Lippi seals league, cup double at Guangzhou

Lippi seals league, cup double at Guangzhou

Marcello Lippi has completed a league and cup double after Guangzhou Evergrande beat Guizhou Renhe on Sunday to win the Chinese FA Cup.

Photographers take a picture of Italy's Marcello Lippi at the opening ceremony of Evergrande Football School in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong province, on October 9. Lippi has completed a league and cup double after Guangzhou Evergrande beat Guizhou Renhe on Sunday to win the Chinese FA Cup.

After drawing the first leg 1-1 in Guizhou, Chinese Super League side Guangzhou won the second leg 4-2 at a packed Tianhe Stadium in their home city, a result which saw Lippi win only his second honour outside his native Italy.

Lippi opened his overseas' honours account after winning the Chinese domestic league title with Guangzhou two weeks ago, having joined it as coach in a multi-million dollar deal in May.

He coached Italy to the 2006 World Cup championship.

Guangzhou opened the scoring in the first minute, thanks to a stunning overhead kick by former Borussia Dortmund striker Lucas Barrios.

Chinese national team defender Zhang Linpeng added a second for Guangzhou just before half-time.

In the second half Spanish striker Rafa Jorda pulled one back for Guizhou, but Barrios again scored in the 65th minute to make it 3-1 to Guangzhou.

In an action-packed climax, Dario Conca scored to put Guangzhou 4-1 up in the 90th minute, before Rao Weihui secured a consolation goal in the dying seconds to make the final score 4-2.

Guangzhou won the cup 5-3 on aggregate.

Despite their defeat, Guizhou Renhe -- who have been linked with Chelsea's Frank Lampard in recent weeks -- qualify for next year's Asian Champion's League by virtue of finishing fourth in the Chinese Super League.

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