Rumours of the former Chelsea striker's non-appearance first circulated several hours before kick-off on Weibo, China's equivalent of Twitter.
His place in the starting XI was taken by Australian Striker Joel Griffiths. With the first-half underway Shenhua were losing 1-0 to opponents Jiangsu Shuntian thanks to a 15th minute headed goal by Romainian Striker Christian Danalache.
Source: AFP
Source: AFP