Super League GW2 full recap
Posted on 14-03-2026 by FCInsider - written by Hans Dekker
Friday evening saw Shandong Luneng pull off a major upset by keeping all 3 points at home after a visit from reigning champions Guangzhou Evergrande.
Felix Magath clearly has the team back on track after being able to work with them all winter, after taking over half-way during a very dissapointing 2016 season.
Last season runner up Jiangsu Suning are still looking for their first win, while Manual Pellegrini might have been the most succesful during the transfer window: his club Hebei CF are off to a rocky start so far.
JIANGSU SUNING 0-0 TIANJIN TEDA
No Goals
Attendance: 32.153
Runner up still looking for first win
Last season Jiangsu Suning kept themselves in the title fight for a very long time, before eventually having to surrender to Guangzhou Evergrande. Before the start of the season many predicted another succesful run for the Suning owned CSL side, but the side of Choi Yong-soo have failed to impress so far.
Without the suspended Alex Teixeira and the injured Roger Martinez, the home team only managed to get two shots on target in the full 90 minutes. Tianjin Teda, with Brown Ideye making his starting debut and with Mikel as a centre-back, survived easily and even managed to push forward during what was predicted to be an almost impossible away game.
SHANGHAI SIPG 2-0 YANBIAN FUNDE
42′ Lu Wenjun (Hulk)
57′ Wu Lei (Cai Huikang)
Attendance: 27.707
Villas-boas and star-studded Shanghai SIPG off to a perfect start
After their somewhat shaky pre-season performances it wasn’t quite sure what to expect from Shanghai SIPG ahead of this season. In the first ACL fixtures the team still seemed to feel the pressure of all the attention coming from the outside world, but when the results came their confidence followed.
The ‘fantastic four’ frontline consisting of Elkeson, Oscar, Hulk, and Wu Lei are finding eachother better and better, and that is maybe why SIPG boss Villas-boas thought it could not do any harm to start rotating his foreign options. Newly signed Odil Akhmedov surprisingly started in midfield for SIPG, while Elkeson was given some rest after his opening day hattrick.
SIPG did not seem to mind and cruised past Yanbian Funde, who will have a very difficult season ahead of them.
SHANDONG LUNENG 2-1 GUANGZHOU EVERGRANDE
6′ Huang Bowen 0-1
55′ Gil (Hao Junmin) 1-1
76′ Diego Tardelli (Pele) 2-1
Attendance: 37.012
Shandong Luneng the contender? And Guangzhou are stuggling
After Felix Magath took over halfway during the dissapointing 2016 season he struggled to keep the once very succesful Shandong team up in the Super League. But after a winter of hard work and preparation the German coach seems to have done the impossible: turning Shandong Luneng into a contender for a top finish.
Their new style of play is tailored to their strengths, with Graziano Pelle as their target man, accompanied by the agile Diego Tardelli in a 4-4-2 formation. Tardelli, who was very close to leaving Shandong after a falling out with the club last season, is proving to be very important thusfar for Magath. Were Papiss Cisse would have been predicted a more important role in this team, it is the Brazilian striker who seems a better fit to this team so far.
His fellow countryman Felipe Scolari is not one to be worried easily, but the start of Guangzhou Evergrande so far will no doubt give him food for thought. Scolari and the Guangzhou fans will find solace in the fact that their take off this season is showing many similarities to last seasons bumpy start, but they won’t be able to shake the feeling the way Guangzhou is playing so far is a bit worrysome.
GUIZHOU ZHICHENG 1-1 BEIJING GUOAN
23′ Baise Festus (T. Chery) 1-0
43′ Burak Yilmaz (Zhang Xizhe) 1-1
Attendance: 21.532
Newcomers taking it to the established big guns
After their opening game in an empty Guiyang Olympic Sports Center the Guizhou fans perhaps felt they needed to show themselves a bit extra. Backed by a great atmosphere the newly promoted team of Guizhou did not show too much respect for the experienced squad of Beijing Guoan, and almost got away with the win.
Beijing Guoan did have the best defense in the league last season, but also had the most trouble finding the net. When the home team took the lead so early on in the game many Beijing Guoan fans will have kept their breath until the equalizer by Yilmaz. Yilmaz who is now 2 for 2 this season is doing what needs to be done to keep Jonathan Soriano still out of the Beijing Guoan squad, as coach Jose Gonzalez will face a major headache deciding between the two strikers.
