In the early hours after the first round of the Champions League group stage ended.
Highlights from all sixteen matches dominated the front pages of major football media outlets.
At Stamford Bridge, Diego Costa received Fàbregas's chipped pass and struck a volley.
At the Santiago Bernabéu, Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice.
At Parc des Princes, Ibrahimović unleashed a jaw-dropping long-range rocket.
At the Allianz Arena, Bayern Munich demonstrated what total domination looked like. Footage of goalkeeper Neuer standing on the halfway line overshadowed most of the goal highlights.
Among the second- and third-seeded teams.
The most talked-about match was not Roma versus Bayer Leverkusen.
It was Atlético Madrid versus Benfica!
Primeira Liga super-prodigy Sanches, making his Champions League debut at eighteen, breached Atlético Madrid's goalkeeping god Oblak at the Vicente Calderón Stadium!
In terms of sheer buzz.
Even if Bayer Leverkusen spent heavily to boost traffic, they could not push Leo Kang into the top ten trending searches.
Mainstream Chinese fans simply did not care much about the results of two relatively unpopular teams like Bayer Leverkusen and Roma.
After all, they were both just fodder for Barcelona to crush.
North Rhine.
Following Borussia Mönchengladbach's defeat at Etihad Stadium.
Leo Kang had become a European competition hero in the eyes of Bundesliga fans!
Bayer Leverkusen did not have particularly deep rivalries with the other clubs in the region.
They drank Veltins V+ beer!
And bought out every number 10 shirt in Bayer Leverkusen's online store!
For traffic, gossip media translated and aggressively spread Asian media's earlier reports that Leo Kang had secretly met with his Japanese girlfriend.
North Rhine fans were somewhat disappointed.
Why wasn't Leo Kang's girlfriend a German girl?
Bayer Leverkusen.
The sporting director's office.
The young assistant rushed in with a report in hand. "Director! Leo Kang's shirts