Guangzhou Evergrande striker Jackson Martinez. (Photo : Getty Images)
Five straight domestic top flight champions Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao FC blanked cross-city rival Guangzhou R&F FC, 2-0, in a 2016 Chinese Super League season matchday 3 game held at the Tianhe Stadium on Friday, April 1st.
Brazilian winger Paulinho provided the opening goal for World Cup-winning head coach Luiz Felipe Scolari's side at the half hour mark with a "powerful shot in the center of the penalty area" that "found the bottom of the net" coming off an assist by fellow Brazilian Ricardo Goulart, as reported by Xinhuanet.
Colombian striker Jackson Martinez doubled the lead 10 minutes before the full time whistle as he scored his third goal in his first three CSL assignments for Guangzhou with Paulinho assisting this time around, via Soccerway.
Going 3-for-3 is something that is expected of the former Atletico Madrid goalscorer, who was acquired by the Tianhe residents during the winter transfer window for was then a Chinese transfer record of €42 million from the Italian Serie A side.
The record was since broken by Jiangsu Suning when the club bought Brazilian midfielder Alex Teixeira from Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk for €50 million also last winter.
With their second straight win of the young season, the Southern China Tigers retained their status as one of the league-leaders in the China first division association football competitions.
The team is currently at the no. 3 spot of the league table with a 2-1-0 win-loss-draw record and 6 points following the drawn matches of Jiangsu Suning and Henan Jianye, who are occupying the no. 1 and 2 positions with identical slates of 2-0-1 and tied with 7 points.
Jiangsu are the current league leaders because of their superior goal differential tally of +4 to +2 of Henan.
Evergrande is one of the most successful clubs in China in the past several years. The team has been the champions of the CSL in the last five seasons since 2011 and the team will be looking to win their sixth straight title this season.
The Tigers have also won two of the last three AFC Champions League trophies, in 2013 and 2015, with the 2014 title going to Australian club Western Sydney Wanderers, who eliminated Guangzhou in the quarterfinals of the said tournament.
