Shenhua coach claims tight schedule took a toll on his players

Painful encounter: JDT’s Murilo De Araujo Santos (right) and Shanghai Shenhua’s Fei Nanduo collide during a tussle for the ball during their Asian Champions League Elite match at the Sultan Ibrahim Stadium in Iskandar Puteri on Tuesday. — Bernama

KUALA LUMPUR: Shanghai Shenhua coach Leonid Slutskiy blamed the tight schedule in the Chinese Super League (CSL) as one of the causes of their 0-3 defeat to Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) in the Asian Champions League Elite (ACLE) at the Sultan Ibrahim Stadium in Iskandar Puteri.

The Russian-born manager said that his team had to play six games in 18 days but also admitted his tactics were not effective and lauded JDT as the deserving winners on Tuesday.