The Costa Rican international will make his return from injury when Melbourne Victory face Korea Republic’s Chunnam Dragons at Gwangyang Football Stadium this Wednesday.

Hernandez, who was sidelined with a strained medial ligament after a training mishap in February, will make his first appearance in Asia’s premier club competition, with Victory coach Ernie Merrick set to use the attacking midfielder off the bench.

Merrick said: "Carlos has got through two tough training sessions this week.

"He’s only about 70 per cent fit, but he’ll play some part in the game because his injury is completely healed, so now it’s more a case of getting him match fit.

"The more game time he can get, the better, so he’ll definitely come off the bench at some stage."

Hernandez is the only addition to Victory’s travelling party, with Qantas Socceroos midfielder Leigh Broxham suspended from the Chunnam clash after receiving two cautions in two separate matches.

Victory began their lengthy journey to the Korean city of Gwangyang on Sunday morning, with the team forced to spend a night in Seoul before boarding a flight on Monday morning to Yeosu, where it travelled by bus to Gwangyang.

Merrick hinted Qantas Young Socceroos striker Nathan Elasi is set to make his competitive debut against Chunnam, while Qantas Socceroos midfielder Tom Pondeljak is likely to be promoted to the starting 11 after his first appearance off the bench against Japan’s Gamba Osaka almost two weeks ago.

He said: "We’ll probably play Nathan Elasi from the start and Tom Pondeljak is up to about 75 per cent fit now, so he’ll probably start as well.

"We’ve scored six goals so far in the AFC Champions League, three from Danny Allsopp and the other three from defenders with Kevin Muscat from the penalty spot and Rodrigo Vargas from set pieces.

"We’re still trying to get our strikers and midfielders in goal scoring mode.

"Nathan has been training particularly well and is scoring lots of goals when we play 11-a-side matches amongst ourselves, so it’s a good opportunity for him to see if he can take the next step up."

Victory were mathematically ruled out of reaching the Knockout Stage of the AFC Champions League 2008 after their 2-0 loss to Gamba, though Merrick said the side is determined to improve ahead of the friendly against Italian giant Juventus FC at Telstra Dome on Friday, 30 May.

"We’ll be playing to win the game and we want to finish on a high note.

"Despite the long Hyundai A-League season and then preparing again and staying fit for the AFC Champions League, you would never believe it, because the attitude at training is very upbeat and enthusiastic.

"The boys are highly motivated to finish off the AFC Champions League on a high note and the icing on the cake before their four week break is to play against a fantastic team like Juventus."

Chunnam, which played out a 2-2 draw against Thailand’s Chonburi FC in their most recent AFC Champions League fixture, have the slimmest of chances of progressing to the Knockout Stage and must win their final two Group Stage games to stay alive.

Victory defeated last year’s Korean FA Cup winners 2-0 at Telstra Dome in the club’s historic first AFC Champions League match and will look to record their second win of Asia’s premier club competition in Gwangyang.

Chunnam currently sit third on the Group G ladder and are searching for their second win heading into Wednesday’s match following a thrilling 3-3 draw against FC Seoul on Saturday, which saw all six goals netted in the second half.