CSL: Rafa Benitez bottom as Beijing Guoan and Shanghai SIPG drop points
- Beijing Guoan surrender 100 per cent record and 3-0 lead in draw with newly promoted Qingdao Huanghai
- Spanish boss sees young Dalian Pro side beaten by Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s Guangzhou R&F, who secure his first win in China
Giovanni van Bronckhorst won the battle of the big-name managers at the foot of the Chinese Super League as his Guangzhou R&F side notched their first win of the season over Rafa Benitez’s Dalian Pro side on Sunday.
The game, which was decided by Israeli striker Eran Zahavi’s 29th minute penalty, had been postponed from Saturday night after heavy rain in Dalian.
Benitez’s side are the only team in the Chinese Super League’s bubbles to enjoy anything like homefield advantage, with this rescheduled fixture taking place at the club’s training ground.
However, familiarity has been no help to Benitez or his side who are now in bottom place in the eight-team group A, with the win taking R&F above them. Dalian are the only team in group A yet to win a game since the season began last month, five months late.
“We needed to have the calm to take the chances that we had,” Benitez said after the game.