Goals from Akram Afif, Nam Tae-hee, Hassan Al Haydos and Boualem Khoukhi saw Al Sadd defeat Al Hilal SFC 4-2 in the second leg of the semi-finals at the King Saud University Stadium in Riyadh, but Salem Al Dawsari and Bafetimbi Gomis' first half efforts ensured the Saudi Arabia club advanced 6-5 on aggregate.

With the advantage of a three-goal lead from the first leg and a huge crowd behind them, Saudi Arabia's Al Hilal took the game to their opponents from the start, and within five minutes they had created their first big chance.

The seven-time Chinese Super League winners trail the Japanese side 2-0 after the first leg at Saitama Stadium three weeks ago, leaving Cannavaro and his team with a significant challenge to maintain their hopes of becoming the first club to win a third AFC Champions League crown.

Guangzhou first secured the continental title in 2013 before reclaiming it two years later, but the club have failed to reach the final since and the Italian World Cup winner believes confidence in themselves will help Evergrande bridge the gap between themselves and Urawa.

Koroki has found the back of the net on seven occasions in this year’s competition, leaving him two adrift of the tournament’s top scorers Bafetimbi Gomis from Al Hilal and Al Wahda’s former striker Leonardo with Urawa closing in on a third appearance in the competition’s final.

The 2007 and 2017 title winners hold a 2-0 lead from the first leg after goals from Fabricio and Takahiro Sekine at Saitama Stadium gave Tsuyoshi Otsuki’s side a healthy advantage, but Nishikawa knows that two-goal cushion might not be enough to take Urawa into final.

“Of course we have belief, but we know that the 2-0 scoreline is still a dangerous one,” the goalkeeper told the-AFC.com. “We're not sure what the atmosphere will be like away in Guangzhou so we have to make sure that we're fully prepared for this challenge.”

In 2007, Urawa made history as the first J.League club to be crowned Continental kings since Asia's premier club tournament underwent a revamp in 2002-03 to become the AFC Champions League.

A decade later, Urawa repeated their efforts to join Wednesday's opponents Guangzhou, Korea Republic's Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors and Al Ittihad of Saudi Arabia as the only two-time winners of the AFC Champions League.

Seven times Guangzhou have faced J.League opponents in the AFC Champions League knockout stage, and seven times it has been the southern Chinese side that has emerged victorious.

But at Tianhe Stadium on Wednesday, they face arguably their biggest test yet as they are up against an Urawa side that bring with them a 2-0 lead from the first leg.

A veteran of 12 AFC Champions League tournaments so far, and a winner in 2013 and 2015, Huang Bowen knows full well the challenge his side face.