In a warm-up match that ended in the early morning of January 16, Beijing time, the Swiss league powerhouse Grasshoppers lost 2-5 to the Bernese youth team. Li Lei, a Chinese player who plays for the Grasshoppers, once again made his debut and played half-time.
As the Swiss league is still in the winter break, the Grasshoppers have been in shape through warm-up games recently. In the previous game, they drew 2-2 with the second-tier team Weir, and Li Lei, wearing the No. 4 shirt, made his debut, but was replaced at half-time.
And this game to meet the Bernese youth team, which participated in the Champions League this season, Li Lei once again won the trust of the manager to start. In the opening two minutes, the Bernese youngster opened the scoring with a direct free kick. In the 27th minute, DeMuhaza's right-footed shot from the left side of the penalty area went into the far corner to help the Grasshoppers equalize. However, just nine minutes later, the Bernese youth changed the score to 2-1.
In the 41st minute, Li Lei made a low-level mistake when the Bern youth team's corner kick from the right was crossed and Li Lei nodded the ball in front of the penalty. Instead of topping out, he was topped with a high-altitude ball that went straight up and down. The Grasshoppers failed to protect the second point, and Lauper followed up with a powerful sweep to break the goal. After intermission, Li Lei was replaced again. In the end, the Grasshoppers lost to their opponents 2-5.
Judging from these two warm-up matches, Li Lei has been trusted by the coach to temporarily sit firmly in the main force. However, due to the lack of running in with his teammates, Li Lei still has some mistakes and areas that need to be improved. In any case, as a 29-year-old veteran, we still hope that Li Lei can show some excellent qualities of Chinese players in the European League during the trough of Chinese football.