SIPG wins to end Guoan’s perfect record
Print Edition
Oscar scored his fourth goal in two games and set up the winner as Shanghai SIPG ended Beijing Guoan’s 100 percent record in the Chinese Super League yesterday.
The precious 2-1 home win cuts Guoan’s lead at the top to just two points from the reigning champion and blows the title race wide open with just over a third of the season gone.
Former Chelsea attacking midfielder Oscar hit a hat-trick to take SIPG into the AFC Champions League knockout rounds in midweek and he was at it again after 28 minutes in the top-of-the-table clash.
Oscar, who cost SIPG a still-Asian-record 60 million euros (US$67.26 million) in January 2017, swapped passes with his fellow Brazilian import Hulk before slamming the ball into the net.
Guoan, which under their German coach Roger Schmidt had won all 10 CSL games going into the clash, levelled shortly before the hour when Yu Dabao glanced in a header.
But in a tense game of few clear-cut chances, burly Chinese international midfielder Cai Huikang struck the winner in the 78th with a fierce header from Oscar’s pinpoint free-kick.
Guoan stays top on 30 points, with Vitor Pereira’s SIPG on 28 and Fabio Cannavaro’s Guangzhou Evergrande third on 25.
Elsewhere, Marek Hamsik headed in a Yannick Carrasco corner to score his first goal in Chinese football yesterday but the former Napoli ace could still be sold in the summer.
The 31-year-old Slovakia international midfielder arrived at Dalian Yifang in the CSL in February with a big reputation.
But he was dropped after a poor start that yielded no goals and no assists as Dalian struggled. Hamsik returned to the team last week and grabbed an assist, then yesterday finally got his first goal, rising to meet a corner at the near post by Carrasco.
The smart 55th-minute header was the winner in a 1-0 home victory over a Shanghai Shenhua side itself at the wrong end of the CSL table.
But it may not be enough for Hamsik, Napoli’s all-time leading goalscorer, to remain in China amid numerous press reports that Dalian has been disappointed by his impact.
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