Douglas double fires Hiroshima to bronze in Club World Cup

Former Spurs midfielder Paulinho headed the Chinese in front after just four minutes in Yokohama, celebrating by racing to the bench to hold up the shirt of teammate Zou Zheng, who broke his leg in the 3-0 semi-final defeat by Barcelona.

But Douglas stooped to nod home a deserved equaliser for the Japanese champions in the 70th minute after some poor defending. He then headed in the winner seven minutes from time to complete a dramatic turnaround.

"It was very important to finish third," said Hiroshima's supersub. "We didn't want the game to go to penalties because it would have given them another chance to win it. We should have beaten River Plate in our last game but this makes up for it a little."

Hiroshima coach Hajime Moriyasu, whose side were narrowly beaten 1-0 in their midweek semi-final, praised his players for their staying power after a punishing month.

"We have played six matches in the past few weeks but when the going got tough this team is very resilient," said Moriyasu, whose side captured a third J-League crown earlier this month.

"To go toe-to-toe with the Asian champions and win will be a big confidence boost for us as we continue to build for the future."

Luiz Felipe Scolari's Evergrande had been overwhelming favourites to win the bronze medal but they wilted badly after a strong start.

"Physically and technically Hiroshima deserved to win," said former Brazil coach Scolari. "We looked a tired team. Our thoughts go to poor Zou, who had surgery in Japan on his leg and we hope to have him back with us as soon as possible."

Sanfrecce became the third Japanese team to win the third-place playoff after Urawa Reds in 2007 and Gamba Osaka in 2008.

Pint-sized striker Hisato Sato was Hiroshima's most potent attacker in the first half but Evergrande's towering goalkeeper Li Shuai brilliantly thwarted the J-League's joint record goal scorer on three occasions.

Evergrande defender Zhang Linpeng saw a shot deflected on to the post, while Mei Feng cleared superbly off the line from Takuya Marutani at the other end in a see-saw game which really caught fire when Douglas came off the bench.