Some Shenhua fans clashed with a SIPG supporter in an ACL game.

Rival city Chinese Super League clubs, Shanghai Greenland Shenhua and Shanghai SIPG, have traded charges over the identity of some fans who attended SIPG's recent AFC Champions League matches wearing Shenhua kits and displaying unflattering banners.

SIPG was taking on Gamba Osaka in Japan on Wednesday, when a few Chinese fans, wearing Shenhua jerseys, put up a banner reading "Only Shenhua Rep Shanghai". TV footage showed that a fan in an SIPG jersey tried to stop them, resulting in an altercation. The two sides had to be separated by security personnel. The fans in Shenhua jerseys were ordered to leave the stands.

It's not the first time that the banner has appeared at SIPG's Asian games. On February 24, a group of fans in Shenhua jerseys showed up at SIPG's first Asian match against Melbourne Victory in Australia, holding the same banner. It then became a topic of discussion among local fans online. Melbourne Victory's official Twitter account posted a picture later, saying: "Thanks to our friends from Shenhua for their support at MELvSHA. There's only one team in Shanghai!"

Also, on March 15 when SIPG played Gamba at Shanghai Stadium, a fan in Shenhua jersey was seen holding a self-made poster bearing an inappropriate logo and slogan.

After the "Only Shenhua Rep Shanghai" banner appeared again in Japan, Shenhua, which is 5th in the CSL table with 5 points from 3 matches, issued a statement through its official Weibo account on Wednesday night.

Inappropriate logo

"During SIPG's recent AFC Champions League matches in Australia and Japan, some Shenhua fans living overseas displayed Shenhua-supporting banners, while an SIPG fan faked himself as a Shenhua supporter and put up an inappropriate logo and slogan. Such behavior has affected the image of both Shenhua fans and Shanghai football. We condemn such actions while congratulating SIPG for their good performance in Asian games," the statement said.

Not impressed, SIPG replied through its Weibo account yesterday afternoon.

"We read an official statement from a club today, claiming SIPG fans pretended to be fans of another team and harmed their image. Our club is shocked by the statement. The irresponsible statement has annoyed SIPG fans. Our club does not accept this statement," said SIPG, runner-up last year to Guangzhou Evergrand but which lies 3rd-from-bottom this season with 2 points from 3 games.

Greenland Shenhua then issued a retort 45 minutes later, saying its investigation showed that the fan holding the inappropriate poster at SIPG's match on March 15 was a member of an SIPG-supporting fans organization.

"We were told that the issue was 'designed' by a few SIPG fans. To maintain the two clubs' image, we did not unveil the result of the investigation immediately, but reported it to SIPG officials. But SIPG did nothing other than issuing a denial," said the statement.

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