Lion City Sailors may have thrived being the underdogs in the AFC Champions League Two last season, but they may have to start getting used to being viewed as favourites this term.
Following a history-making run in 2024-25 which saw them become the first Singaporean club to reach a continental decider, the Sailors are back in action in Asian football's second-tier club competition on Thursday when they open their campaign away to Indonesian Super League giants Persib Bandung.
Having also faced off last season, Persib were the only side that the Sailors failed to beat in the group stage -- as they drew 1-1 in Bandung before the Singapore Premier League champions somehow threw away a two-goal lead to lose 3-2 in the return encounter at Jalan Besar Stadium.
Yet, less than a year since those encounters, the Sailors' exploits in eventually making the final means that -- whether rightfully or not -- many expect them to go far once more.
Persib coach Bojan Hodak openly identified the Sailors as the favourites in Group G, which also includes Thai League 1 outfit Bangkok United and Selangor of the Malaysia Super League.
Nonetheless, his Sailors counterpart Aleksandar Ranković was keen to dismiss those suggestions as mind games - although he is relishing the prospect of his side once again thriving on adversity.
"I can imagine Bojan is going to put a lot of pressure on us," said Ranković in Wednesday's pre-match news conference. "As a coach, he has to release the pressure on them [Persib].
"[A journalist] just mentioned [Persib have] 15 foreign players (including naturalised Indonesia internationals). It's obvious who are the favourites in this match.
"Nevertheless, we faced much bigger opponents that Persib in the last two years. It brings out the best in us.
"Definitely, they will also have the advantage of playing at home. They've also strengthened their squad very much but we're ready, and we do believe we can get a result here."
Given the vociferous support that Indonesian teams often enjoy from their manic faithful, any away trip to the country would previously automatically have seen most opposition sides installed as the underdogs.
The fact that there is a significant amount of sentiment that the Sailors should still be winning this tie is testament to what they achieved over the past 12 months.
Like Ranković, Sailors captain Hariss Harun was keen not to pay too much attention to the chatter and instead preferred to focus on an undoubtedly tough task lying ahead.
"We're really excited to start our ACL Two campaign," said Hariss. "It's normal that people look at us as favourites [in certain matches] because of what we achieved last season. We had a good run, but that's behind us now.
"Last year was a good example of what happens when we come together, keep our heads down and work hard, and we saw the results.
"Tomorrow will be another big challenge, but we're ready and fully focused to get a good result here."
After a shaky start to the new campaign, which saw them lose 4-1 to BG Tampines Rovers in the curtain-raising Community Shield before falling to a 3-1 defeat to Johor Darul Ta'zim in their ASEAN Club Championship opener, the Sailors have gotten back on track with back-to-back 2-1 and 5-0 league wins over Hougang United and Balestier Khalsa respectively.
One minor negative has been the fact that their star signing from the off-season -- former J1 League top scorer Anderson Lopes -- is yet to get off the mark.
Still, Ranković did not seem overly bothered as he backed his new Brazilian marksman to eventually fire on all cylinders.
"Anderson Lopes is a quality player and he just needs to find his rhythm," added the Serbian tactician.
"Of course, as a striker, you want to be scoring goals. But there's no pressure from us.
"He's going to do that anyway. It's just a matter of time."