Shanghai SIPG's Brazilian attacker Hulk is currently worth AU $31 million in the transfer market - $11 million more than the entire Sydney FC side put together.
It's a financial disparity Sky Blues coach Steve Corica is fully aware of ahead of his side's must-win Asian Champions League clash on Wednesday night.
After picking up one point from their first two group games, Sydney must find a way to silence Shanghai's stars and Corica is hopeful his team's collective spirit is capable of putting up a fight.
"Of course, we don't have the budget to get the likes of Hulk and Oscar - they're a lot of money," Corica said on Tuesday.
"They're more than the A-League salary-cap put together...that's one player.
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"So we can't compete with that kind of money, but our boys have got a lot of heart, we're physical, we know what to expect from them now and we're going to put up a good performance.
"We have quality in our team as well and we expect a good performance. We go into the game wanting to win.
“There’s more pressure on them. We’re the underdogs. That’s normal against teams like this, with the budget that they have."
Shanghai have already stumbled in Group H, losing 1-0 to Ulsan in their last match having beaten Kawasaki 1-0 in their opening group game.
Those results have highlighted to coach Vitor Pereira that he can't rely solely on his star players like Hulk and Oscar to secure him three points.
"These kind of players can give us some moments of magic, but football is a collective game," Pereira said.
"I think we have to play and to win as a team."
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