The final match was contested in a two-legged home-and-away format between FC Seoul of South Korea and Guangzhou Evergrande of China.

[2] The winner earned the right to represent the AFC at the 2013 FIFA Club World Cup in Morocco, beginning at the quarterfinal stage.

Goals were scored by Sergio Escudero and Dejan Damjanović for FC Seoul, and Elkeson and Gao Lin for Guangzhou Evergrande.

It is also the home ground of the Korea Republic national football team, and was the opening venue of the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

Lippi had won the UEFA Champions League with Juventus in 1996 and the 2006 FIFA World Cup with the Italy national football team.

Guangzhou came close to a breakthrough after eight minutes as Dario Conca's shot was palmed back out towards the penalty spot, only for Huang Bowen to blaze over the crossbar.

But just two minutes later, FC Seoul took the lead as Guangzhou's defence failed to deal with a quickly taken free-kick and Escudero held off Feng Xiaoting before coolly beating the goalkeeper, Zeng Cheng, with a low shot from just inside the penalty area.

Guangzhou was back on level terms 16 minutes before half-time as Huang's left wing corner was met by the unmarked Elkeson and the Brazilian's downward header from the edge of the six yard area gave Kim little chance despite a despairing dive from the FC Seoul goalkeeper.

Guangzhou finished the first half strongly and almost completed the comeback in stoppage time as Kim had to be on his toes to push a rising strike from Conca away at his near post.

One minute before the hour mark, Guangzhou took the lead as FC Seoul's defence failed to fully clear the danger inside their penalty area and Sun Xiang's low drilled cross was diverted into the back of the net at the near post when Gao Lin poked it in.

Damjanovic again went close to making another goal for FC Seoul after 66 minutes, only to be denied by a last-ditch block by Sun Xiang before Koh Myong-Jin fired into the side netting.

Guangzhou should have added a third point with seven minutes remaining as Elkeson fired a tame effort straight at Kim from a promising position.

AFC Man of the Match: Dejan Damjanović (FC Seoul) Fans' Man of the Match: Sergio Escudero (FC Seoul) Assistant referees: Abdukhamidullo Rasulov (Uzbekistan) Bakhadyr Kochkarov (Kyrgyzstan) Fourth official: Valentin Kovalenko (Uzbekistan)

After the first game, the FC Seoul head coach, Choi Yong-Soo, was confident his team could secure the win needed in the second leg to claim the AFC Champions League premiership.

Lippi left Muriqui and right-back Zhang Linpeng out of his side for the Chinese Super League crown 5-0 win over Wuhan Zall.

Guangzhou Evergrande started with one change as Zhao Xuri replaced Gao Lin, thus moving Conca as a false nine.

Brazilian striker Elkeson gave Guangzhou the lead in the 58th minute with his sixth goal in six AFC Champions League games.

FC Seoul was unable to register a first half chance of note as the home team controlled the tempo during the majority of the opening period.

Zhao Xuri headed Sun Xiang’s cross from the left over the bar in the 11th minute after an impressive build-up by the home side.

Zhang was joined in the book on the stroke of halftime by FC Seoul captain Ha Dae-Sung, who was sanctioned for persistent fouling.

Five minutes into the second half, Muriqui forced Kim into a reflect save with his feet after being put through on goal by Huang Bowen.

Both sides pushed for a second in the final half-hour of the game but, despite increasingly frantic action, neither goalkeeper was troubled, and Guangzhou held on.

[16] The first leg of the final at Seoul World Cup Stadium averaged 17.42 million viewers in China, the second-highest figure for that year for a sporting event.

The average viewer figure was forty-three percent higher than the previous best, which was recorded for Guangzhou's semi-final second leg win over Japan's Kashiwa Reysol.