The reporter group of this newspaper reported that in the early morning of March 4, Beijing time, in the 24th round of the Swiss Super League grasshopper vs Lugano match, Li Lei started and played the whole game, which was the first time he started after staying in The Ocean. In the end, grasshoppers lost 1-2 at home to their opponents, and after the game, Li Lei posted on his personal social media to encourage himself: The road is still very long, continue to work hard. Don't forget to look up and look forward when it's hard, come on!
In this game, grasshoppers arranged the usual 343 formation, after playing 2 league games off the bench, coach Contini gave Li Lei a chance to start, but his position was left centre-back, with captain Margretel and right center-back Aligoni, as for the left wingback, Contini arranged for The Golden Oil Schmidt to play.
Li Lei is good at left-back, in addition, the left-wing defender in the three-centre-back system, he also plays a lot, and for the left center-back position, he is not unfamiliar.
At the beginning of 2015, the 23-year-old Li Lei joined Guoan from Jianye, at that time, he was good at left-back positions such as Zhang Xinxin, Zhao Hejing, Zhou Ting could also play, Li Lei wanted to play, only to play other positions.
On March 17 of that year, in the third round of the AFC Champions League group stage, Guoan played 2-0 at home in Urawa, in the 43rd minute, Zhao Hejing was injured, and coach Manzano let Li Lei play, "That was my first game for Guoan, and it was also my first time playing in the AFC Champions League, and I was excited and nervous. There were a lot of injuries in the team at that time, and I actually played at left centre-back. Li Lei later recalled.
In the last round of the group stage 1-1 away to Suwon, due to the suspension of Lang Zheng, Lei Tenglong, Jin Pengxiang and did not follow the team, Xu Yunlong was injured and did not have a good Liso, Manzano lined up a defensive line composed of 4 full-backs, Li Lei and Zhou Ting played center-back. For Li Lei's performance, Manzano is very satisfied.
Later, Li Lei gradually sat in the main position of left-back in Guoan, as for the left center-back, it was only occasional, and he did not expect that Liu Yang started for the first time and actually became Feng Woman again.
Against Lugano, the grasshoppers had a slight advantage in the field, but the score was 0-2 behind, although Sene pulled back a goal in the 77th minute, but the team still lost 1-2, and currently ranks third from the bottom of the Swiss Super 10 teams, although nine points ahead of the relegation zone, but there are still 12 rounds left in the game.
As for Li Lei, he contributed 1 clearance, 1 blocking, 2 interceptions, and 1 steal; in addition, 3 ground confrontations were successful, 8 times to compete for the top 4 times, and in terms of passing, Li Lei had 56 passes and 45 successful passes, including 1 key pass, in addition, 9 long passes, 5 successful passes, 3 crosses and 1 success.
It should be said that the 2 goals conceded and Li Lei are not very much related, especially the second goal conceded, he was already in place at that time, sealing the best shooting angle, but the goalkeeper Morella saved the ball and lost the ball. Sofascore gave Li Lei 6.8 points, and like Japanese player Jun Kawabe, who played in the front, he was the lowest of the 3 center-backs, the other 2 were 6.9 points, and in the starting 11, they were only higher than 4 teammates.
The outside world believes that Li Lei's low score in this game is that he conceded too many goals, losing 13 times in 68 touches, which is the most of the 3 centre-backs.
The first start and played the whole game, it should be said that Li Lei is integrating into the grasshopper, after all, 2 months ago, he flew from China to Switzerland, although he had played several warm-up games before, but suffered injuries in the middle, until the early morning of February 6, Beijing time, he made his debut, in the 77th minute, he came off the bench, at that time, the team fell behind Zurich 0-2, and in the end, the grasshoppers lost 0-3, Li Lei scored 6.8 points.
Counting the match against Lugano, Li Lei has now played 3 official games for grasshoppers, lost 2 games, the only win is away to 2-0 Lausanne, Li Lei replaced Schmidt in the 65th minute, in the 67th minute, he assisted Momo, who also came off the bench, to score the second goal to seal the win, after the game, Li Lei scored 7 points.
For Liu Yang, Li Lei has a "plan", that is, before April is the grinding period, "through training to improve their confrontation, physical fitness, body, consciousness, rhythm." After April, "slowly enter the normal rotation of the team, including striving to become the main force or the fringe main force." Li Lei said he knew the process would not be easy, but he said he would try to do it, "until I achieve this goal, even if I walk a little slower." ”
It is worth mentioning that Li Lei was selected for the national football team in the round of 12 in March, after he missed the February match against Japan and Vietnam due to injury, which is a return.
Originally, according to the requirements of the Football Association's training notice, including Li Lei, 6 overseas international footballers should arrive in the United Arab Emirates and meet the national football team on the 17th, but considering that the national football team has not been eligible for the World Cup, plus Li Lei has the opportunity to play in grasshoppers, the coaching staff has a high probability of giving him a green light and allowing him to go to the United Arab Emirates after playing the home match against Basel on the 20th.