As one of the greatest players of all time, Lionel Messi is used to living in the spotlight. But the Barcelona star may find himself left in the shadow in Saturday's Catalan Derby against Espanyol on Saturday.
Instead, all eyes - at least in the Far East - will be on Espanyol striker Wu Lei, who is in line to start at the Camp Nou on Saturday.
The club, owned by Chinese businessman Chen Yansheng, moved to sign him from Chinese Super League side Shanghai SIPG in January and the impact of the 27-year-old off the pitch has been quite extraordinary.
Espanyol revealed its social media following has grown by nearly half a million in China and said news of Wu's signing reached more than 350 million people in China through local media.
This wasn't merely a marketing ploy, though. He was the league's top Chinese scorer for five straight seasons.
After being made to wait for his debut by coach Rubi, Lei finally made his first La Liga appearance after coming on as a late substitute in a 3-1 win at Villarreal in January.
But it wasn't just the significance of the result that was a cause of celebration; more than 40 million television viewers in China tuned in to watch their countryman make his La Liga bow. And he soon gave them something to celebrate, scoring his first goal for the club in the 3-1 win over Real Valladolid.
With a big audience set to tune in again for this weekend's derby, it will be down to Wu to cause a shock against Barcelona. That could be a tall order though, considering that Ernesto Valverde's men have dominated this fixture for the best part of a decade, winning all 11 of the last meetings between the two sides.
Barcelona vs Espanyol channel
Fans in China can watch the game on QQ Sports Live and PPTV Sport China.
The match will not be televised in the UK due to blackout rules regarding 3pm kick-offs, but you can follow all the action with Standard Sport's LIVE blog.
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