- China forward had spent 71 days out of the starting line-up but marks recall with 10th goal for Spanish side
- Matches last season’s tally as club look to Europa League tie against Chinese-owned English Premier League side Wolves
Chinese international footballer Wu Lei scored for his Spanish club Espanyol in their La Liga game against Sevilla on Sunday night.
The forward had returned to the starting 11 after 71 days and Wu marked his recall to the starting line-up with a goal. He was an unused substitute in the club's last game against Mallorca and was not even included in the match-day squad for the previous game against Granada.
Wu had not been in the starting line-up since December 7, with new signing Raul de Tomas preferred. With De Tomas injured, Wu returned to score his 10th goal since moving to Spain last January and his third in the league this season.
All of them have come against teams in the top five of the table, including first place Barcelona and third place Getafe. He also scored three league goals last season.
Wu Lei scored his 3rd league goal of the season against Sevilla and took a 2:1 lead for Espanyol. His 1st away goal in La Liga. Due to the injury of RaUl de TomAs, Wu Lei started for Espanyol for the first time since December and he caught the chance. FT: Sevilla 2:2 Espanyol pic.twitter.com/9c8jOl6iG7
" Titan Sports Plus (@titan_plus) February 16, 2020
After Lucas Ocampos opened the scoring for the hosts in the 15th minute, Espanyol's Adri Embarba equalised 20 minutes later to leave the score 1-1 at the interval.
Wu then put the La Liga strugglers ahead five minutes into the second half after latching on to a Jonathan Calleri flick on and slotting home.
Wu Lei delights Chinese fans with historic Barcelona goal
His side went down to 10 men after teammate Victor Sanchez was sent off for his second booking. Wu was then taken off by manager Abelardo. "He was a little tired and had a yellow card," his coach said of the decision.
Espanyol could not hold on to their lead as former Liverpool striker and AC Milan Suso scored an equaliser with 10 minutes to go.
"Wu Lei played a very good game. This position he played today is not easy for him, but he understands the team's playing. He is very active," Abelardo said.
⚽️ Getafe⚽️ Barca⚽️ Sevilla FCWu Lei has scored against 3 of the top 5 in #LaLigaSantander this season! #SevillaFCEspanyol pic.twitter.com/SLMuEdwE2i
" LaLiga English (@LaLigaEN) February 16, 2020
Espanyol's next game is against Chinese owned Wolves in the Europa League on Thursday. That should mean a lot of interest in the mainland, where reports noted that streaming sites for the Espanyol game went down after Wu's goal on Sunday night.
The game marked Wu's 35th appearance in La Liga, moving him up above former Everton player Li Tie for appearances made by Chinese players in Europe's top five leagues. Top is Sun Jihai who played 123 times for Manchester City in the English Premier League.
Shao Jiayi played 67 games in the German Bundesliga with 1860 Munich and Energie Cottbus, while Yang Chen made 65 appearances in the same league with Eintracht Frankfurt.
In the match vs Sevilla (2:2), Wu Lei scored his 6th La Liga goal and equaled goal-scoring record last season (3 goals) and becomes the 2nd Chinese player scoring more than 5 goals in 'big 5' leagues. The first is Yang Chen, who scored 16 Bundesliga goals for Eintracht Frankfurt. pic.twitter.com/UkAPGCskjT
" Titan Sports Plus (@titan_plus) February 16, 2020
Wu, only the second Chinese player to reach five goals in a big five league, still has some way to go to best Yang's 16 goals in the German top flight.
While Wu is thriving in Spain, Lin Liangming, the 22-year-old was the first Chinese player to be signed by Real Madrid back in 2015, is set to return to China. He has been training with Rafael Benitez's Dalian Pro, formerly known as Dalian Yifang.
Copyright (c) 2020. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
