Guangzhou Evergrande coach Marcello Lippi's coaching career would be on edge of jeopardy for the first time ever since he arrived Guangzhou in May.

The Italian coach's side suffered an upsetting 4-2 defeat against Saudi sides Al Ittihad at the first leg of quarter finals in AFC champions league here on Wednesday night.

Two headers from Saudi international Naif Hazazi in the final 28 minutes gifted a thrilling comeback to the two times AFC Champions League winner after Guangzhou had twice taken the lead through Gao Lin and Huang Bowen.

"We started with a lot of aggressive plays, Itti had changed their formation what I felt surprise about it," Lippi said at the press conference after the match.