Luiz Felipe Scolari hailed the battling attitude of his Guangzhou Evergrande players as the finest he has seen in his coaching career after the six-time Chinese Super League champions kicked off their latest title defence with victory over Beijing Guoan.
Brazilian midfielder Paulinho celebrated his call-up to the national side by scoring both goals, including the 87th minute winner, as Evergrande fought to the end in an enthralling encounter against one of their biggest rivals.
Paulinho had given Guangzhou the lead only for Burak Yilmaz to level from the spot. Red cards for Zhao Hejing of Beijing and Guangzhou captain Zheng Zhi then left both teams playing the final minutes with only 10 men.
"I have to praise the fans who were fighting until the end for us," said the Brazilian World Cup winner.
"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."
The win maintained Guangzhou's unbeaten start to the season after picking up four points in their first two games of their Asian Champions League campaign as well as victory over Jiangsu Suning in the Chinese Super Cup last week.
Referee Hei Xiaohu came under scrutiny for his display during the game, but Scolari refused to condemn the official's performance in front of a full house at Tianhe Stadium.
"I don't want to comment much on the officiating of the game," he said. "I think it was only because both teams were so anxious to win. I think there was only one foul that might end up hurting the other player.
"But I don't want to talk too much about this as it won't change anything. The referee has made his judgement, I can only tell my players to keep calm in these kind of special matches. It is useless to argue with referees.
"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 have we improve our possession in the next game."