Guangzhou Evergrande head coach Luiz Felipe Scolari praised his team's "fighting spirit" as the best he had seen in his legendary career after pulling off a gritty win over old rivals Beijing Sinobo Guoan in their 2017 Chinese Super League season opener on Sunday.

Brazilian midfielder Paulinho scored a brace during the contest, one to open the scoring in the 19th minute and the other one to break the game's deadlock with three minutes left before full-time. Beijing striker Burak Yilmaz had equalized the game in the 38th minute with a penalty kick.

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Both sides were down to ten men in the last nine minutes of the game as Guoan defender Zhao Hejing and Evergrande team captain Zheng Zhi were sent off in the 66th and 81st minutes respectively.

"I have to praise the fans who were fighting until the end for us," Scolari said during the post-match press conference, via ESPN. "I also have to praise my players. I've been working as a coach for over 50 years and today Guangzhou Evergrande's fighting spirit, especially Zheng Zhi's fighting spirit, was the best so far I've seen in my coaching career."

It was the third straight unbeaten game in all competitions for the Southern China Tigers to start the new season as the team has pulled off a win and a draw in the first two rounds of the 2017 AFC Champions League group stage. The squad is now on top of Group G with 4 points, two points ahead of second and third-place teams Suwon Samsung Bluewings and Kawasaki Frontale, in the said tournament.

The South China Morning Post noted that while the other China top-flight clubs splashed cash during the winter transfer window, Scolari and Guangzhou decided to retain all four of their imports, namely Paulinho, Ricardo Goulart, Alan Carvalho, and Jackson Martinez, for this term's competitions.

"I hope we can keep winning. Beijing has always been a good team and today they were fully prepared. I am very glad we won. I hope we improve our possession in the next game," Scolari said.

TagsChinese Super League, Chinese Super League news, Chinese Super League News 2017, Luiz Felipe Scolari, Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao FC