Chinese soccer fans got an early morning adrenaline rush on Sunday after hearing the news that Espanyol's Chinese striker Wu Lei scored a late equalizer against Barcelona in a 2:2 Catalane derby and became the first Chinese to score against Barcelona, one of the world's elite soccer clubs.   

With the game kicking off at 4:00 am Beijing time, most fans didn't see the live broadcast of Wu's crucial goal as he came off the bench to tie the score, after chasing down a pass and shooting from a tight right angle at close range. 

By mid-morning Sunday the online topic "Wu Lei netted against Barca," had received more than 250 million views and spurred more than 640,000 discussions to become one of the top five topics on Sina Weibo.

Many netizens hailed Wu as China's future hope, who not only saved his current team from relegation but would help China's national team return to the World Cup after 18 years away. 

Li Tie, the newly appointed head coach of the Chinese' national team, praised Wu's performance as "brilliant," at a Sunday morning press conference in Beijing.

As the only Chinese footballer playing in the world's top league, Wu's performance has given China's soccer program credibility, said Li. 

"I hope Wu could keep his nice form and keep pushing himself," said Li, a former player for English Premier League Everton. 

Wu, 28, posted six match-day pictures on his Weibo account after the match, saying, "What a lovely night. A good start to a brand new year."

This post received 80,000 likes and 5,200 comments within four hours. Many called him "King of soccer" in Catalonia for his "heroic performance."

"Defenders were totally beaten by Wu. I hope he can score a goal against Real Madrid as well," remarked a netizen under Wu's Weibo post.

"What a wonderful new year's gift. Chinese soccer needs more players like Wu Lei," wrote another. 

Ma Dexing, a Beijing-based soccer commentator, told the Global Times on Sunday that Wu proves that Chinese soccer talents can play abroad for higher level European teams.

"Chinese players can only improve by challenging themselves in a highly-competitive stage rather than earning money and trophies with big domestic clubs," said Ma, suggesting Wu has set a good example for other young soccer players.

Wu is the all-time top goal scorer for Shanghai SIPG with 120 goals in the Chinese Super League (CSL), Asian Champion's League and domestic cups.

He is also the second all-time top goal scorer in CSL history with 102 goals, according to transfermarket.com.

Wu moved to La Liga club Espanyol in January 2019, after he helped Shanghai SIPG win CSL championship and being awarded a golden boot.  

Wu has scored five goals in La Liga as of now, ranking him second in all-time scoring for a Chinese player in the top five European leagues. He trails Yang Chen, who played for Bundesliga and scored 16 goals for the Frankfurt team during his career, according to China's soccer data site Soda Soccer.