It was a disjointed performance and brought a second home defeat in a row for Guangzhou Evergrande, but their 1-0 loss on Tuesday night at the hands of Cerezo Osaka was not enough to deny Marcello Lippi and his team a place in the last eight of the AFC Champions League.
The loss to the Japanese side was the club's first at home this season in the continental championship, but having won the first leg 5-1 in Osaka last week, Liao Lisheng's 49th minute own goal was never going to be enough to cause an upset.
The Italian coach, though, was far from happy with the performance, which possessed few of the qualities that saw Guangzhou claim the AFC Champions League title last year in swashbuckling fashion.
Sometimes our players seem lost, even though we are at the top in the domestic league and have also qualified in the AFC Champions League
"Two losses in a row tells us that we need to work harder, especially in our mentality; we have lots to do," said Lippi, whose team lost to local rivals Guangzhou R&F in the Chinese Super League last Friday night.
"Sometimes our players seem lost, even though we are at the top in the domestic league and have also qualified in the AFC Champions League.
"But we need more and to improve continuously, and that is how we can become a great team.
"However, the most important thing is that we qualified. Not all the Chinese teams can reach into the last eight of the AFC Champions League.