Shanghai Shenhua striker Demba Ba from Senegal suffered an horrendous leg break during the Shanghai derby at the Hongkou Stadium on Sunday that will likely see him out for a very long time.

Shanghai Greenland Shenhua rallied to beat city rival SIPG 2-1 at Hongkou Football Stadium last night in their second derby clash this season but its victory was marred as Senegal striker Demba Ba was stretchered off with a serious fracture.

Ba's injury occurred in the 63rd minute when he clashed with SIPG captain Sun Xiang. He will be out for at least seven months.

Hulk and Dario Conca were missing from the SIPG line-up due to injuries, while Shenhua had its complete squad, including Ba, Giovanni Moreno and Fredy Guarin.

The first half did not see many chances though visiting SIPG was forced into an early substitution when its South Korean defender Kim Ju-young got injured in the 17th.

The first goal came nine minutes after the interval. A powerful shot from SIPG's Wu Lei beat Shenhua goalie Li Shuai, flying into the top right corner of the net.

The situation turned worse for the hosts when Ba lay on the grass in some pain after a clash with Sun in the 63rd. His leg was seen twisted when falling. Ba was replaced by Obafemi Martins after seven minutes of treatment on the pitch.

Shenhua made two more substitutions in the 80th, and its continuous attacks paid off when Cao Yunding claimed the equalizer in the 86th.

With 24,000 fans at Hongkou roaring their support, Shenhua went looking for the winner. SIPG's Wang Jiajie fouled Moreno in the box in injury time and was shown a red card by referee Zhou Gang, who issued a total of 10 yellow cards and another red in the match. Guarin scored from the deciding penalty to win it for Shenhua.

Shenhua coach Gregorio Manzano described the derby victory as the "most painful win" in his 33-year career.

"If I can choose, I'd rather lose the match than lose Demba Ba," said the Spaniard. "Football is unfair sometimes to let such a terrible thing happen to such a good man... That was the kind of terrible foul that could end a player's career."

Manzano said Ba would be out for at least 7-8 months. It was not yet decided whether Ba would stay in China for the treatment.

"We played a wonderful second half, and the victory is for Ba. The players have to work harder in the upcoming matches due to Ba's absence."

SIPG head coach Sven-Goran Eriksson also expressed sympathy for Ba. "It was a bad injury. I'm very sorry for Ba... We played like the winning side, but the situation changed in the 80th."

"If the pitch condition was better, it could be a better match. But it didn't mean we lost the match because of the pitch," said the Swede.

The two sides drew 1-1 in their first derby at the beginning of the season at Shanghai Stadium in March.

SIPG is third in the Chinese Super League standings with 30 points, Shenhua is 5th on 28.

In other matches yesterday, defending champion Guangzhou Evergrande beat Changchun Yatai 2-1 to stay top on 45 points from 18 matches. Hangzhou Greentown drew 0-0 with Shijiazhuang Yongchang.

On Saturday, Italian international Graziano Pelle and Senegal striker Papiss Cisse, as a substitute, made their debuts for Shandong Luneng in its 1-1 draw with Liaoning Whowin in Shenyang, Liaoning Province. Pelle, just back from the European Championship, could not manage a goal or an assist in his first 90 minutes in the CSL, but received a yellow card in the 72nd. Shandong is 14th in the 16-team standing on 17 points.

Jiangsu Suning surprisingly slumped 0-3 at Yanbian Funde on Saturday for its third straight loss this month — two in the league and one in the CFA Cup. It is still without its Brazilian midfielder Ramires, who is serving a four-match ban for raging against a referee during a CFA Cup match. Jiangsu is still second in the standings on 32 points.

Hebei China Fortune lost 0-1 at home to Beijing Guo'an to share third place with SIPG.

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