Melbourne City head coach Michael Matricciani plans to rely on a formidable defence that hasn’t conceded in 360 minutes to ensure his side return to Australia with the trophy.

“The most successful teams are built on a successful defence and that starts from the strikers,” said Matricciani. “We like to have the ball, to dominate, lure teams in behind. We also like to press high and be compact.

“We like to limit chances and we haven’t conceded in the last four matches but as long as we score one more than the opponents, whether that’s 1-0 or 4-3, I don’t really mind. We’re confident in our own abilities and we want to win the trophy but definitely, we also have to be ready for the opponent.”

The Australian tactician, however, is leaving nothing to chance, having gone through extensive work with his backroom staff in preparation for the match as he looks to contain the impact of Wuhan Jiangda’s frontline.

“It’s going to be a great occasion. They are a great side. We expect a good crowd for this special showcase. We’ve been doing research on them for the past four weeks, expecting them to make the final.

“What I’ve been most impressed with is their ability to defend in a compact block and counter attack. But they have also shown that they can play open and attacking. They have three, four good attacking players that we need to be aware of as we cannot allow them to express themselves.” 

As for Wuhan Jiangda, the toll of Wednesday’s semi-final success against Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City Women’s FC could be a factor with head coach Chang Weiwei and his technical staff working tirelessly in the past few days to boost the players’ recovery.

The 47-year-old is also working on a plan to ensure that Melbourne are not able to flex their physical superiority as he looks to maximise home ground advantage to make the China PR side the first winners of the competition.

“With just two days of gap, recovery was a priority for us because we played the semi-final under very hot conditions but we are still hopeful to be able to give the fans a beautiful performance in the final,” said Chang.

“It is obvious that the Melbourne team has the physical advantage but that shouldn’t be something that we are afraid of. We just have to work hard to ensure that they can’t use those advantages."

“As for Yao Wei, she is our captain and she is constantly working hard to make herself available to play. We have another day of preparation and we are hopeful that she will be ready for the match.”

Venue: Wuhan Sports Centre Stadium (Wuhan)

Kick-off: Saturday, 20:00 (UTC+8)