Former Chelsea midfielder Oscar. (Photo : Getty Images)
Brazilian footballer Oscar made a good first impression with his new squad, Chinese Super League's Shanghai SIPG FC, after scoring a goal and having a hand on the second one in the team's 2-1 victory over Saudi Arabian Premier League side Al Batin in a match in Doha.
It was the debut game of the Brazil international for SIPG following his mega-money transfer from the English top flight last month.
After a goalless first half of action, the former Chelsea attacking midfielder scored the game's opening goal with a sweeping shot off a poor clearance after entering it as a second half substitute, The Sun reported.
Oscar proceeded to give his team several more chances on goal to put increasing pressure on their opponents' defense.
He then won a free kick later in the contest, drawing a foul, which set up teammate Lu Wenjun's winner, completing a fine finish by new SIPG head coach André Villas-Boas' squad.
"I only trained for two days and this is my first game," the 25-year-old midfielder said, as per Yahoo Sports. "This is the start of a new season and we had only one goal, which is to win."
"My team-mates played very well today. The Chinese guys tried to help us (to integrate). It's difficult to have a good game in such a short time - they made it happen," Oscar added.
Oscar had been with Chelsea in the past four-and-a-half years since he was acquired by the Stamford Bridge giants in the summer of 2012 from Brazilian club Internacional for $23.5 million. He had scored 38 goals in 203 appearances in all competitions for the Blues since that time.
The Americana, Brazil native was acquired by SIPG from the English Premier League club on Dec. 23 for a Chinese transfer record of $73 million. He joined compatriots Hulk and Oscar as the two other Brazilians in the Red Eagles' roster.
Oscar is reportedly earning $352,000 a week in Shanghai, making him the fifth highest-paid footballer in the world behind Carlos Tevez, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, and Gareth Bale.
The 32-year-old Tevez has become the world's highest-paid football player when he joined another CSL squad, Shanghai Shenhua, on Dec. 29. The Chinese club gave him a whopping $747,000 weekly wage, almost twice the amount of what Ronaldo and Messi are earning from Real Madrid and Barcelona.
