Guangzhou Evergrande claim Chinese Super League title

Guangzhou Evergrande coached by Italian World Cupper Fabio Cannavaro won the top football competition in China on Sunday, sealing their eighth Super League title in nine years in the last game of the season with a 3-0 win over Shanghai Shenhua.

It has been a disputed season that has seen the team battle it out against Beijing Guoan, which trailed the champions by just two points.

Beijing Guoan, under the management of Bruno Genesio, beat Shandong Luneng 3-2 on Saturday in a nail-biting contest, Efe news reported.

The win propelled the Beijing team to the top of the leaderboard until Sunday's Evergrande victory.

In the last game of the 2019 season, Wei Shihao scored first, followed by Park Ji Soo and Brazilian Elkeson, who this year became one of the first players to become a Chinese citizen.

In third place in the Super League was last year's champion Shanghai SIPG, led by Portuguese coach Vitor Pereira.

The team failed to repeat last year's freak win which broke Evergrande's long-standing winning streak.

Meanwhile Rafa Benitez's Dalian Yifang bid farewell to the season with a 2-0 victory against Beijing Renhe to finish in ninth place out of 16 teams.

The Chinese media has warned of the possible departure of the Spanish coach from the club after the modest results.

The team, which has among its ranks foreign players like Belgian Yannick Carrasco, Venezuelan Salomon Rondon or Slovak Marek Hamsik, managed to bounce back with the arrival of Benitez in July when they were on the bottom rungs of the league table.

( With inputs from IANS )