Special correspondent Gan Hui reports In the case of two major central defenders with facial fractures and muscle problems with two foreign strikers, Shenhua gave the outside world a huge surprise, defeating Japan's Kawasaki Frontale 1-0 at home in the first leg of the AFC Champions League elite league 1/8 finals. On March 12, the two teams will move to Japan for the second leg of the match. The outcome of the two legs will determine who advances to the quarter-finals and travels to Saudi Arabia for the next stage of the competition.

Affected by injuries, Shenhua's starting lineup for this game has changed a lot. Mineiro was substituted, Luiz, who suffered a slight muscle strain, was not included in the squad, and the forward line was dominated by the 18-year-old Liu Chengyu and entered Shenhua's starting lineup for the first time.

Head coach Slutsky also made corresponding adjustments to the midfield, Li Ke, Amadou and Wu Xi lined up to build a barrier in front of the defensive line, Xu Haoyang and Teixeira supported behind Liu Chengyu, that is, Shenhua's formation was adjusted to 4321. Jiang Shenglong, who suffered a fracture of the frontal process of the right maxilla in the "Beijing-Shanghai War", fought with injuries, and he didn't even wear a mask.

Kawasaki Frontale also took this game very seriously, and they made a big rotation in the Japanese J-League last weekend, which ended in a home defeat to Kyoto Immortals.

Since coaching Shenhua last season, Slutsky has used a 442 diamond position, and this game was forced by injuries to adjust the formation to 4321. Speaking after the game, Slutsky said, "Our foreign striker had an injury and had to change to today's style of play. We are missing tall strikers and it is difficult to play in the diamond midfield. We couldn't get a second tall striker, so it was just an option. If the players are fit, we will continue to play the way we used to play. "Judging from the actual combat effect, the adjustment is still successful.

The form of some players has also improved significantly with the deepening of the game. In this game, Li Ke, who has been criticized by the outside world recently, performed well, and his active defense also reduced the pressure on Manafa to a certain extent, allowing him to have less worries after assisting.

Manafa is also one of the more controversial players in recent times, against Kawasaki, he was very active at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends, and Shenhua's goal came from an own goal made by Manafa. In the 76th minute, Teixeira crossed, Manafa followed up the cross and caused Takai Yukidai to own the goal, with this goal, Shenhua finally won 1-0.

Not only in terms of scores, Shenhua is also superior to their opponents on the field, creating more opportunities. At full time, Shenhua had 13 shots on goal, compared to Kawasaki Frontale's five. The five shots on goal were also the second-lowest number of shots in a single game in the AFC Champions League by Kawasaki Frontale since 2014.

It was an exciting result to be able to beat Kawasaki Frontale, who were ranked second in the first stage of the AFC Champions League East Asia in the face of a severely disorganized squad, but Shenhua also paid a big price for it. Amadou, a key player who was injured in a scramble, was taken off the field on a stretcher, and then taken to the hospital by ambulance for examination. At the post-match press conference, Slutsky said, "Now Amadou has gone to the hospital to have an MRI, I don't know the situation at the moment, I can't disclose it, and there will be a clearer answer tomorrow." ”

The AFC Champions League Elite League 1/8 final is a two-legged match, so after winning the first leg, Slutsky said that this is the beginning, not the end, "We had injury problems before the game, one of the two foreign strikers was injured, and the other could not play the whole game. The doctor suggested that if Mineiro was going to play, he should play 20 minutes. We used the teenager Liu Chengyu, and the formation was adjusted accordingly. The players played perfectly, played a quality, indestructible game, did a good job in terms of balance and intensity, and I was very satisfied. This is just the beginning, not the end, and we have a chance to wrestle with our opponents. ”

At this stage, Kawasaki Frontale's strategy is completely tilted towards the AFC Champions League elite league, so they will definitely go all out in the second leg to turn the situation around, head coach Hasebe Mori said after the game: "The next game is crucial, we don't know which players will play because we still have to play in the league and which players can play needs to be discussed." We're going to do everything we can and get ready for the next game. ”

The AFC Champions League has entered this step, Shenhua has no burden, a small victory at home, it is worth rejoicing, but the real fate is decided by the second leg next week, no matter what the outcome is, as long as you exert all your energy, Shenhua will not have any regrets on the road to the AFC Champions League this year.