Tianjin Teda started their league campaign on a not too impressive style after letting a one goal lead slip with four minutes left in their game against visiting Hebei CFFC in the Chinese Super League.
The home team took the lead in the 25th minute but the visitors levelled matters with four minutes left to play despite missing a penalty in the 69th minute of the game.
Captain of the senior national team of Nigeria John Obi Mikel was on from start to finish for the home side, with the visitors lining up their new recruit from Bar‎celona Javier Mascherano against the Nigerian.
After the game, Mikel was rated highly than the Argentine with a mark of 7.5 out of 10 as against the 6 giving to Mascherano in his first competitive game in the Chinese Super League.
Both players will once again come up against each other in Russia when Nigeria clash with Argentina in one of the games of group D at the 2018 World Cup later this year.
Nigerians will be hoping for more or same kind of performance from the captain of the Super Eagles who was pivotal in helping Nigeria qualify for the World Cup with a game to spare during the World Cup 2018 Qualifiers.
Michael James
