At the dawn of April 25th, with the 36th round of the Spanish Second Division soccer tournament coming to an end, Espanyol beat Las Palmas at home with an overwhelming 4:0, overtaking second-ranked Mallorca and consolidating their position as the league leader with a six-point advantage. However, the much-anticipated Chinese player Wu Lei spent the whole game in silence on the bench, a scene that aroused widespread concern and sighs from many domestic media and fans.
This game has been a record 20 consecutive rounds of Wu Lei not being able to start, and even from the bench, his performance has been quite limited, with only 2 goals and 2 assists so far in the entire season. You should know that this is only the West B league, even in his debut season in La Liga, he can contribute 3 goals, not to mention the last season in Barcelona's amazing performance. Currently, the Spaniards' forward line is firmly occupied by De Tomas, Embarba and Puado, and even on the bench, manager Moreno prefers to field youngsters Melendo and Di Mata rather than the soon-to-be 30-year-old Wu Lei.
In the face of such a predicament, the new Beijing News pointed out that although the Spaniards are getting closer and closer to the goal of returning to La Liga, but Wu Lei's situation has become precarious, and his position in the hearts of coaches and teammates is gradually being marginalized. It's hard to imagine that Wu Lei, who is struggling so much in Liga B, will have even slimmer chances in La Liga next season. If he can't get enough chances to play, then Wu Lei's situation in the national team will also become worrying.
Despite the unsatisfactory performance this season, Li Tie, the head coach of our national football team, is still keeping a close eye on Wu Lei's situation. It is reported that on the 30th of next month, the national football team will face Guam, the opponent of the 40th World Qualification Tournament, at home. At that time, Wu Lei is expected to return from Spain to support the national football team, which is also the first time Wu Lei returned to the motherland after a year and a half.
It is worth mentioning that as early as March this year, FIFA selected the top ten most deserving players to participate in the World Cup, and our player Wu Lei was included in the list along with Dutch center back Van Dijk and Welsh winger Bell. I hope this time Wu Lei's return will help the national soccer team get the ticket to the World Cup.
