Shanghai lose ground on leaders after draw
hong kong — Shanghai SIPG and Guangzhou R&F were both reduced to 10 men after a fight broke out in their 1-1 draw on Sunday that left Guangzhou Evergrande four points clear at the top of the Chinese Super League.
Both sides were a man down for the entire second half after Guangzhou’s Li Tixiang and Shanghai’s Fu Huan were sent off after a brawl following secondplaced SIPG’s equaliser just before the break.
Play was disrupted for more than seven minutes as Chen Zhizhao pushed over SIPG’s former Chelsea playmaker Oscar after the Brazilian set up compatriot Hulk to score Shanghai’s equaliser.
Eran Zahavi had earlier given R&F the lead following a howler by SIPG goalkeeper Yan Junling.
As the game descended into chaos, referee Zhou Gang handed Li and Fu a red card each for their behaviour in the ensuing melee and Andre Villas-Boas’s Shanghai side were unable to pick up the win they needed to keep pace with Evergrande.
“We came here for the win and hoped to keep the pressure on Evergrande. However, a draw makes the gap with Evergrande even bigger.
“But I am satisfied with my players. They tried their best, and gave us a very good match.”
It was the first time in seven games that Villas-Boas’s team dropped points and, as a result, SIPG lost ground on an Evergrande side that had goals from Gao Lin and Ricardo Goulart to thank for their 2-0 win over Guizhou Zhicheng on Saturday. —