Last updated on September 11th, 2021 at 03:11 pm
Former Super Eagles striker Odion Ighalo has helped Shanghai Shenhua to win the Chinese FA Cup after beating Shandong Luneng 3-0 at the Hongkou Football Stadium on Friday afternoon in the second leg encounter.
The Flower of Shanghai overturn a 1-0 first-leg deficit scored by an ex-Southampton goal poacher Graziano Pelle penalty from the first leg last month after South Korean star Kim Shinwok sent the ball into the net to level the tie in the 59th minute.
Ighalo, who started the game on the bench took the place of the goalscorer Kim Shin- Wook in the 67th minute before Italy international Stephan El Shaarawy then latched onto Giovanni Moreno’s through ball before outpacing the Shandong defence and firing into the bottom corner to claim the second nine minutes from time.
Alexander N’Doumbou put the result beyond doubt two minutes later when he smashed his shot into the top corner to give Shenhua a second CFA Cup win in three seasons and take them back into the Asian Champions League after failing to qualify for the 2019 edition.
The winners, who only finished in 13th place in the Chinese Super League (CSL) along with Guangzhou Evergrande and Beijing Guoan to represent China in next season’s AFC Champions League, while SIPG, who were third in the table will play in the tournament’s playoffs in late January.
