Guangzhou Evergrande staff pay the price after leaving club red-faced with yellow tape shirt gaffe
Five members of Chinese Super League side’s back room staff hit with fines after giving player jersey with name and number covered up
Guangzhou Evergrande docked the pay of five back room staff on Wednesday for “damaging the club brand” after star defender Zhang Linpeng was forced to wear another player’s shirt with the name and number covered by yellow tape.
The incident happened during the first half of Tuesday’s Asian Champions League last 16 first leg at Chinese rivals Tianjin Quanjian, after match officials told Zhang, Evergrande’s number five, to change his shirt because it had blood on it.
Evergrande staff were unable to immediately rustle up a replacement ‘5’ jersey, so they gave the centre back substitute Zhang Wenzhao’s ‘15’ shirt with yellow tape over the ‘1’.
They also covered the name at the top of the shirt with yellow tape. Evergrande were playing in their yellow away strip.
The 29-year-old Zhang, the heavily tattooed China international once linked with Chelsea, changed into the correct shirt a short time later.