After a dramatic season packed with plenty of plot twists, Fabio Cannavaro made sure to script a happy ending on Sunday.
The Italian won the first major honor of his managerial career by leading Guangzhou Evergrande to a record-extending eighth Chinese Super League title, killing off second-place Beijing Guo'an's slim hopes by two points.
A 3-0 victory at home to Shanghai Shenhua got the party started inside a jubilant Tianhe Stadium - scenes which would have been hard to imagine in October when Cannavaro was temporarily relieved of his coaching duties to attend "a corporate culture class" amid an alarming slump in Evergrande's form.