Marouane Fellaini scored hat-trick of headers in eight minutes as Chinese Super League returns

Fellaini's headers came in the 79th, 83rd and 86th minutes
AFP via Getty Images
Tom Doyle26 July 2020

Former Manchester United midfielder Marouane Fellaini scored a hat-trick of headers in eight minutes to earn Shandong Luneng a dramatic comeback victory over Dalian Pro in the opening round of the new Chinese Super League season.

The 32-year-old former Belgium midfielder headed home right-wing crosses - two of which were corners - in the 79th, 83rd and 86th minutes to help Shandong claim a 3-2 win.

Fellaini, who joined Shandong in February 2019 after 11 seasons in England with Everton and Manchester United, had tested positive for coronavirus earlier this year.

Chinese media reported in March that he had been in isolation at Jinan hospital, which specialises in infectious diseases, having recently returned to the country after a spell in Dubai following the outbreak of Covid-19.

Fellaini's hat-trick against Dalian came after former West Brom and Newcastle striker Salomon Rondon had headed the hosts into a 57th-minute lead.

Rafael Benitez's Dalian netted a late second through Marcus Danielson.

Additional reporting by PA.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in