Beijing Guoan win ends Chinese Super League first stage, with players allowed to leave Covid-19 bubbles before restart

Beijing Guoan win 4-0 against Shijiazhuang Everbright, with Cedric Bakambu becoming the club’s all-time top scorer

Goal difference decides the final standings for the Suzhou division and who teams will face in the second stage in mid-October

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Beijing Guoan’s Cedric Bakambu celebrates scoring during the sixth-round match against Shanghai SIPG. He has become the club’s all-time top scorer. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 11:28am, 29 Sep 2020Updated: 11:28am, 29 Sep 2020

The first stage of the coronavirus-delayed Chinese Super League season finished on Monday with the 14th round of matches in the Suzhou bubble.

Beijing Guoan beat Shijiazhuang Ever Bright 4-0 after coach Bruno Genesio put out a full-strength side featuring foreigners Fernando, Cedric Bakambu and Jonathan Viera.

A Fernando brace either side of a Bakambu goal was capped off with a Ba Dun finish in second-half added time to seal the win.

Bakambu became the club’s all-time top scorer with his 50th goal, but he remains second on the list of their CSL scorers. His 40 in 53 games is one behind Zhang Xizhe, although those came in more than 230 appearances in green.

Shanghai SIPG rested their foreign contingent to put out an all-domestic line-up against Chongqing Lifan.

The game ended 1-0 to Chongqing, with the first-half goal coming from defender Yuan Mincheng after SIPG defender Zhang Wei was sent off.