Dalian Yingbo overtake Chengdu as Aloisi’s side lose on Chinese Super League final day

John Aloisi’s Chengdu Rongcheng were beaten 3-2 by Shandong Taishan on the final day of the Chinese Super League season in China, while Dalian Yingbo defeated Tianjin Tiger 3-1 to claim the title.

Chengdu surrendered a once 12-point lead as they lost their fourth straight match and collected only one point from their final five fixtures; Dalian completed a run of five successive wins to close the gap. The title race was decided on the season’s last day after a sustained late surge from Dalian.

In Jinan, Chengdu fell behind early when Raphael Merkies struck in the 15th minute and Guilherme Madruga doubled Shandong’s lead in the 23rd. Felipe Silva reduced the deficit with seven minutes remaining in the first half, Cryzan re-established a two-goal cushion in the 63rd minute, and Wellington Silva pulled Chengdu back to within one in the 79th minute; Wang Ziming had a close-range shot deflected over the bar in the third minute of added time.

At the Dalian Suoyuwan Football Stadium, Yang Mingrui put Dalian ahead in the fifth minute before Xadas converted a penalty in the 50th to level for Tianjin. Liao Jintao scored from the edge of the area with 20 minutes left to restore Dalian’s lead and Huang Shan’s strike from three yards out in the fourth minute of stoppage time sealed the 3-1 victory in front of a packed home crowd.

The two clubs finished level on 52 points, with Dalian awarded the championship on a superior head-to-head record after recording two wins over Chengdu, including a victory in the penultimate round of matches. Dalian had needed to win on Sunday while hoping Chengdu would lose in order to overtake their rivals.

The result ends Chengdu’s late-season collapse and closes a season that began unusually for the club, which started on zero points while a series of points deductions left several rival sides beginning their campaigns in the negative.