He will be unable to call upon some of his biggest names, but Shanghai Shenhua head coach Choi Kang-hee is hopeful for a successful start when his side begin their 2020 AFC Champions League campaign against Australia's Perth Glory on Wednesday.

More than nine months after its scheduled start date, the Chinese outfit will finally begin their quest for continental success, but with their league campaign completed just a week ago, Choi said several of his players have arrived in the Qatari capital nursing injuries.

"We just finished our Chinese Super League season and we have some problems with injuries," said Choi, who led Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors to Asian glory in both 2006 and 2016.

"For us, our team selection is incomplete. It's a pity, but our first target is still to advance to the knockout stage and we need to work hard together to achieve our target.

"For this team it is quite difficult because we have so many injuries, especially for the first three matches. It's going to be a big problem for this team, but as the head coach I still believe it's a big opportunity for us and I really do hope we can have a good showing at this tournament."

Shenhua appear particularly hamstrung in midfield and attack. Veteran Colombian playmaker Giovanni Moreno is under an injury cloud, while towering Korean national team striker Kim Shin-wook has been on the sidelines since August.

Adding to those woes is the absence of recent Ecuadorian arrivals Miller Bolaños and Fidel Martinez, who have been left out of the travelling party due to foreign player limits, while Stephan El Shaarawy hasn't made the trip having not appeared for the club in months.

Choi admitted that his side will be lacking a good deal of firepower, particularly in the early stages of the competition, but believes that with time, and more encouraging physiotherapists' reports, they could yet find themselves in a position to challenge Asia's best.

"It was quite a difficult selection not to allow (Bolańos and Martinez) to come to the AFC Champions League, because we have these injuries," he said.

"Also, among our foreign players like Giovanni Moreno and Kim Shin-wook, they are also facing problems with injuries. For our first game it will be quite difficult for us, especially on an attacking level, but we will use always the players we can use to try and achieve our target and play a good game.

"Our target is definitely winning the championship, but we are currently experiencing a lot of problems with injuries."

While Shanghai Shenhua are chasing their first AFC Champions League group stage win since way back in 2009, their opponents, Australian outfit Perth Glory, are embarking on only their second ever match in the competition, with their first bringing a 1-0 away defeat to FC Tokyo back in February.

While former AFC Champions League winner Tony Popovic was at the helm on that occasion, the new-look Perth Glory will be led by freshly appointed A-League coach Richard Garcia, and Cristian Ola, who will serve as the team's head coach during their time in Qatar.

This tournament represents a new beginning for the Western Australians, who haven't featured in a competitive match in nearly three months and arrive in Doha with a squad containing limited experience at the continental level.

Ola conceded his side's preparation hasn't been ideal but believed Perth's youth can be a strength rather than a weakness.

"It's definitely a different approach for each of the teams," he said.

"Yes, we had a very short pre-season preparation period which we need to accelerate in some ways, but on the other hand we are aware of the national competitions and fixtures of the other teams in our group, but also we count on capitalising on the fact that we have a number of youngsters that will take this opportunity and challenge, and we'll try to make the most out of that."

"We are aware about the elements that are probably not ideal to start with, but we'll try to look into transforming that into more of an opportunity for us rather than playing victims or being the underdogs from the start.

"We are aware that (Shanghai Shenhua) have a number of quality individual players and we will take them very seriously. However, in saying that, we will try our best from not only the tactical point of view, but on the youngsters' motivation to step up to the standard of the competition and of the opponent.

"We want to believe that we will compete quite well from this point of view."

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