Bosnian Mario Kvesić was caught under the pressure of Al Hilal left-back Nasser Al Dawsari who dispossessed him in the Pohang Steelers half and fired home the opener with only seconds gone. 

Kim’s men pushed forward in pursuit of an equaliser, but were hit on the counter in the second half as Bafetimbi Gomis fed Moussa Marega to hit home Al Hilal’s second and seal the win for the hosts.

“I think conceding early impacted us negatively,” said Kim, who had been hopeful of becoming the first man to win the AFC Champions League as a player and a coach, having been part of that 2009 title-winning Pohang Steelers side.

“We lost our concentration, we improved later and tried to attack. I had a strong feeling that we could score in the second half, we had to chase the game and we pushed forward then they scored the second goal and took the game."

With the 2021 edition of the competition having largely been played in empty stadiums due to the COVID-19 pandemic, over 50,000 fans were present at King Fahd Stadium in the final, and Kim felt that his players both enjoyed it and felt the weight of playing in front of huge home crowd favouring their opponents.

“It’s a fact that Al Hilal won it, but I felt that Al Hilal is able to play with high quality individuals with incredible skill and technique and that put us in a difficult situation.

“I strongly believe professional football requires supporters. Today we played in an amazing atmosphere, it was incredible. We played an away game in front of Al Hilal supporters so there was a bit of pressure, but I have a feeling our players enjoyed it, but I cannot say they didn’t feel pressure too."