Guangzhou Evergrande registered its third straight win on Friday, a 1-0 away victory over Tianjin Quanjian, chasing closely behind leader Shanghai SIPG at the Chinese Super League table.
Last season, Tianjin defeated the defending champion twice under the guidance of the 44-year-old Fabio Cannavaro of Italy, who left Quanjian for Evergrande at the end of last year.
Facing against its coach’s former club, Evergrande could have taken the lead in the 15th minute when Ricardo Goulart Pereira of Brazil missed a precious penalty chance.
Evergrande had a 62% ball possession and more first-half chances, but no one found the target before the half time whistle.
Alan de Carualho was shown red in the 53rd minute. Three minutes later, Gao Lin broke the deadlock with a volley shot.
Goulart failed to enlarge the visitors’ advantage in the 66th minute when he received a free kick pass from Nemanja Gudelj, as his header was denied by the post.
“We created many chances in the second half, but couldn’t break through Evergrande’s solid defence,” said Sun Ke after receiving his team’s third consecutive CSL loss
