SIPG crush Evergrande in 1st leg
Home win all but seals Champions League semi spot
Brazil international Hulk scored one and made another as Shanghai SIPG all but sealed their spot in the Asian Champions League semifi nals with a 4- 0 fi rst- leg rout of Guangzhou Evergrande on Tuesday.
Luiz Felipe Scolari’s Evergrande are on course to retain the Chinese Super League title but barring a miracle they are already out of this all- Chinese quarterfi nal tie even with the home leg to come.
Shorn of key midfi elder Paulinho, the Brazilian who last week moved to Barcelona, Scolari’s men only woke up very briefl y after the break but by then they were 2- 0 down and their dreams of a domestic and continental double dead.
Two second- half goals in as many minutes by China international Wu Lei, one fed by Hulk, put the tie out of sight.
In the formidable form of Hulk, SIPG had a forward who was a muscular and pacey menace throughout.
Twice early on he shot weakly at Evergrande goalkeeper Zeng Cheng and midway through the fi rst half, with SIPG on top, he was snuff ed out by the overworked Zeng.
Next Hulk fed Oscar, his fellow Brazilian who had a quiet game, but he too shot straight at Zeng.
Then Oscar saw a rightfooted curler from distance whistle past Zeng’s far post.
Scolari, yet another Brazilian, spread his arms out in despair on the sidelines and gestured to his defense to engage their brains.
But they didn’t and after attacking midfi elder Wu went over under minimal contact in the box, Hulk stepped up to ram home the penalty on 38 minutes.
On the brink of halftime Andre Villas- Boas’ side made it 2- 0, skipper Wang Shenchao popping up at the back post to bundle the ball in.
No doubt Scolari gave his men a halftime grilling and Evergrande, two- time Champions League winners, started the better side in the second period.
But Wu punished them with just over an hour on the clock with a classy solo eff ort and on 64 minutes he scored again after being played in by the rampaging Hulk for 4- 0.
The second leg takes place on September 12 in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province.
In the fi rst Asian Champions League quarterfi nal fi rst leg on Monday, Al Ain of the UAE were held 0- 0 at home by Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal.