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ZIMBABWE international striker Nyasha Mushekwi was again left out of the Dalian Yifang line-up as his club slumped to their second straight loss in the Chinese Super League after a 0-2 defeat at the hands of Guangzhou R&F on Saturday.

Coach Ma Lin again preferred to use his $50 million attacking acquisition from Atletico Madrid – Nico Gaitan and Yannick Carrasco – who both fired blanks for the second game in a row.

Dalian Yifang have now conceded 10 goals in just two matches despite also a huge investment into the services of former West Ham Portuguese defender Jose Fonte. Fonte endured a debut to forget as Dalian Yifang were thrashed 8-0 by Shanghai SPIG with Brazilian star Oscar scoring a hattrick.

The centreback left West Ham for the Chinese Super League after falling out of favour under David Moyes, having last playing before injury in October.

The Atletico Madrid pair Carrasco and Gaitan also joined him in eyebrow-raising deals. The trio all started in their first match but found themselves behind after just 28 seconds of the new season thanks to former Chelsea man Oscar.

At least, they played better in the second match and were holding their hosts to a goalless draw at the break at the Yeuxiushan Stadium in Gangzhou.

But Chen Zhizhao broke the stalemate in the 60th minute and E. Zahavi scored the second five minutes later.

Mushekwi told The Herald last week that he remains part of the squad but has not played in the first matches because the coach has been preferring the new stars who arrived just a week before their first game. — Sports Reporter/Evening Standard