A late Hulk penalty gave Shanghai SIPG a 5-4 win over defending champion Guangzhou Evergrande on Saturday to put his team on the brink of a first Chinese Super League title.
The thrilling victory in front of a capacity crowd of over 45,000 in Guangzhou puts Shanghai five points clear of Guangzhou with just two games of the season remaining.
It also means that Guangzhou is faced with the prospect of missing out on the league title that the team has won every season since 2011.
Shanghai, which has finished second behind Guangzhou twice in the past three seasons, will be crowned champion with a win against Beijing Renhe at home on Wednesday.
“It was a great game and a great win for us,” Hulk, the former Brazilian international who was signed for around $70 million in 2016, said. “We still have work to do and we have to stay focused.”
Guangzhou has won the last seven Chinese championships. Fabio Cannavaro was appointed to succeed Luiz Felipe Scolari as head coach at the end of the 2017 season and told reporters that it has been a challenging season.
“I did not expect to concede five goals and now the situation is not looking good for us,” Cannavaro, who captained Italy to the 2006 World Cup, said. “Now we have to wait and see what happens in the remaining two games. We no longer control our own destiny.”
Long-serving Guangzhou captain Zheng Zhi had admitted that there is little hope of making that eight in a row.
“This is a bitter loss for us and I want to say sorry to all the fans who came to support us today,” Zheng, formerly of Scottish giant Celtic, said. “We have won the championship for many years but this season we have made mistakes and we have gifted the title to our opponent.”
“We have two games to play and we will give everything in those games.”
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