Tonight, in the 18th round of the Chinese Super League (CSL), Shandong Taishan hosted Wuhan Sanzhen, the leader of the table, in a match that has been labeled as the "Battle of Tianwangshan", the pinnacle of the Chinese Super League. However, despite the fact that Taishan played their best players, they failed to take advantage of Wuhan Sanzhen's 4 foreign players' absence, and the difference in points between the two sides remained at 4 points, with Taishan's disadvantage of having played one more game still evident.
Shandong Taishan's 1-2 loss to Shanghai Shenhua in the last round of the Chinese Super League (CSL) ended their nine-game winning streak and further widened the points gap with Wuhan Sanzhen. With one more round to go, Taishan is 4 points behind Sanzhen, and the gap will widen to 7 points if they lose again. By then, not only will Taishan exit the title race early, but Wuhan Sanzhen is also expected to continue its winning streak and set a new record in the history of the Chinese Super League.
The loss in the Shenhua battle brought great pressure on the team, and it was quite difficult for Taishan to win against the powerful Sanzhen. Fortunately, the previously injured Fellaini and Cressan returned to the starting lineup. On Wuhan Sanzhen's side, top scorer Malcolm and a foreigner Edmilson were absent due to injuries, while midfielder Stanciu was not included in the match list. Malcolm scored 16 goals and had 2 assists this season, Stancho contributed 7 goals and 8 assists, and Edmilson had 5 goals and 2 assists. Sanzhen's offense relies heavily on these foreigners, and their absence will undoubtedly have a huge impact on Sanzhen.
It is worth mentioning that, in addition to the absence of three foreign aiders, the original starting outside center back Wallace was not feeling well before the game and was eventually replaced by Zhang Wentao, who failed to enter the game list. Three Town originally relied on foreign aid to create the strongest offensive and defensive system in the Chinese Super League, but tonight without foreign aid to help, they still showed a sharp attack in the first half, Gao Zhunyi, Deng Hanwen and Xie Pengfei's side of the road to the Taishan team defense to create pressure. For Taishan, the 433 formation was weak in both offense and defense, with Fellaini's influence dropping in the midfield, Guo Tianyu's form slipping badly compared to last year, and Moises unable to form an effective match with Cressan after pulling back. At the end of the half, Taishan was trailing by 1 goal. In the second half, through successive substitutions, Liu Yang scored a goal to equalize the score, but after that, Taishan's intensity of the game slipped, and they could only get 1 point in the end.
Facing an opponent without four foreign aiders, Shandong Taishan only gained one point, still trailing by four points after one more game. Wuhan Sanzhen, despite playing on the road, drew with Taishan in the absence of four foreign aiders, which is undoubtedly a huge boost to the team's confidence. For Sanzhen, it may only be a matter of time before they fulfill the myth of Kaiserslautern in the Chinese Super League.
