During the UEFA Europa League second qualifying round first leg, RCD Espanyol's Chinese forward Wu Lei substituted Esteban Granero nine minutes into the start of the second half, accomplishing his debut in the European topflight league at Estadi Cornellà-El Prat in Barcelona on Thursday night.

RCD Espanyol's Ferreyra and Borja Iglesias each scored a double during the 49th to 68th minute of the match, with Wu making an indirect assist for the fourth one. RCD Espanyol beat Stjarnan 4-0.

Espanyol is returning to Europe for the first time in 12 years after its last La Liga season in which Wu was the meritorious statesman.

Wu returned to Espanyol after two months of rest due to a shoulder injury. He first appeared in a friendly with French Ligue 2 side RC Lens on July 20, in which he won a penalty for his team and gave Espanyol a 3-1 victory.

Before Wu, there were more than a dozen Chinese players in European topflight leagues. 

The first one was Jia Xiuquan, the head coach of China national women's football team in the FIFA Women's World Cup in France. 

He used to play for Partizan Belgrade of Serbia and joined the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 1988-1989, the canceled version of the UEFA Europa League.

In 2003, Sun Jihai of Manchester City played full in a UEFA Cup qualification game, another former version of the UEFA Europa League.

Sun Xiang of Eindhoven was the first Chinese player to participate in the UEFA Champions League knockout stage. He played in the starting line-up against Arsenal at the last of 16, playing the full match in a draw.

The only Chinese scorer on the European battlefield was Wang Chu. He played for Jeunesse Esch of Luxembourg and scored UEFA Europa League first qualifying round match in 2013.

(Cover photo via VCG, designed by Yin Yating)