Bakambu’s goal not enough as Beijing Guoan held by Wuhan Zall after Kouassi’s strike

Jean Kouassi scored an equaliser for Wuhan Zall as they came from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Beijing Guoan in the Chinese Super League on Sunday, with Cedric Bakambu getting a goal for the China capital outfit.

Both sides and players came into this match in good form.

Beijing were 5-2 winners over Chongqing Dangdai Lifan last time out, with Bakambu having a hand in all five goals by netting four goals and providing an assist, while Wuhan defeated Qingdao Huanghai 3-0 away from home, when Kouassi bagged a goal and an assist.

Guoan were on the road for Sunday’s tie and it was Bakambu who scored the first goal of the game in the 23rd minute. The former Villarreal striker received an accurate pass from Zhang Yuning, nicely controlled the ball with his right foot before firing it in with the same foot.

Yuning made it 2-0 for Beijing approaching the half-time break with a powerful shot from 12 yards that left Wuhan goalie Chunyu Dong with no chance of saving.

The Hebei province capital side then stagged their comeback, starting in the 67th minute, when Leo Baptistao headed home from a corner kick before Kouassi drew the sides level just two minutes after, connecting with Liu Yi’s cross on the left and also heading the ball in.

Both Bakambu and Kouassi played for the entire match. The former had, two shots on target, 32 touches on the ball and 15 accurate passes at 75% accuracy, while the latter had just a shot on target but had 100% accuracy in his dribble attempts (three from three), 47 touches and 25 accurate passes at 89%.

Bakambu’s tally for the season now stands at eight goals and two assists in eight matches, making him the outright top scorer in the Chinese top-flight this season while Kouassi has notched five goals and two assists in seven outings.

Beijing are second in Group B with 18 points, two behind leaders Shanghai SIPG, while Wuhan are in third spot, two points behind their Sunday opponents.