CSL roundup: Shandong come from three goals down to stun Meizhou

Shandong Taishan came from three goals down to beat Meizhou Hakka 4-3 on the road, which dropped the hosts to eighth place after three games of the new Chinese Super League season.

Meizhou took control with three goals in 34 minutes from Yue Tze-Nam, Yang Chaosheng, and Rodrigo Henrique, leaving Shandong in a desperate position. However, just before halftime, Valeri Qazaishvili scored in stoppage time, giving Shandong a lifeline as they entered the break trailing 3-1.

The second half saw Shandong bring on Li Yuanyi and Xie Wenneng to inject some urgency and it paid off. In the 54th minute, a corner from Li found Brazilian striker Zeca, who volleyed home to reduce the deficit to 3-2.

With time running out, Zeca netted again in the 88th minute, heading in a cross from Liu Yang to draw level. The excitement peaked in eighth minute of stoppage time when Li's perfectly-weighted free kick was headed in by Brazilian defender Gazal, completing Shandong's remarkable turnaround with a 4-3 win for their second consecutive victory.

Elsewhere, Beijing Guoan were held by Chengdu Rongcheng 1-1 in their first home game of the season. The pre-match build-up featured a heartfelt retirement ceremony for veteran Yu Dabao, who played 229 matches for Guoan in nearly a decade.

In the 12th minute, Guoan defender Li Lei's brilliant pass set up Yang Liyu for a run into the penalty area where he was taken down by Yuan Mincheng and referee Ma Ning awarded a penalty after a lengthy VAR review that lasted over three minutes. Fabio converted the spot-kick, giving Guoan the lead.

However, the tide turned in the 65th minute when Bejing captain Michael Ngadeu fouled Felipe. After being alerted by VAR, the referee reviewed the incident and upgraded Ngadeu's yellow card to a red card, sending him off and leaving Guoan with ten men.

Guoan faced mounting pressure thereafter, and in the 78th minute, Issa Kallon's misplayed cross allowed Felipe to capitalize, leveling the score at 1-1. In the end, Guoan settled for a draw, marking their second consecutive stalemate and dropping them to seventh place.

Meanwhile, Dalian Yingbo outclassed Changchun Yatai 2-0 for their first Chinese top-flight win, and Shanghai Shenhua came from behind to edge hosts Henan FC 3-1.