Li Lei left the race last night. Photo/IC PHOTO
December 20, Switzerland Grasshopper Club officially announced the Beijing Guoan defender Li Lei next January to join the team's news. 29 Beijing Guoan and Shandong Taishan's "Beijing-Lu war" became Li Lei's Guoan farewell game, the team No. 4 has left the area that night, next year on January 4, went to Switzerland, to start a new journey.
In the farewell match, Li Lei, who wore the captain's armband, played the full 90 minutes. Photo/Xinhua News Agency
Beijing-Lu Battle, a 90-minute farewell battle
Li Lei, who wore the captain's armband, played the full 90 minutes in the battle with Shandong Taishan, but unlike so many previous games, this was Li Lei's farewell game for Guoan. In addition to his solid performance on the defensive end, Guoan's No. 4 showed his ability on the offensive end, with two crosses before the end of the first half and in the 84th minute creating a great threat. However, the Royal Forest Army failed to rewrite the scoreline, shaking hands with their opponents 1-1 and going winless in the second stage for 5 rounds.
After the game stood on the sidelines to accept the interview Li Lei red eyes: "I'm in Guoan 7 years, thanks to the fans for my support, today is my last game, everyone is quite hard, the champions forced to draw , you can say that I'm leaving the team with a relatively good result." Clad in green robes 7 years, Li Lei's biggest regret is that "7 years we only took the AFC Cup Championship once, has not won the Super League Championship. I hope to return to Guoan in the future, to help Guoan stand in the podium of the Chinese Super League". He also hopes that the young players of Guoan team can support the team.
Before leaving, Li Lei and his good brother Housen embraced each other and cried. Picture/IC PHOTO
Back to the locker room of Li Lei and all the high-five salute, but the parting is always reluctant to part, and good brother Housen embraced and cried to become the most sentimental scene before the opening of the new journey.
Li Lei bids farewell to head coach Bilic. Photo/IC PHOTO
Manager's blessing: he's fully capable of getting a foothold in Europe
Parting is not the only sadness, as Li Lei in his personal social platform of the deep farewell: "There are so many people in this world, how lucky I have a we." Guoan boss Bilic after the game specifically for the love of the blessing: "I especially like Li Lei, of course, I have more criticism of him. Although Li Lei has played very well, but I know he still has room to rise, I think he is one of the best players in China, fully capable of being based in Europe. In the team, I always ask Li Lei to do better. For Li Lei, he has already proven himself at Guoan and with the national team, and in this case it's a brave move that he's willing to step out of his comfort zone and go to Europe. As a Chinese, it's very difficult to go to Europe to play soccer. I wish him all the best."
According to the itinerary, Li Lei left Guangzhou on the 29th and returned home to pack. Next year, he will go to Shanghai on January 3 and take a flight to Switzerland on January 4 to report to Grasshopper Club.
