Axel Witsel reunited for the second time with his previous coach Villas Boas and team mate Hulk but the Belgian smiled more in the end with Tianjin Quanjian dominating on the first leg of the Chinese Cup quarterfinals against Shanghai SIPG.
Wang Xiaolong opened the score after half an hour of game play and Shanghai couldn’t produce an answer before half time.
Time was passing and it was another Brazilian putting Cannavaro’s men up front with two goals; the usual Alexandre Pato.
As it wasn’t enough, minutes before the finale, Villas Boas saw the second leg task becoming much harder with Pato’s second personal of the night and a triumph for Tianjin who are now on a straight five win streak (four in league).
