SHANGHAI Shenhua came back from a goal down to crush defending champions Shandong Luneng 4-1 at home in the third round of Chinese Super League.
At Hongkou Stadium, Lebanese playmaker Roda Antar headed home 15 minutes into the game before Vyacheslav Hleb, Chen Tao, Hernan Barcos and Mao Jianqing struck to earn Shenhua maximum points in a tit-for-tat battle between the top two sides in last year's top-flight.
The morale-boosting victory will help embattled Shenhua regain confidence before their showdown against Korean champions Suwon Samsung Bluewings on Tuesday in an Asian Champions League Group G match.
Shandong Luneng were in the ascendancy right into the game with Li Jinyu hitting the crossbar with a volley before midfielder Antar put the visitors ahead a few minutes later as he headed in Aleksandar Zivkovic free kick from the right. It was Antar's second goal in as many games.
Belarusian midfielder Hleb - younger brother of Barcelona star Alexander Hleb - scored the equaliser five minutes before the interval, as he reacted quickly to collect a rebound from goalkeeper Li Leilei and slotted the ball home after Li kept out Australian Mark Milligan's long-range effort.
Chen Tao added a second during added time for the first half, curling a 20-yard low shot into the net thanks to a deflection off Shandong midfielder Yuan Weiwei.
Argentinian striker Barcos doubled the advantage for Shenhua two minutes after the hour-mark. He latched onto Hleb's well-timed pass to go one-on-one with the goalkeeper before chipping the ball home from 30 yards.
Mao Jianqing then sealed the win for the home side as he rounded off defenders Shu Chang and Alejandro Cichero before his low sot beat Li.
"We made most of the wingers today and the players did well to stick to our plan," said Shenhua manager Jia Xiuquan. "The victory was a big boost to us and we will further improve later on."
Shenhua were defeated by Chengdu Blades 1-0 on March 28 in the second round of CSL.
"We made mistakes in the defence and became complacent after the first goal which cost us the game," Shandong coach Ljubisa Tumbakovic said.
Elsewhere, Tianjin Teda got the better of Chongqing Lifan 2-0 at home to stretch their winning streak to three games while Beijing Guoan shared the spoils with newly promoted Jiangsu Shuntian 1-1 at home.
Colombian international Gomez scored five minutes into the game while Tao Wei cancelled that strike out midway through the second half.
The morale-boosting victory will help embattled Shenhua regain confidence before their showdown against Korean champions Suwon Samsung Bluewings on Tuesday in an Asian Champions League Group G match.
Shandong Luneng were in the ascendancy right into the game with Li Jinyu hitting the crossbar with a volley before midfielder Antar put the visitors ahead a few minutes later as he headed in Aleksandar Zivkovic free kick from the right. It was Antar's second goal in as many games.
Belarusian midfielder Hleb - younger brother of Barcelona star Alexander Hleb - scored the equaliser five minutes before the interval, as he reacted quickly to collect a rebound from goalkeeper Li Leilei and slotted the ball home after Li kept out Australian Mark Milligan's long-range effort.
Chen Tao added a second during added time for the first half, curling a 20-yard low shot into the net thanks to a deflection off Shandong midfielder Yuan Weiwei.
Argentinian striker Barcos doubled the advantage for Shenhua two minutes after the hour-mark. He latched onto Hleb's well-timed pass to go one-on-one with the goalkeeper before chipping the ball home from 30 yards.
Mao Jianqing then sealed the win for the home side as he rounded off defenders Shu Chang and Alejandro Cichero before his low sot beat Li.
"We made most of the wingers today and the players did well to stick to our plan," said Shenhua manager Jia Xiuquan. "The victory was a big boost to us and we will further improve later on."
Shenhua were defeated by Chengdu Blades 1-0 on March 28 in the second round of CSL.
"We made mistakes in the defence and became complacent after the first goal which cost us the game," Shandong coach Ljubisa Tumbakovic said.
Elsewhere, Tianjin Teda got the better of Chongqing Lifan 2-0 at home to stretch their winning streak to three games while Beijing Guoan shared the spoils with newly promoted Jiangsu Shuntian 1-1 at home.
Colombian international Gomez scored five minutes into the game while Tao Wei cancelled that strike out midway through the second half.
Copyright (c) Press Association
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