After returning to Auxerre, Zhang Kuang immediately collected his bag and suitcase from the team's logistics staff, then drove his Ferrari sports car back to Paris.
Zhang Kuang's five goals in two games had set East Asia and Southeast Asia ablaze the moment last night's match ended. Explosive forwards like this were rare among Asian players; before Son Heung-min emerged, there were virtually none, especially in Europe's top five leagues.
So it was easy to imagine how much impact Zhang Kuang's performances had across East Asia and Southeast Asia.
Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Tokyo, Seoul, Taipei-the football communities in these places had completely exploded after his five goals in two matches.
Starting with Hong Kong.
On Hong Kong's largest football forum, Ball Talk Forum, the moderators had pinned a thread titled "Auxerre's Chinese forward Zhang Kuang scores braces in consecutive Ligue 1 matches, leads scoring chart with five goals." It already had over two thousand replies.
"What a goal! That chipped finish when he was through one-on-one for the second goal-ridiculously cool!"
"A hat trick in his first game, a brace in his second, plus two straight MVP awards. You might not even manage those stats in Football Manager."
"Well done, mainland lad! I admit I wrote him off at first. I was wrong. I'll own it."
"His celebration is so stylish. Siu-now I do it every time I score."
"Does anyone know his background? Why had I never heard his name before?"
Helpful users soon dug up Zhang Kuang's history-expelled from the National Youth Team, his father killed in a car accident, banned for five years, venturing alone to France for trials, a hat trick on his debut.
The legendary quality of his story was even more astounding than his scoring stats.
"Even a scriptwriter wouldn't dare write this."
"If this were a movie, I'd say it was too exaggerated. But reality is even more exaggerated than the movies."
"So he won't return to the national team? That Weibo post of his sounded pretty final."
"Return for what? His dad died because of that National Youth Team incident. I wouldn't go back either."
"..."
Singapore.
The Lion City Football Discussion Forum was usually not particularly active. After all, Singapore's football atmosphere fell far short of Europe's and South America's. But tonight, the forum's server had started lagging.
An administrator hurriedly posted an announcement: "Due to a surge in traffic, the forum may respond slowly. Please be patient."
The comments were already flooded with discussion of Zhang Kuang.
"This Chinese kid is the real deal. Five goals in two Ligue 1 matches is no joke."
"His movement is a bit like Inzaghi's, his shooting is like Batistuta's, and his heading is like Cristiano Ronaldo's. How on earth did he train all that?"
"Did anyone notice his physical strength in challenges? He knocked Nice's two defensive midfielders all over the place. That simply doesn't look like an Asian player's physique."
"An Asian player? His physique is first-rate even among European players. I've seen the physical test results Auxerre posted for him. His strength in challenges is top-tier in Ligue 1."
"Anyone watching over in Malaysia? I heard Johor DT's owner has already been making inquiries about him."
"Huh? Johor? Are you serious? He's playing in Ligue 1. Why would he go to Malaysia?"
"It's not illegal to ask. What if?"
"..."
Fans from Malaysia and Indonesia also joined the discussion.
Indonesia's largest sports outlet, , published a lengthy article just two hours after the match, titled "Zhang Kuang: From a ban to conquering Ligue 1, a Chinese teenager's football epic."
The article traced Zhang Kuang's history in detail, from a domestic football school to the U20 training camp, from being expelled for fighting to his father's death in a car accident, from the desperate circumstances of a five-year ban to venturing alone to France, from trials to a debut hat trick, and then to today's braces in consecutive matches.
The article's final passage read:
"Asian football has had many outstanding forwards throughout its history. South Korea's Cha Bum-kun, Japan's Yasuhiko Okudera, Iran's Ali Daei, Saudi Arabia's Majed Abdullah-they all left their names in European football.
But never has an Asian forward conquered Europe in this fashion at eighteen. Zhang Kuang is not just China's pride. He is the pride of all Asia."
The article was shared tens of thousands of times in Indonesia, with the comments uniformly filled with "AyoZhang" (Come on, Zhang) and "Asiabangkit" (Asia rises).
In Japan, the tone of the discussion was much more complicated.
Japanese fans had conflicting feelings about Zhang Kuang-on one hand, Asia had produced a forward who could slaughter all before him in the top five leagues, and as Asians, they were naturally pleased; on the other, this player was Chinese, and the rivalry between Chinese and Japanese football went back a long way.
"Five goals in two matches is truly incredible. As a fellow Asian, I feel proud."
"His heading reminds me of Cristiano Ronaldo. That leaping ability is astonishing."
"Can't the China National Team call him back? He said he wouldn't go back again."
"The China Football Association drove him out, didn't it? They brought it on themselves."
"South Korea's Park Chu-young works very hard too, but Zhang Kuang's destructive power is on another level."
"That's going too far. Park Chu-young has genuinely delivered at Monaco. Zhang Kuang has only played two matches."
"Five goals in two matches. How many matches did Park Chu-young need to score five at Monaco?"
"..."
Interestingly, when Japanese fans discussed Zhang Kuang, they inevitably compared him with South Korean player Park Chu-young. The latter played for Monaco and was likewise an Asian forward in Ligue 1, but Park Chu-young had scored only six goals so far this season, across nineteen matches.
Zhang Kuang had needed only two matches to nearly catch him.
On South Korean fan forums, the mood was even more delicate.
South Korean football had a strong sense of pride. They had players such as Park Ji-sung, Lee Young-pyo, and Cha Du-ri who had established themselves in Europe's top five leagues, and top Asian stars like Park Ji-sung, who played for Manchester United. But Park Ji-sung was a midfielder, not a forward.
Up front, South Korea had always lacked someone who could score consistently in Europe's top leagues.
And Zhang Kuang's emergence made South Korean fans feel threatened.
"Five goals in two games is ridiculous. Is Ligue 1 defending really that bad?"
"His shooting power looks stronger than that of any player in our country."
"Park Chu-young has six goals in nineteen matches at Monaco. This player has five in two. Twenty goals by the end of the season isn't impossible, is it?"
"Is Asia's best forward Chinese now?"
"We need a forward like that too. Son Heung-min is still young. Let's look forward to what he can do."
"Son Heung-min hasn't even established himself at Hamburg yet. He's not someone to compare with him right now."
"..."
When Son Heung-min came up, the South Korean fans' tone noticeably softened. The eighteen-year-old Son Heung-min was indeed already playing at Hamburg, but he was still only a rotation player and had not produced explosive stats like Zhang Kuang's.
South Korean fans knew in their hearts-if Son Heung-min could not break through soon, the position of Asia's number one forward could very well be claimed by this Chinese player.
The discussions in Taiwan carried an even more complicated local flavor.
On PTT's football board, posts about Zhang Kuang had practically taken over.
"Isn't this mainlander way too good? Five goals in two matches? Is it that easy to farm goals in Ligue 1?"
"That volley of his genuinely left me dumbfounded. He smashed it before it even touched the ground. The ball was insanely fast."
"I heard the mainland Football Association banned him for five years. No wonder he went abroad to play."
"Is he mixed-race? That physical toughness doesn't look purely Asian."
"He looks a bit like Kaká in photos. Unbelievably handsome."
"The point is, he's only eighteen. Five goals in two Ligue 1 games at eighteen-what kind of monster is this?"
"So is he going to become a French citizen?"
"Don't think so? He said on his own Weibo that he wouldn't return to the national team, but he didn't say he would change his nationality."
"It's fine if he doesn't. So what if he's Chinese? Football knows no borders."
"..."