Chinese Super League club Shanghai SIPG FC is set to open their 2017 AFC Champions League campaign against K-League Classic champions FC Seoul on Tuesday at the Seoul World Cup Stadium in the South Korean capital city.

The Red Eagles, who are now led by Brazilians Hulk, Oscar, and Elkeson with Portuguese defender Ricardo Carvalho and Uzbek midfielder Odil Ahmedov, defeated Thai League T1 squad Sukhothai FC, 3-0, at their home field, the Shanghai Stadium, on Feb. 7 to advance to the group stage of the tournament.

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SIPG was eliminated by another South Korean club, Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, in the quarterfinals of last year's Champions League. Jeonbuk also defeated FC Seoul in the semifinals of that same tourney to eventually win the 2016 AFC Champions League title over UAE Pro-League club Al Ain FC.

SIPG and FC Seoul are joined by Japan's Urawa Red Diamonds and Australia's Western Sydney Wanderers in Group F of this year's competitions.

Former Jiangsu Sainty and Beijing Guoan forward Dejan Damjanovic said that Group F is the "hardest group" to compete in the current edition with all four teams considered as favorites to advance deep in the knockout stages, ESPN reported.

"I think the hardest group is our group because all four teams are really good teams and every game will be really tough," Damjanovic said. "For us, the first game is at home and we have to have a good result to open the season well. We cannot afford to lose points at home."

Damjanovic admitted that SIPG is "an excellent team" especially now that they have "better foreigners" as compared to the past years. Oscar opened the scoring for head coach André Villas-Boas side against Sukhothai while Elkeson buried the second goal before an own goal sealed the three-goal shutout win.

"We need to be careful in the beginning, but I think the Korean teams are better in my opinion and we have to show we are one of the best teams in Asia," he added.

TagsAFC Champions League 2017, AFC Champions League, 2017 AFC Champions League group stage, Shanghai SIPG FC, FC Seoul