"Odd-numbered years to win the championship" was once a good memory of Evergrande fans, the time goes back to 17 seasons, after 2 years Evergrande once again launched an impact towards the third AFC Champions League champion, unfortunately Evergrande this time stopped the top 8, but this season's 1/4 final is enough to enter the history of the AFC Champions League, what happened at that time? And what kind of process makes fans still talk about it?
Evergrande met another team in the Chinese Super League, Shanghai SIPG, in the quarterfinals, Shanghai SIPG has made great progress in the team lineup and tactical system after several years of precipitation, Evergrande has always been a banner of the Chinese Super League team in the AFC Champions League, and the encounter of the 2 teams is destined to be a Mars hitting the earth.
In the first leg of Evergrande's away game, the main players all appeared in the case of Evergrande 0-4 defeated opponents to lose the game, after the game captain Zheng Zhi stripped and apologized, no one thought that Evergrande would end the game with such a score, "Evergrande that can't afford to be provoked in the second half" does not exist? Comments from all sides are almost no longer optimistic about Evergrande's AFC Champions League journey, after all, the case of flipping in the second leg after falling behind by 4 goals in the first leg is rare in the entire football world, and Evergrande clubs and players have not explained in the face of doubts, but they are preparing for the second leg of the game, which is enough to make Shanghai SIPG feel uneasy.
In the second leg Scolari discharged the classic 4-2-3-1 formation, Alain single arrow, the midfield combination was Zheng Zhi and Xu Xin, the defender combination was Li Xuepeng, Kim Young-kwon, Fu Feng Xiaoting and Zhang Linpeng, Scolari ranked the strongest lineup without reservation, the game whistle blew, Evergrande almost did not waste a minute to start attacking, only in the first half Evergrande shots reached 8 times, Alain scored twice, in fact, if Alain's ability to seize the opportunity is stronger, perhaps the first half equalized.
In the face of Evergrande's surging attack, the second half began with a substitution for SIPG, replaced by Yu Hai and Wei Zhen to strengthen the defense, the tactical effect of the SIPG swing bus was very obvious, the second half of Evergrande's attack was not reduced, but it was unable to score again, until the 83rd minute, Gao Lat Fish Leaping Dragon Gate-style header once again knocked on Yan Junling's five-finger pass, perhaps the loss of the ball came too suddenly, the psychological defense line of the SIPG players was completely torn open, and in less than 10 minutes, Gaulat once again scored a goal with a header.
The end of the regular game the second leg of the game into the extra time link, after more than 90 minutes of fighting Evergrande players fatigue is obvious, but in order to qualify, all the players did not flinch, the most impressive is that Gaulat dragged his body instinctively forward, in the face of Evergrande's offensive coercion, SIPG had to take foul defense, Wang Jiajie and Wang Shenchao successively red cards, in the 110th minute, Hulk took a free kick in front of the field, a violent long-range shot broke the goal, suspense appeared again, Muric, who was substituted, used his speed to foul SIPG once again, the referee signaled a penalty, and Gaulat scored without suspense.
Scorlari made a fatal mistake in the penalty shoot-out, Gaulat, who had already played a penalty once, was placed in the first penalty, Gaulat experienced 2 consecutive psychological battles, coupled with physical fatigue resulted in a penalty loss, with regret and helplessness Evergrande ended the 17 seasons of the AFC Champions League journey, maybe let Gaurat final penalty result will be different! The more than two-hour event allowed Chinese Super League fans to see Asia's top collision up close.
After qualifying, SIPG met Japanese side Urawa Red Diamonds in the semi-finals, and lost 1-2 to urawa Red Diamonds in two legs.