Shenhua’s Qin pays price for Witsel stamp
Print Edition
SHANGHAI Greenland Shenhua midfielder Qin Sheng was fined 300,000 yuan (US$43,400) and sent to the second-tier team by his club after deliberately stamping on the foot of Tianjin Quanjian’s Belgium midfielder Axel Witsel during their Chinese Super League match at Hongkou Football Stadium on Saturday.
Qin was shown a straight red card and Shenhua had to play with 10 men for the remaining 65 minutes of its 1-1 draw.
The punishments were announced by the club through its official Weibo account five hours after the match. “In the 24th minute, Greenland Shenhua player Qin Sheng deliberately stamped on the foot of his opponent in the box, and was shown a red card by the referee. His behavior was against sportsmanship,” said the statement.
Qin was ordered to make a public apology and “relegated” to the club’s second team, meaning he would not be playing in the CSL for a while. Also, the 30-year-old Dalian native was fined 300,000 yuan by the club for unsporting behavior.
Qin made several apologies through his personal social communication accounts before the club’s statement. “Exciting match but stupid foul,” the China international wrote. “My personal behavior affected the whole team. I want to apologize to the fans, club officials and coaches, as well as my pals fighting together on the pitch. As a professional player, I should not take such “revenge” but respect the referee’s decision.”
Qin, who joined Shenhua from Liaoning Whowin last year, is notorious for his “bad temper”. In the CFA Cup final in 2013, Qin, representing Guangzhou Evergrande, kicked Guizhou Renhe’s Bosnia striker Zlatan Muslimovic in the face when fighting for a ball. Muslimovic suffered a nasal fracture, and had to return home for surgery.
When playing for China against the Netherlands in a friendly in Beijing on June 11, 2013, Qin roughly tackled Dutch midfielder Jonathan de Guzman and was given his marching orders by the referee.
Qin’s foul on Saturday was described as “unnecessary” by Shenhua manager Gus Poyet at the post-match press conference. The match was broadcast live on CCTV, as well as by Britain’s Sky Sports.
Despite playing with 10 men, it was Shenhua that went ahead through captain Giovanni Moreno’s blast in the 74th. Witsel scored Tianjin’s equalizer 10 minutes later. Tianjin’s Brazil striker Alexandre Pato had the chance to seal all three points for the visitors in the closing minutes when he stepped onto the penalty spot, but could only manage to blast the ball over the bar.
Shenhua has four points after the first two CSL rounds — two adrift of leaders Shanghai SIPG and Shandong Luneng.
SIPG beat Yanbian Funde 2-0 in a Friday match at Shanghai Stadium, thanks to goals from Lu Wenjun and Wu Lei. Uzbek international Odil Ahmedov replaced Brazil striker Elkeson in the match to partner with Oscar and Hulk. SIPG takes on Japan’s Urawa Red Diamonds in the AFC Champions League group match at home on Wednesday.
In another Friday match, Shandong beat defending champion Evergrande 2-1.
In last night’s matches, it was: Guangzhou R&F 1, Changchun 0; Henan 1, Liaoning 1.
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