Shanghai Port's Chinese Super League title makes it a treble for head coach Kevin Muscat

Former Australia international and English Premier League defender Kevin Muscat celebrated a championship in a third different country as a head coach as Shanghai Port won the Chinese Super League title on Saturday.

Shanghai defeated Tianjin Jinmen Tiger 5-0 to finish on 78 points from 30 games, one more than city rival Shanghai Shenhua.

It is Port’s second successive championship, and a third in total.

Port totaled 96 goals, a record for the league, with leading scorer Wu Lei adding two more against Tianjin to take his season tally to 34.

“It has been a great season and we are delighted to finish in first place on the last day,” Wu said.

The former Espanyol forward paid tribute to Shenhua, still waiting for a first title since 1995. “We had a little more experience than Shenhua but they have some very good young players and will definitely win the Chinese Super League in the next few years.”

Former Crystal Palace, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Glasgow Rangers defender Muscat, 51, also led Melbourne Victory to the A-League Championship in 2015 and 2018. He then succeeded Ange Postecoglou at Yokohama F. Marinos in Japan and lifted the 2022 J. League crown.

He took over at Port last December.

Meizhou Hakka and Nantong Zhiyun finished 15th and 16th and were relegated to Chinese League One.

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The Associated Press