Harbour lost the first title of the new season in stoppage time, and the double double of the new foreign signing's debut was the biggest surprise

Reporter Cheng Shan reported At the beginning of 2025, Shanghai Port, the double champion of Shanghai Port, who has undergone a big change, will stand on the Super Cup field with his familiar attack method. Although they failed to lift the expected first trophy of the season, the new harbour is still worth looking forward to, judging from the presentation and the performance of the new signings.

Last season's shining harbor completed its transformation in two months, and the harbor officially announced six new signings on the last working day before the Spring Festival. After Oscar, Vargas and other powerful reinforcements left the team, Leonardo, Vital, and Gabriel joined the harbor. Some people also joked that the introduction of these foreign aid is like "opening a blind box". In addition to foreign aid, the harbor also introduced a combination of domestic aid from Tomorrow, Eiffelding, and Liu Ruofan. Obviously, coach Muscart's attacking style of play has a very high demand for all positions on the field.

There wasn't plenty of time at the harbour to complete the winter training in Dubai, but the three-week training camp basically completed the plan that Muscat's team had previously made, including the team's physical reserves, the run-in of new signings, and most importantly, the in-depth understanding of their own tactical system. At the beginning of the new year, the Super Cup with the city's rival Shenhua has become the "first test" of the new harbor.

There has been no competition for two months, and this New Year's drama plus the "derby" weight has naturally attracted much attention. The Kunshan Olympic Sports Center, which can accommodate 45,000 people, also ushered in its own "debut" of the competition. Due to the geographical proximity to Shanghai, the fans of both teams made plans to watch the game early, and the day before the game, 30,000 tickets were sold, and the buses of the fans of both teams arrived near the stadium at 5 o'clock. In order to avoid a hot scene for fans on both sides, Kunshan made a plan in advance and clearly divided the fan parking lots and grandstand entrances of the two teams. Before the game even started, the fans on both sides were already standing in the stands and started the competition before the team.

The team has changed a lot of Harbour, and the squad system has changed from 433 last season to 442. There are six starters in the Harbour midfield for this game, and four of them are new signings. The backline has not changed much from last season, with the double back Yusa partnering Vital, but the changes in the wings and forward line are obvious, with the combination of new signings Gabriel and Liu Ruofan on the wings, and Leonardo and Gustavo forming a forward double.

Although it was the first game of the year, judging from the state of the two teams in Shanghai, the "Shencheng Derby" will still be the most anticipated battle of the 2025 season - in the opening 7 minutes, the port was broken by the new Brazilian winger Gabriel. After that, the game was played at a high tempo, with Harbour maintaining their attacking strength and creating a threat in the opposition penalty area through short passes. Despite arriving late, Gabriel has been pleasantly surprised by his form, with the chemistry and attacking awareness he has been looking for with his team-mates.

Harbour's advantage lasted for an hour, and the score was eventually equalized by Shenhua, but no one expected the storyline after that. In the 80th minute, Harbor's new recruit Gabriel pushed the goal, and Harbor overtook the score again 2-1. Harbour fans in the stands were already celebrating the first trophy of the new year, but were eventually beaten twice in stoppage time. The ups and downs of the plot made Harbour coach Muscat unexpected.

"There are three championships in Chinese football that can be fought for, and we won two of the three championships last year, and we could have fought for the third one, but we were very unlucky not to get it." After the game, he immediately expressed his disappointment. But he soon realised what was wrong with the team: "From the way we performed today, what we showed showed showed that we were still preparing for the game, clearly showing our technical and tactical requirements and style of play. But today we conceded two goals in a row in the final stages of stoppage time, three of which were set-pieces, and the opposition didn't break our defence in the open game, so we'll be looking to strengthen that later. ”

As for Gabriel, who came to the team late but scored two goals on his debut, Muscat said: "He deserves tonight's praise, although he is the latest to come to the team, he has been playing in the Portuguese Super League and has the form of the game, which is also a strategy that we have selected [foreign players]. "The Harbour coaching staff will also create more attacking opportunities based on their technical characteristics. Gabriel himself said: "The team has helped me a lot since I came to Harbour and that's probably the most important reason why I fit well with the team. "After more time to polish, the surprise "blind box" of the harbor is worth looking forward to.