Oscar on show as Champions League kicks off

MEGABUCKS import Oscar will hope to make his mark for Shanghai SIPG as the AFC Champions League returns this week, featuring a trailblazing female coach but missing last year’s winners, who were banned for match-fixing.

Brazilian playmaker Oscar, SIPG’s € 60 million buy from Chelsea, will be under the spotlight in week one as SIPG look to emulate Guangzhou Evergrande by bringing the Asian club trophy back to China.

Chan Yuen-ting will make history as the first female coach to take part in a continental tournament when she leads Hong Kong’s Eastern against Evergrande in Group G.

But there will be no title defence from South Korea’s Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, who were kicked out over a K-League match-fixing scandal that played out during their run to victory last year.

SIPG spent lav ish ly before China launched a crackdow n on t ra nsfer fees and wages last month. They have a lso hired for mer Chelsea a nd Tottenham Hotspur coach Andre VillasBoas, who won t he Europa Leag ue wit h Porto in 2011.

Oscar, repor ted ly t he world’s second best paid player behind Shanghai Shenhua’s Carlos Tevez, has a lready shown his worth by scoring the opener in SIPG’s 3-0 playoff win over Thaila nd’s Su k hot ha i FC to reach t he group stage.

Defender Ricardo Carvalho, another former Chelsea man, is also a new arrival to an SIPG squad already boasting Brazil forward Hulk and his freescoring compatriot, Elkeson.

SIPG’s first assignment is away against FC Seoul, last year’s semifinalists and the 2013 runners-up, as they seek to improve on last year’s run to the last eight on debut.

Winning the Asian title would help vindicate Oscar’s move to China and would also make good on Villas-Boas’s repeated promises to bring silverware to his new club.

Much attention will focus on Evergrande’s Tianhe stadium, where Chan, the first female coach to win a top-tier men’s title, grabs another slice of history on Wednesday.

Chan sa id t hat it would be “quite a mazing” to launch Eastern’s ca mpaign against Evergrande’s seasoned manager Scolari, a World Cup-winner with Brazil who has also coached Portugal and Chelsea.

“I never imagined or expected this could happen but now we’re going to play against him so I feel excited and I’m looking forward to meeting him,” she told the AFC website.

The tournament will also feature Monday games for the first time in the Western region, which again remains separated from the Eastern competition until the final.