SHANGHAI: Guangzhou Evergrande clinched the Chinese football championship on Saturday following an epic battle between two of world football's heavyweight coaches.
Phil Scolari's Evergrande won 2-0 away to Beijing Guoan to finish two points clear of Sven-Goran Eriksson's Shanghai SIPG on a dramatic final day of the 2015 Chinese Super League season.
The veteran coaches have previously clashed on several occasions in the international arena.
Scolari's Brazil knocked Eriksson's England out of the 2002 World Cup quarter-finals, and the man affectionately known as "Big Phil" repeated the feat with Portugal at both Euro 2004 and the 2006 World Cup.
The duelling pair resumed their rivalry in China this season when Scolari was named Guangzhou coach back in May, following Eriksson's appointment to the SIPG hotseat at the end of last year.
This weekend's championship conclusion came after a nail-biting final few weeks of the season in which last minute goals in several matches saw both teams fight tooth and nail for the leadership position.
Guangzhou looked set to win seal their fifth consecutive title in front of their own fans last week, only for opponents Shandong to score a late - and clearly offside - equalizer in the 95th minute to draw 2-2, throwing Sven's SIPG a championship lifeline going into the final weekend of the Chinese season.
The Cantonese club's misfortune last week meant SIPG needed to beat lowly Liaoning on Saturday to have any chance of winning their maiden title.
SIPG did manage to triumph 2-1 after initially going behind in the first half, but their fightback was in vain as they required Beijing to defeat Guangzhou to have any chance of sealing their maiden title.
Scenes of dejection were the order of the day at Shanghai Stadium as Sven's players learnt of the final result in Beijing - a 2-0 victory for Guangzhou.
Before the match, SIPG were hopeful that Beijing could do them a favour - the capital side were unbeaten at home all season and Evergrande had not won at the Worker's Stadium since their return to top flight Chinese football in 2011.
However, following a careless handball from Beijing's Korean defender Ha Dae-Sung, Brazilian striker Ricardo Goulart stepped up and scored to give Guangzhou the initiative in the first half.
In the second half the huge 50,000-plus home crowd were furious when Dejan Damjanovic's penalty box finish was disallowed for offside. But a late close-range effort from Brazilian playmaker Paulinho sealed the win for Evergrande as they finished two points clear of SIPG.
Guangzhou's attention now turns to the Asian Champion's League final against Al-Ahli of the UAE in a two-legged affair on November 7 and 21.
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