Brazilian midfielder Oscar scored on his debut for Shanghai SIPG following his move from Chelsea for a Chinese transfer record fee of £60m.
The 25-year-old netted after coming on as a second-half substitute in the 2-1 friendly win against Saudi Arabian side Al-Batin in Doha, Qatar.
He later won the free-kick from which Lu Wenjun struck the winner.
“I only trained for two days,” he said. “This is the start of a new season – we have only one goal, which is to win.”
Oscar added: “My team-mates played very well today. The Chinese guys tried to help us [to integrate]. It’s difficult to have a good game in such a short time – they made it happen.”
The Chinese Super League gets under way in March.
Primeiro amistoso e primeiro gol???⚽️
First friendly match and first goal ???⚽️#ShanghaiSIPG #O8 pic.twitter.com/skFZlAtQsA
— Oscar (@oscar8) January 9, 2017
Oscar was a summer 2012 arrival from Internacional in his native Brazil to Chelsea.
He made his debut as a substitute away at Wigan before announcing himself with a dipping, bending effort against Antonio Conte’s Juventus at Stamford Bridge.
It was in the Europa League that Oscar picked up his first medal with Chelsea, playing the full 90 minutes of our 2-1 win over Benfica in the final in Amsterdam before becoming a key player under Jose Mourinho, favoured in the number 10 role thanks to his ability to work effectively at both ends of the pitch.
He came off the bench to help us secure our League Cup final victory over Spurs at Wembley in March 2015, with the Premier League title secured at the Bridge in early May. Last season, he netted a brilliant first-half hat-trick in an FA Cup win against MK Dons.
Conte’s arrival in the summer led to a deeper role for him at the beginning of the campaign, but the switch to a 3-4-3 formation in October saw opportunities limited, and he now heads to Shanghai to link up with former Chelsea coach Andre Villas-Boas.
We thank Oscar for his wonderful service and wish him the very best of luck for the future.
