The J.League outfit were left shorthanded with five minutes on the clock, referee Muhammad Taqi reviewing Marcinho’s rash challenge on Ibrahim Amadou on the pitch side monitor before deciding to send the Brazilian off for a dangerous tackle.

A Shenhua buoyed by the one-man advantage went looking for the opener, with Fei Nanduo firing high over the bar in the 13th minute and by the 24th minute the home side were a goal in front.

Shinichi Chan charged down the left flank and, while his centre was cleared by Asahi Sasaki, the ball only reached as far as Wang and his shot from 20 yards took a deflection to leave Jung Sung-ryong in the Kawasaki goal with no hope.

Luis was given a golden chance to double the lead in the 31st minute when Chan delivered a cross from the left that found the Brazilian unmarked in the heart of the Kawasaki penalty area but his header could only find the arms of Jung.

Kawasaki should have made Shanghai regret that miss three minutes later when Yasuto Wakizaka burst into the penalty area and clipped an inviting ball towards Yuki Yamamoto, but the midfielder headed over the bar from eight yards out.

Joao Teixeira and Yang Zexiang squandered opportunities to add to Shanghai’s lead in the opening 10 minutes of the second half before Sasaki almost claimed an unlikely equaliser for the visitors, storming through the middle from deep to hit the post on the hour mark.

Shenhua were unable to make the most of their numerical superiority to put the result beyond doubt with Xu Haoyang, Yu Hanchao and Zhu Chenjie all given sights of goal they were not able to convert.

Luis eventually claimed Shenhua’s second deep into injury time when he sent Jung the wrong way from the penalty spot, confirming the home side’s victory after a clumsy challenge by Maruyama prompted Taqi to point to the spot.