Alan key as Guangzhou Evergrande march on

Brazilian striker Alan netted an impressive double as Luiz Felipe Scolari's Guangzhou Evergrande beat Shanghai Shenhua 2-1 at the weekend to remain top of the Chinese Super League (CSL). 

The ex-Fluminense striker's fantastic turn and shot from 18 yards (16 metres) in the 40th minute was cancelled out by former Newcastle United and Chelsea front man Demba Ba's equaliser in the 69th minute.

However Alan replied just two minutes later with a stunning finish, running at the back four from deep before curling a right-footed strike into the top right corner from outside the penalty area.

It propelled his side to their sixth league victory in a row -- Scolari's longest winning streak in the CSL since taking over the Guangzhou coaching hotseat.

Alan's twin strikes also continued a successful comeback for the player who sat out most of last season with a cruciate ligament injury after being signed from Austrian club Salzburg just over a year ago for 11 million euro ($12.6 million).

With Guangzhou's club-record signing Jackson Martinez injured, Alan has seized his chance with three goals in two matches after netting in the previous week's 4-0 drubbing of Tianjin.

Alberto Zaccheroni's position as Beijing Guoan manager is looking increasingly fragile as his stuttering side drew 1-1 at Chongqing.

The former Internazionale, Juventus and Japan boss was again without the services of injured Turkish international striker Burak Yilmaz and the capital side have only a solitary victory to show from their opening six games and sit just a point above the relegation zone.

Beijing had looked to be heading for three points when Zhang Xiaobin scored in the 81st minute, but Chongqing hit back just a minute later when defender Liu Yu headed home to send the 40,000 crowd into raptures.

Big-spending Jiangsu Suning have 17 points and remain a point behind Evergrande in second after goals from Ren Hang and Ji Xiang gave them a 2-0 victory at home to bottom-of-the-table Changchun Yatai.

Sven-Goran Eriksson's Shanghai SIPG remain third, a further three points behind, after a comfortable 3-0 win at home to Yanbian Funde with former Evergrande Brazilian hitman Elkeson scoring twice.

Source :AFP