Wu Lei, a Chinese player who returned to Barcelona after the round of 12 matches with Japan and Vietnam, finally got a substitute opportunity at the club in the early morning of this morning Beijing time.
In the previous 7 La Liga matches for Espanyol, Although Wu Lei was on the bench list, he did not get the opportunity to play. It was also the longest time he had played in the league without a ball, aside from injuries.
Espanyol lost 1–2 away to Athletic Bilbao in this round. In the 75th minute of the match, Wu Lei replaced the team's new striker Villena, when espanyol fell behind 1-2.
It was Villena's debut goal at Espanyol that helped the team take the lead away from home in the opening 2 minutes. But Athletic Bilbao equalised in the 4th minute by Sanchet and then backed up in the 15th minute.
The reason why Wu Lei was able to get the opportunity to play and get a relatively short game time was mainly related to the suspension of the Spaniard's main center De Thomas with a red card. De Tomas, who has scored 12 goals this season, is not only the top scorer in Espanyol, but also the second highest in la Liga top scorers. His absence did affect the Spaniard's attacking power in the front line of this game.
And Wu Lei, who returned to the forward position and no longer played on the right wingback, was also a decent performance, showing good form in a limited time, and also used a breakthrough to create a yellow card for the opposing player.
However, with the return of De Thomas in the next round, I don't know if Wu Lei will have the opportunity to play consecutively and whether he can continue to play the forward position he is best at.
After losing this game, the Spaniards not only suffered two consecutive defeats, but also had four wins, 1 draw and 3 losses in the league. Fortunately, the team's record in the first half of the season is OK, and they are still 9 points higher than the relegation zone.
In the next round, espanyol will face a derby match against their city rival Barcelona. Barcelona have just beaten last season's champions Atletico Madrid 4-2 after signing up in the winter, and morale is high.
As for Wu Lei, the Catalan derby is reminiscent of the wonderful goal he scored against Barca that year ago. But his situation in the Spaniards is now very different. In total, La Liga has only made 13 appearances this season, only 3 starts, and the data is also zero goals and zero assists.
With the closure of the European winter transfer window, Wu Lei has temporarily lost the possibility of transferring to other European clubs to seek more playing opportunities. If you want to leave Espanyol now, the only option is to return home, and the transfer window for the new season of the Chinese Super League will continue until April. And according to the previous agreement, Wu Lei could only return to the former owner's Shanghai seaport.
However, from the current situation, the possibility of him leaving Espanyol in the middle of the season to return to the Chinese Super League is very small.