Guangzhou Evergrande seal their fifth straight Chinese Super League title
Brazilian coach Scolari wins championship in his first season after a 2-0 win at Beijing, with goals from Ricardo Goulart and Paulinho
Guangzhou Evergrande won their fifth straight Chinese Super League title yesterday after a Brazilian double gave them a 2-0 win at Beijing Guoan on a nervy final day of the season.
The victory, courtesy of goals from Ricardo Goulart and Paulinho at the end of each half, left them on 67 points, two clear of second-placed Shanghai SIPG, whose 2-1 home victory over relegation-threatened Liaoning Whowin proved in vain.
Thanks to a vastly superior goal difference, Guangzhou knew only a point was required at the Workers' Stadium in the Chinese capital against a Beijing side needing a win to guarantee a top-three finish and a place in next season's Asian Champions League.
We deserve to be the champions. We are definitely a great team. We only had one draw in 10 away games since I have been the head coach
A minute before half-time Guangzhou, whose only league defeat this season came at Henan Jianye in April, were awarded a penalty when Beijing's South Korean midfielder Ha Dae-sung had handled in the area.
Goulart made no mistake with the spot kick to register his 19th goal of the campaign and send Luiz Felipe Scolari's side in front at the break just as Shanghai had gone 2-1 up at home to Liaoning, thanks to Cai Huikang.
Shanghai needed Beijing to score twice to have any hope of pinching the title and they thought they had one goal when Dejan Damjanovic put the ball in the Guangzhou net only for the effort to be ruled out for offside.