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Chinese Super League
SportChina
Jonathan White
Opinion
Jonathan White

Guangzhou Evergrande edge closer to Chinese Super League title but there’s drama at both ends – and more to come

  • Live broadcast of champions upset viewers in England
  • Shanghai SIPG rue disallowed goal that reduces lead to two points

4-MIN READ4-MIN
Shanghai SIPG’s head coach Vitor Pereira is currently suspended. Photo: AFP
Jonathan White
Formerly of the South China Morning Post, Jonathan White has written about sport from China for nearly 15 years, and covered the Beijing 2008 Olympics, the Fifa World Cup in Brazil in 2014 and the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
The Chinese Super League had some English football fans up in arms over the weekend.

British satellite broadcaster Sky Sports opted to show Guangzhou Evergrande play Beijing Renhe on its dedicated football channel on Saturday lunchtime (UK time) over Leeds United visiting Blackburn Rovers.

Fans of the Championship rivals could watch their early kick-off via the red button but were angered that this meant a worse camera angle and less of the glamour of a full broadcast.

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While Blackburn overcame Marcelo Biesla’s Leeds side 2-1 at Ewood Park, the game at Tianhe Stadium was infinitely more entertaining in terms of goals. The Chinese Super League champions put six past the newly promoted side and piled the pressure on league leaders Shanghai SIPG who played 24 hours later.

With the Shanghai side’s lead at the top reduced to a single point, they knew what they needed to do away to Jiangsu Suning.

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What happened in Nanjing means that this is a proper title race now.

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