CHONGQING LIFAN 1-1 HEBEI CF
6′ Che Shiwei (Ding Haifeng) 0-1
32′ Alan Kardec (Fernandinho) 1-1
Attendance: 33.156
Hebei CF not yet living up to high expectations
In a packed Chongqing Olympic Center the home team had to face an early setback, when Che Shiwei found the next after just 6 minutes of play. But with the attacking power in the form of their two Brazilian stars the Lifan owned side managed to equalize before the half-time break.
Hebei boss Pellegrini will wonder what he needs to do to get his severely strengthened side to perform, as the team is still looking for their first win this season. With the arrival of many both experienced and talented local players, and former Juventus star Hernanes, Hebei seemed to be one of the outsiders for the ACL tickets. But on the pitch the team is not yet living up to that expectation.
In the difficult away game against last seasons 8th place finisher Hebei could not get the upperhand. Lifan got the most of possession over 90 minutes, yet both teams in the end seemed happy with the game ending all square.
SHANGHAI SHENHUA 1-1 TIANJIN QUANJIN
75′ Giovanni Moreno 1-0
85′ Alex Witsel (Wang Yongpo) 1-1
Attendance: 26.662
Unwanted attention
Not many teams that were just promoted to their nation’s elite league could get a hold on world class players, let alone players like Ex-Zenit Belgian midfielder Axel Witsel and Brazilian forward Alexandre Pato, which bring to the team not only the international media’s attention, but also a massive attacking power. Combine this with the attention Carlos Tevez is still drawing to the Super League, and one can imagine the coverage the Shenhua vs Quanjin match had worldwide.
Unfortunately both sides did not quite show us their best side, which did in turn make for a very eventful and entertaining match. After just 24 minutes into the first half Shanghai Shenhua centre back Qin Sheng for no apparent reason failed to control himself while defending Alex Witsel during a set play, and was sent off by referee Li Haixin. Many media outlets world wide picked up on the story and the picture of Qin Sheng planting his foot into Alex Witsel went viral.
When Giovanni Moreno deservedly put the home team ahead 15 minutes before the final whistle, the 3 points seemed to be staying in Shanghai. But after the equalizer by Alex Witsel, who should have been send off earlier in the match, Alexandre Pato had the ultimate opportunity to have Tianjin Qianjin come away with the win. But the Brazilian striker blasted the penalty kick over the bar in the dying minutes of the match, after which Shanghai players could be seen ‘congratulating’ Pato.
All together there where many highs and lows to be seen and newcomers Tianjin Quanjin once again established themselves as everything but a relegation candidate.
GUANGZHOU R&F 1-0 CHANGCHUN YATAI
70′ Junior Urso (Lu Lin) 1-0
Attendance: 5.373
Guangzhou R&F fail to impress in narrow victory
If Changchun Yatai does go down at the end of this season, they will surely be thinking back to this match. In a match with a very low attendance (5.373 people made the trip) Guangzhou R&F struggled to best the geusts. Starplayer Eran Zahavi does not yet have the form to carry his team like he did last year, which causes Guangzhou R&F to have a bit more trouble finding the net.
Changchun starter Odion Ighalo has all eyes on him to supply his side with the necessary goals but saw Guangzhou R&F goalie Cheng Yuelei stop his spot kick, just minutes before Junior Urso put the home team in front. While being the best opportunity by far for the visiting side, it certainly was not the only one as Changchun surprisingly dominated possesion with almost 60% to Guangzhou’s 40%. And with a total of 6 shots on target over 3 of R&F they were surprisingly strong and will certainly have hoped for more.
HENAN JIANYE 1-1 LIAONING WHOWIN
60′ Lang Zheng (A. Lukimya) 0-1
62′ Eddi Gomes (Hu Jinghang) 1-1
Attendance: 16.649
Liaoning come away with lucky point
Without their captain James Chamanga Liaoning Whowin took the lead after one hour of play, despite being dominated for pretty much the entire match. With just over 30% of possession in 90 minutes the visiting side can count themselves lucky to come away with a point here.
While dominating possession the home team did not manage to put striker Christian Bassogog in a scoring position which means the international of Cameroon is still waiting for his first ever goal in the Super League. And with 3 very difficult fixtures against Tianjin Quanjin, Jiangsu Suning, and Beijing Guoan coming up after the international break, Henan Jianye will be kicking themselves for not getting the 3 points here.
Next round
01-04-2025 (Sat)
Yanbian Funde vs Guangzhou R&F
Hebei CF vs Guizhou Hengfeng
Tianjin Quanjin vs Henan Jianye
Guangzhou Evergrande vs Shanghai SIPG
02-04-2025 (Sat)
Liaoning Whowin vs Jiangsu Suning
Changchun Yatai vs Shandong Luneng
Tianjin Teda vs Chongqing Lifan
Beijing Guoan vs Shanghai Shenhua