Hulk missed out on Shanghai SIPG’s trip to Japan for an AFC Champions League match against Urawa Red Diamonds, so this article isn’t about him scoring an absolute banger after running through 10 defenders, and that's a damn shame.
This article is about SIPG’s other Brazilian starlet, the Sixty Million Dollar Man Oscar. Oscar and Hulk have got SIPG near the top of the table to start the new Chinese Super League season (and don’t forget about the suave contributions of the third highest paid manager in world football, Andre Villas-Boas), but it’s their performance in the AFC Champions League that’ll garner the most attention.
Group F has boiled down to a contest between Urawa and SIPG. Urawa took control of the group by defeating SIPG 1-0 on Tuesday, knocking SIPG into second place. With two group matches remaining things could obviously change, but it looks as though SIPG will have to navigate a tricky round of 16 knockout tie against a group winner.
This could’ve been avoided if Oscar would’ve capitalized on one of his two spot kicks in the match. First, he had a penalty saved in the 65th minute, and then he skied another attempt over the bar in the 76th.
¡NOOOO! Oscar falló dos penales en 11 minutos en la Champions asiática https://t.co/VN1863dJrv
— Pasión Fútbol (@PasionFutbolFC) April 11, 2017
“We have failed to qualify early and it’s a pity,” Villas-Boas said. “We had a better second half and controlled the situation. Our opponent had a better first half though. Both sides hit the woodwork but they had higher possession and caused us problems.”
Villas-Boas — such an analyst that man. Back in England, Chelsea are doing pretty well without the both of them.
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