China rejoices as Guangzhou Evergrande wins Champions League

Guangzhou Evergrande became the first Chinese winners of the AFC Champions League when they drew 1-1 with FC Seoul in the second leg on Saturday to take the title on away goals after a 3-3 aggregate tie.

The Chinese champions dominated but struggled to convert pressure into goals until Brazilian forward Elkeson broke the deadlock in the 58th minute, sending the majority of the red clad 58,000 capacity crowd at the Tianhe Stadium into raptures.

FC Seoul were level four minutes later with their first chance of the game, Dejan Damjanovic firing home to make it a nervy finale but Guangzhou survived to take a deserved title.

Guangzhou's victory means they will be Asia's representative at the FIFA Club World Cup in Morocco next month while Italian World Cup winner Marcello Lippi became the first coach to win both the European and Asian Champions League titles.

The Italian, who won in Europe with Juventus in 1996, was tossed in the air by his players after they collected their winners medals.

"When they (Seoul) did score it was a pretty dangerous situation for us because it made the game 50-50 for us and we were pretty worried," Lippi told reporters.

"But in the end we won this trophy and I think we deserved it."