In a Copa del Rey match that ended in the early hours of this morning, espanyol eliminated La Liga side Ponferradina 3-1 through a penalty shootout to advance to the round of 16. In this battle, Wu Lei relied on 30 minutes of extra time, played a total of 36 minutes, did not score, and the whole team celebrated after the game was isolated for a while.
Last weekend in La Liga, Wu Lei once again did not play a minute, which was his first experience since joining Espanyol in four consecutive la Liga rounds. At present, Wu Lei has no place in the team, and coach Moreno does not trust him very much and has begun to be reluctant to give him a chance to play.
In the previous two rounds of the Copa del Rey, Wu Lei started consecutively, sent an assist against Solares, scored a goal against Christo Athletic, and finally broke the 342 consecutive days of club goal drought. At present, Wu Lei has made 9 appearances in the Copa del Rey, starting all of them, scoring 5 goals and giving 2 assists.
In the third round of the Copa del Rey, Espanyol played away against La Liga side Ponferradina, Wu Lei unexpectedly did not get a starting opportunity, and coach Moreno let Thomas, Puado and Molon partner the forward trident.
In the 4th minute of the first half, espanyol relied on Pedrosa's goal to make a fantastic start 1-0, followed by Ponferradina frantically counterattacked, the Spaniard mainly defended and counterattacked, and the back line was besieged for most of the second half.
It was not until the 86th minute that Wu Lei finally came off the bench and the game was nearly over. Wu Lei played just one minute, the Spaniard was awarded a penalty for a foul in the penalty area, and then Ponferradina seized the opportunity to pull the score to a 1-1 draw, and the game went into extra time.
Espanyol did not reverse the score in 30 minutes of extra time, Wu Lei sent a wonderful pass in the 115th minute, and his teammates directly wasted a one-handed opportunity. In the end, the Spaniards relied on the outstanding performance of goalkeeper Diego López in the penalty shootout to win 3-1 early. Therefore, the players behind did not have the opportunity to take the penalty, including Wu Lei, who eliminated the opponent 4-2 on aggregate and advanced to the next round.
After the thrilling promotion, the Espanyol players on the field hugged together, only Wu Lei stood next to him, and when he walked past, his teammates scattered, and Wu Lei was suspected of being isolated. The domestic fans who stayed up late to watch the game said bluntly: "I feel that these teammates isolate Wu Lei or discriminate against him, basically no one pays attention to him, what is the meaning of this ball, change the place."