16 consecutive wins ended! A red card crushes Shanghai Port's "gold medal offensive system"

Reporter Cheng Shan reportedPrior to this derby, Shanghai Port had won 16 games in a row, and before the game, who could stop them has also become the hottest topic in the Chinese Super League this season, and the suspense continued to the third meeting with Shenhua this season, which also added to the gimmick of this already hot game. On the evening of the 17th, the two teams in Shanghai met at the top, red cards, penalties, reversals, the two teams will be in place to interpret all the explosive points of the derby, a red card finally made the harbor's "gold medal offensive system" collapse, away 1-3 score, harbor ushered in the first defeat of the league season. However, Harbour, who are only two points ahead of Shenhua in the standings, have no time to worry about gains and losses, and Muscat said: "We will go again. ”

Prior to this match with Shenhua, Harbour had a brilliant record in the Chinese Super League this season, with the team leading the team in points under the leadership of coach Muscat, and its efficient attacking system was like a rainbow in the league. With a "high-matched" lineup, Harbour not only broke the previous winning streak of Chinese Super League teams, but also continued to extend this number. In the eyes of the outside world, this round of away challenge to Shenhua will be the biggest hurdle for Harbour this summer, but in the entire Harbour club, whether it is head coach Muscat or the team's senior management, the concept of "derby" is deliberately downplayed.

"After playing so many so-called derbies, in fact, every feeling is different, but for Harbour this season, it may be more important that in the next game, the team cannot fully implement the manager's tactical intentions and get the ultimate goal." Privately, the Harbour players also talked about how exciting it is to keep the winning streak going, but not to focus all their attention on one game. Before the game, head coach Muscat also looked very calm in front of the public, he mentioned that he and the team were very happy to be involved, but it was just a normal game, "I hope to show a very good image of Chinese football through our performance." ”

Although the weather forecast has shown a cooler, the temperature in Shanghai also soared to 35 degrees on the day of the derby, and the derby also made the city hotter. In fact, from the beginning of the ticket sale, the popularity of the game is obvious, and the tickets sold to the outside world of the 80,000-person stadium after the renovation are basically empty. According to on-site statistics, the number of on-site spectators also reached an unprecedented 39,928.

Harbour, which has always emphasized the usual focus on playing against its city rivals, has as usual a very aggressive starter, Muscat has almost all the team's goalscorers, Citadeni, Yousa, Wu Lei, Gustavo plus Oscar, obviously. The manager has only one goal, to maintain the winning streak.

The opening stages looked like another common script for Harbour in the league this season. In the 12th minute, Harbour used a tactical corner kick from Vargas to the back post, and Wang Shenchao scored with a header. At this time, there were even some fans outside the stadium who didn't have time to enter, and some people began to talk about whether it would be another big win for the harbor today.

The turning point of the game came in the 23rd minute, when Wei Zhen stepped on Fernando's calf and was sent off with a straight red. This scene made Muscat on the sidelines incredulous, "The game changed because of the red card. With his head in his hands, it was clear that the next 10 men were something he and Harbour had not experienced before against a strong side, and even with a one-goal lead, it was not at all a decisive advantage in the derby.

Yan Junling's first-half save from Andre's penalty gave Harbour more confidence, but Muscat was quick to replace Yusa with Zhang Linpeng to secure the defence. At half-time, Muscat made a point of emphasizing that in the attacking system, everyone wants to put everything they can to help the team maintain their advantage. However, in Shenhua's lounge on the other side, it was clear that the 10-man Harbour would be deployed in the second half.

In fact, as everyone expected, in the second half of the game, as time went on, Shenhua gradually gained the advantage, and the offensive end began to put pressure on the harbor frequently, Fernando hit the post from distance, Wu Xi and Wang Haijian also had good chances to score. In the 64th minute, Muscat replaced Vargas with Yang Shiyuan, "He felt some discomfort in his muscles. The manager later explained about the substitution. But since then, the port's significantly reduced attack power has been unable to suppress Shenhua. In the 79th minute, Yu Hanchao volleyed to equalize, and such a scene made Muscat have an ominous premonition on the field.

3 minutes later, Yu Hanchao assisted Andre to overtake the score, and at the last moment of the game, Andre scored another goal to seal the victory. Despite their best efforts, the harbour was able to break their winning streak with a tsunami of celebration.

'Everybody can have their own opinion about the game, but most of the time we play with 10 men and I'm very proud of the players. After the game, Muscat still said with a calm mood: "It is really a pity that the opponent scored consecutive goals in the last 10 minutes of the game. But the red card happened at an early stage, and if you say that you can't defend blindly, of course, we have been creating some threats until about 80 minutes, and it's a pity that there is one less person who can't keep up with the rhythm physically. ”

After losing this derby, Harbour ended their winning streak and narrowed their gap to Shenhua in the standings to two points. Muscat wasn't interested in looking ahead to the rest of the game: "We didn't think much about winning the title before this game, and we didn't think too much about it after the game. ”

Even on this losing night, the emotionally stable Harbour coach still praised his players, "Wei Zhen's previous performance was unbelievable and very helpful to the team, so no matter what happened, we still hugged him and stayed with him, although we lost, we will recover as soon as possible and continue to set off." ”