul at Jassim bin Hamad Stadium.