Defending Chinese Super League champion Guangzhou Evergrande was on the road at Tianjin Teda. The five-time reigning champ is focusing on more domestic success after being were knocked out of the AFC Champions League mid-week.

Guangzhou Evergrande routs Tianjin 4-0 to top Chinese Super League

And the visiting team got off to a quick start: Yu Hanchao collected Gao Lin’s cut back and fired it in to make it 1-0 after just seven minutes. 

In the 27th minute, Guangzhou went on the attack. It was stifled when Tianjin’s Yu Benjian brought down Douglas with a clumsy tackle; the referee refrained from showing a card but did award a free-kick.

Paulinho’s attempt hit the wall and Gao Lin was the first to pounce on the deflected ball and he was able to slot it home, making it 2-0.

In the second half, Douglas’s strike from outside the area was spilled by Yang Qipeng, allowing Gao to pounce for his second of the game. That was his 65th career CSL goal, top among active players.

In the 73rd minute, the Brazilian Alan Douglas got his first goal since joining the defending champ, heading in a cross as Evergrande came away with a 4-0 victory.

Elsewhere, SIPG grabbed a 3-1 away win at Changchun Yatai; 10-man Shanghai Shenhua defeated Hebei Fortune 2-0; and Shijiazhuang EverBright defeated Shandong Luneng 2-1.

The 4-0 win puts Guangzhou to the top of the league, a point better than second-placed Jiangsu Sunning; SIPG is third, with Henan in fourth.