On May 15, Beijing time, the 12th round of the Chinese Super League began, and in a battle between the top and bottom of the list, Shanghai Shenhua hosted Qingdao Manatee. In the pre-game standings, Shanghai Shenhua topped the list, and Qingdao Manatee ranked second-to-last, with a huge gap between the two sides. After 90 minutes of competition, Shanghai Shenhua scored two goals in a row at the last moment and defeated Qingdao Manatee 2-0.
Shanghai Shenhua and Shanghai Port are the only two unbeaten teams in the first 11 rounds, especially Shenhua, who have become the top favorites in the league after some reinforcements. However, in the last round of the game, Shenhua was forced to draw 0-0 by Tianjin Jinmen Tigers, which made the harbor behind him chase only 3 points with one less game. Qingdao Manatee suffered a second-year curse this season, drawing 2-2 at home to relegation rival Nantong in the last round, with only 1 point in the last three rounds, and at the same time suffered two empty penalties due to the large-scale throwing of water bottles by fans. Before the game, the outside world was almost overwhelmingly optimistic that Shenhua would win all three points at home.
In terms of starters, Shanghai Shenhua's three foreign aides appeared, Malelai, Andre Luiz, and Xie Pengfei formed the offensive trident, Wu Xi, Gao Tianyi, and Wang Haijian sat in the midfield, Zhu Chenjie and Jiang Shenglong partnered with double central defenders, Yang Zexiang and Manafa served as two fullbacks on the left and right, and Bao Yaxiong kept the goal; On the side of Qingdao Manatee, Boakye, Kanggua, Diego, and Saric hoarded the midfield, and local players formed the backline, and the goalkeeper was Mu Pengfei.
In the first half of the game, Shanghai Shenhua played a little abnormally. Soon after the opening, Jiang Shenglong rose to the top, but Boakye failed to seize the opportunity, and Shenhua escaped. In the 19th minute, Xie Pengfei made a long pass, and Malele ran out of a single knife, which was cleared by Mu Pengfei. In the 34th minute, Saric made a mistake in the return pass, and Malele entered the penalty area and was defused by Liu Jiashen who fell to the ground and tackled. At the end of the half, Shenhua set off a wave of attacking climax, and Luiz's header grazed the crossbar. In stoppage time, Wu Xi's high-quality long-range shot was saved by Mu Pengfei. However, the overall performance of Shenhua's defense was below the passing line, and the two sides exchanged a 0-0 draw at halftime.
In the second half, Shanghai Shenhua still insisted on playing crosses, Yang Zexiang's long-range shot was quite threatening, and Xie Pengfei's free kick and Luiz's header also failed to help Shenhua break the deadlock. As time went on, Shen Hua couldn't attack for a long time and was a little impatient, and Malele directly took Manatee's first aid kit off the field. In the 74th minute, Bao Yaxiong made a low-level mistake, and Jiang Shenglong cleared the goal line to save Shenhua. Seeing that the game was going to end in a draw, in the 88th minute, Manafa inserted a cross at high speed, Manatee's defense fell into chaos, Mu Pengfei's attack was wrong, and Jiang Shenglong hit an empty goal at the back point, 1-0. In 7 minutes of stoppage time, Manatee pressed but gave Shenhua a chance to counterattack, Yu Hanchao instigated a counterattack to assist Malele to break the goal to seal the win, and Shenhua fought 2-0 to score a hard-won three points.
In this game, the Shenhua team's performance was actually below average most of the time, but the reason why the strong teams were strong was because they were able to seize fleeting opportunities, like ospreys skimming the water, just like the goals of Jiang Shenglong and Malele at the last moment. Shenhua fought for these three points, and also avoided being forced by the harbor to continue to close the point difference.