Oscar scored his fourth goal in two games and set up the winner as Shanghai SIPG ended Beijing Guoan's 100 percent record in the Chinese Super League (CSL) on Sunday. The precious 2-1 home win cuts Guoan's lead at the top to just two points from the reigning champions and blows the title race wide open with just over a third of the season gone.
Former Chelsea attacking midfielder Oscar hit a hat-trick to take SIPG into the Asian Champions League knock-out rounds in midweek and he was at it again after 28 minutes in the top-of-the-table clash. Oscar, who cost SIPG a still-Asian-record 60 million euros in January 2017, swapped passes with his fellow Brazilian import Hulk before slamming the ball into the net.
Guoan, who under their German coach Roger Schmidt had won all 10 CSL games going into the clash, levelled shortly before the hour when Yu Dabao glanced in a header. But in a tense game of few clear-cut chances, burly Chinese international midfielder Cai Huikang struck the winner in the 78th minute with a fierce header from Oscar's pinpoint free-kick.
The capital club nearly grabbed a dramatic equaliser in the second minute of injury time, but Yu was not nearly as clinical this time, directing his first-time shot against a post. Guoan stay top on 30 points, with Vitor Pereira's SIPG on 28 and Fabio Cannavaro's Guangzhou Evergrande third on 25.
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