The plethora of empty seats in the Beijing Fengtai Stadium on a breezy Wednesday night told their own story. This was not a game that many had looked forward to.

Despite the arrival of the much-vaunted Hebei CFFC, who boast Barcelona legend Javier Mascherano and former Paris Saint-Germain star Ezequiel Lavezzi in their ranks, and the importance of the encounter as a relegation six-pointer, Beijing Renhe still epically failed at drawing more local fans to the club's home ground.

And that happens for a couple of seasons.  Renhe have lived in the shadow of their city rivals Beijing Guoan. The two clubs may reside in the same metropolitan region, but that is where many of their similarities end.

While Guoan are one of the established powerhouses in Chinese football with arguably the most loyal and fervent fanbase in the country—their last home game against Guangzhou Evergrande broke the Workers' Stadium's attendance record with 57,096 spectators—and have won 13 domestic trophies in total, Renhe have made headlines in other ways. The club changed hands many times and spent several years bouncing back and forth between different owners and even cities before relocating to the Chinese capital in 2016.

Since then, Renhe have struggled to nip at the heels of their more eminent city dwellers. Beijing supporters have to pull out all of the stops to gain entrance to the Workers' Stadium to revel in the deafening cauldron of noise. In sharp contrast, Renhe's offer of heavily discounted tickets does little to drag enough of the region's fans to watch their games in Fengtai.

An air of apathy enveloping the club is borne out by the lackluster reactions by some of the few thousand fans here. One surnamed Wang lamented that "the atmosphere in the stadium is flat" but he "has nothing better to do." Another took solace in the fact that "at least the weather is good."

Some suggest that Renhe should give away tickets to nearby schools and companies and invest in better marketing campaigns. This is easier said than done. But, at the moment, Luis Garcia's side have far graver problems to confront. 

In a tedious encounter of little goalmouth action, the hosts surrendered an early lead before succumbing to a bitterly disappointing 2-1 defeat to equally struggling CFFC, extending their winless run to 11 games. More than anything, it was the lack of composure that was most troubling once a smart finish from Dong Xuesheng had sent CFFC on their way to a crucial win in the battle to stay in the Chinese Super League.

It was CFFC's first away victory in five months, gratefully received even if the performance was not dazzling. For Renhe, it was another devastating blow which left them firmly rooted to the foot of the standing and six points from safety. The odds seem increasingly insurmountable and time is running out. With only seven games remaining and defeats piling up, their hopes of conjuring a Houdini act are fading. A club who defied their detractors by finishing 8th last season may finally have reached the point of no return as far as their top-light future is concerned.

"Our team deserved a better result as we created enough on the night, but we haven't got the rewards our performance deserved," said Garcia, smiling ruefully. "The players just need to be more clinical."

It might not have promised much beforehand but Renhe started with purpose and conviction and were a goal up just before the half-hour mark as a corner found the unmarked Augusto Fernandez, who astutely fired the ball past a stunned Chi Wenyi in the CFFC goal.

Xie Feng's men, easily flustered at the best of times, were rocked and for a short while looked as though they were uncertain how to respond. But while their defense was out of form, their front line certainly wasn't and Lavezzi quickly brought the scores level through a penalty after Mascherano had been fouled inside the penalty area.

Not that Renhe took it lying down. Makhete Diop missed a couple of half-chances, while Zhu Baojie continued to test a still-shaky CFFC backline. Renhe were still slightly the better team after half-time but as Garcia said that did not translate into any real openings. And CFFC duly reaped the rewards as they turned the game on its head late on with a thrilling counter-attacking goal after an extraordinary combination between Dong Xuesheng and Fernando.

By now there were even more empty seats, although a small section of the home crowd made an admirable attempt to lift their team with their chants echoing around the sparsely-occupied arena. That sudden, surprise backing was nearly rewarded with a dramatic last-gasp equalizer but the luckless Diop saw his goal cruelly ruled out for offside.

Garcia admitted he was left distraught following their latest setback. "Once again, Lady Luck was not on our side, but it doesn't matter..." His voice trailed off as he fought back his emotions, having just witnessed his team fall short of obtaining at least a point.

It has been such a miserable season for Renhe, delivering just three wins and 19 goals—the lowest-scoring team so far this campaign—it is tempting to think finally having relegation confirmed may not be a bad thing.

However, the 45-year-old Spanish tactician, who masterminded Renhe's galvanizing CSL promotion back in 2017, tried to finish on a defiant note. "We have to continue to fight," he said. "We have to believe that something will change. As long as there is hope, we won't give up."

Garcia's valorous defiance was shared by Fernandez, who called on his teammates to take inspiration from his former club Celta Vigo's 2012-13 La Liga campaign when they miraculously overwhelmed Espanyol 1-0 and saw all the other results fall their way to beat the drop on the final day of that season.

"At the time, we had a 96% chance of being relegated when there were only three games to go, but we managed to avoid relegation at the last minute of the last game," Fernandez recalled. "Now, we need to play to our full potential to achieve the results we want during the remaining seven games."

"I firmly believe our team still have a chance to survive."