Asian transfer record-holder Alex Teixeira led his Jiangsu Suning FC squad to an impressive 3-0 demolition over fellow Champions League competitors Shandong Luneng Taishan FC in the two team's 2016 Chinese Super League season opener at the Nanjing Olympic Sports Center in Jiangsu, China last Saturday.
The 26-year-old Teixeira, who was signed by Jiangsu for the current Asian record of €50 million from Ukrainian squad FC Shakhtar Donetsk, proved that he is worth his club's investment after he scored a brace at the 66th and 85th minutes of the match to bury their wary visitors.
Jiangsu's €32 million-man Ramires, who briefly held the record after he was snagged from English Premier League side Chelsea FC also during the Chinese winter window, scored the opening goal in less than three minutes into the game to give the early lead to Dan Petrescu's boys, as reported by Xinhuanet.
Shandong also featured three Brazilians and one Argentine player in their starting lineup, namely defender Gil, midfielder Jucilei, striker Diego Tardelli, and midfielder Walter Montillo, but they were not able to respond to Jiangsu's international firepower all throughout the match.
The report mentioned that Teixeira would certainly be "firmly under the microscope" during the match after his €50 million signing eclipsed that of the €42 million paid by Guangzhou Evergrande to Spanish La Liga squad Atletico Madrid for Jackson Martinez, who passed Ramires' record-signing as well.
The Asian transfer record was broken three times in just two weeks during the acquisitions of Ramires, Martinez, and Teixeira. It was previously held by Elkeson, who was transferred to Shanghai SIPG from Guangzhou Evergrande for €18 million earlier in the year.
The world's attention is captured by the new CSL season as the China top flight opened Friday last week and it was justified as "all 16 goals on the opening weekend were scored by overseas players", as per the National.
Jiangsu placed ninth during last season's competitions and had qualified in the 2016 AFC Champions League group stage as winners of the 2015 Chinese FA Cup.
Starting Lineups
Jiangsu Suning: Zhang S., Ren, Zhou, Sainsbury, Li, Ramires, Wu, Ji, Zhang X., Jô, Teixeira
Shandong Luneng: Wang, Dai, Zhao, Zheng, Gil, Montillo, Hao, Wang, Jucilei, Tardelli, Yang