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Shandong Luneng suffer 7-2 blow at Champions League
Up 2-1 on the night and 3-2 on aggregate, Al Ittihad’s dominance continued as soon as the second half began with Job flashing a 48th minute header wide and Yang bravely blocking at the feet of Kallon when the forward was charging into the penalty box two minutes later. With the second half barely five minutes old a Kallon chip beat the onrushing Yang but not his left hand post and Mohammed Noor headed the resulting rebound inches over the bar as it became clear that it was not a question of if but when Al Ittihad would score again. The answer was in the 55th minute when Ibrahim Sowed justified made it 3-1, volleying the ball past Yang with outside of his right boot after Job had laid off a cross from the increasing influential Kallon. Sowed’s strike was the first of three goals in an incredible ten minute spell. Shandong pulled a goal back in the 61st minute with a fine solo effort by substitute Cui Peng but any hopes of a revival were snuffed out four minutes later when veteran striker Hamzah Idris set up Kallon for Al Ittihad’s fourth with virtually his first touch after coming on for Job. After an impressive shift Kallon made way for Abushgeer and the diminutive forward thought that he’d get his name on the ever-increasing list of Al Ittihad scorers when he chipped Yang to make it 5-2 after being set-up by Mohammed Noor. A minute later Al Ittihad were gifted a chance to make it six when a clumsy challenge by Predrag Pazin on Hamzah Idris, deemed just inside the penalty box, allowed Redha Tukar to be Yang with a sweetly struck spot-kick. But the scoring wasn’t finished there and with a minute left to play, Idris fed Abushgeer for his second and Al Ittihad’s seventh before Shandong’s miserable night was compounded by the sendings off of Zheng Zhi and Pazin as the 2004 China FA Cup winners saw their unbeaten Champions League run ended by a display of championship vintage.
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