Corinthians boss Tite dedicates Club World Cup to fans

Corinthians coach Tite dedicated the Club World Cup final triumph against Chelsea in Japan on Sunday to the Sao Paulo club's supporters, who packed the International Stadium in Yokohama.

More than 20,000 Corinthians fans are thought to have travelled from Brazil for the intercontinental tournament, but the level of noise and support inside the close-to-full 68,000-capacity venue suggested that number was far greater.

"To all of the supporters I was able to return the favour because they encouraged the team and they came to Japan to watch," Tite said after the 1-0 victory over the European champions.

"The supporters are playing for us too. When the team doesn't have enough energy the supporters inject energy into the team.

"Corinthians were able to come this far thanks to them."

There were dramatic scenes at Sao Paulo Guarulhos International Airport earlier this month when 15,000 fans turned up to wave the Copa Libertadores winners off, some reportedly setting off fire extinguishers and blocking roads.

The fans who had travelled were sent into raptures in the 69th minute when centre-forward Paolo Guerrero scored the only goal of the game.

The header was enough for the win thanks to a handful of saves from goalkeeper Cassio, who was later awarded player of the tournament.

"I think we played a high quality match," Tite said.

"We could have finished the game (earlier) but we were unable to do so. But we remained calm and I am very happy that we won."