Speaking from Bangkok on Tuesday night, Vargas said he was now looking forward to matching wits with Chonburi's star Brazilian striker Ney Fabiano.

“When we were at the stadium I overhead Chonburi's Brazilian striker say it was going to be an easy game for them,” Vargas said on SEN radio's football show The Four Diegos.

Vargas, who has Chilean heritage, speaks Portugese. “So I replied in Portugese and he was quite shocked. He didn't expect that.

“I'm sure I'll have a few words with him [Ney Fabiano] in the game just to make him sure he knows I'm there. I'll know what he's saying.”

Vargas was the star of Victory's match day one 2-0 win over Chunnam Dragons last week. Meanwhile Fabiano played his part in Chonburi's goal that shocked Gamba Osaka in Japan 1-1. He is considered one of their most dangerous weapons. It sets up an intriguing contest.

Vargas was confident the Victorians can come out with another three points to send them to top of the group ahead of the crunch match with Gamba Osaka on April 9 in Melbourne.

“We've watched the DVD of their game against Osaka when we arrived, and we pretty much know how they'll play and which way they'll line up,” he said of the clash at the Supachalasai stadium at 7pm local time.

“We're pretty confident in our strategy and in getting a result. It's pretty warm and humid but we've had two sessions so far at 10am and the boys actually feel pretty acclimatised.

“Three points would be massive for us.”

Victory undertook heat acclimatisation in the lead up to this tie at the VIS's heat chambers, and it's expected this will stand the season two A-League champions in good stead.

As for the Thais switching training times and venues, Vargas said: “It's not been too bad so far. It's been pretty good. Having said that we trained at the stadium today and the grass was very long.

“We assume they left the grass long to make it a bit heavier for us. But we won't change too much our game plan.”