The East Stand | Inter Milan, Wolves and Granada show Chinese-owned football clubs making mark in European game like never before
- Fosun-owned side shock English Premier League champions Manchester City at the Etihad to dent title hopes
- Top-of-the-table clashes in Italy’s Serie A and Spain’s La Liga sees Chinese-owned sides feature against giants
There was Chinese interest at the top of Europe’s three biggest leagues at the weekend where mainland-owned clubs were involved in top-of-the-table clashes in England, Italy and Spain.
Arguably, this is a watershed moment since Chinese money was funnelled into European clubs in recent years – and at a time when the NBA has put renewed focus on China’s soft power in foreign sport.
Granada travelled to the Bernabeu to face Real Madrid in a top-of-the-table clash having already beaten Barcelona this season. The newly promoted side were second behind the hosts in the standings before kick-off and would have gone top with a win.
They lost 4-2 in the end but Zinedine Zidane’s side were scared. Granada pulled the score back to 3-2 after being 3-0 down before James Rodriguez settled matters in injury time.
What is more surprising is that they did this with players that played for them in the Segunda Division last season. Eight of their starting 11 on Sunday were with them as they got promoted under manager Diego Martinez. Of the players they brought in this summer, the most expensive was €3 million (US$3.3 million) signing Darwin Machis.