The club's goal drought was finally broken in 342 days, and Wu Lei scored the first goal of the new season

Reporter | Wei Qingchao

The 342-day club goal drought was finally broken, and Wu Lei once again surprised Chinese fans.

On December 15, 2021, Beijing time, in the second round of the Spanish King's Cup, Espanyol played away to La Liga B side Cristo Athletic. After conceding a goal first, the Spaniards finally completed the reversal, and the equalizer goal was scored by Wu Lei.

Just five minutes into the game, the home team gave espanyol a mavi, taking advantage of the set-piece opportunity in front of the field, and the striker Suardia grabbed the point with a hammer to break the goal, and Cristo Athletic took a 1-0 lead.

In the 12th minute, Moron's one-handed shot from the offside position was blocked, Wu Lei's follow-up shot was judged to be invalid, and the Spaniard missed the equalizer.

However, in the 46th minute of the game, the two still joined forces to contribute key goals, Mo long sent a precise outside instep cross on the side, and Wu Lei once again showed good running ability, rushing to the horse and rushing to score in front of the goal.

In the 49th minute, Wu Lei stepped forward to get a one-knife opportunity, but the opposing goalkeeper decisively attacked to defuse the danger; in the 58th minute, Wu Lei was replaced. In the final stages of the game, Cercy Gomez completed the sweep in the chaotic battle, and the Spaniard reversed the promotion.

The opponent is only a weak team from the lower leagues, but Wu Lei's goal is still significant - this is Wu Lei's first goal of the new season, and it also breaks his long-term goal drought. When the domestic Chinese Super League is full of sorrow, as the only Chinese player who stays in the west, Wu Lei's performance can more or less make domestic fans feel comforted.

However, from the perspective of the race process, Wu Lei's "world-class running position, community-level single knife" is the same as in the past, or people feel a little helpless. Although espanyol conceded goals at the beginning, the whole game had an overwhelming advantage, with only 4 shots on target from 21 feet in the whole game, and the ability of the front to seize the opportunity needs to be strengthened.

For Wu Lei, who is currently out of the main lineup and can only start in the cup, if he wants to strive for a higher tactical position, he must also improve efficiency, especially to improve the level of single knife, only the "one move" of running position to grab points is far from enough to get more competition opportunities.

After the game, Wu Lei gave the jersey to the Chinese audience at the scene to express his gratitude to the fans for coming from afar; Espanyol coach Moreno said in an interview: "Wu Lei did not reach 100% state, but he is eager to play. I think scoring goals will make him more acute. ”

Wu Lei gave the jersey to the Chinese audience

In addition, Wu Lei's journey to stay in the West is likely to no longer be lonely, and recent news from all parties confirmed that Beijing Guoan full-back Li Lei will start his career in the West. Li Lei may go to the Swiss Super Grasshoppers, although he has not been able to enter the five major leagues, but compared to the domestic arena, players can get more intense exercise.

It is a pity that Li Lei has passed the age of establishment, and domestic fans still prefer to see young players "go out". The three potential young players circled by the Football Association, Zhang Yuning, Guo Tianyu and Duan Liuyu, still have no accurate news of staying in the Ocean, Duan Liuyu was once exposed to possible joining Granada in La Liga, but then there was no follow-up.

Many European clubs have expressed interest, but proposed that Chinese players need to bring new sponsors, in other words, the ability of Chinese players is still not up to standard, and they need to "bring capital into the group".

At present, the second stage of the Chinese Super League has begun, but the problem of the club's general salary arrears is well known, and the poor management of the domestic league has increased the expectations of all parties for players to stay in the ocean.

There are very few teams in the Chinese Super League that do not owe wages, and Wu Lei's old club, Shanghai Haigang (formerly Shanghai SIPG), is one of them. In the just-concluded first round of the championship competition, Shanghai Haigang won 3-1, and Shandong Taishan, who also did not owe wages, beat Hebei 5-0 , the latter was on the verge of bankruptcy.

As expected, Shandong Taishan and Shanghai Haigang are competing for the Chinese Super League championship this season.