Levante, who had a poor record, needed a scapegoat. Coach Lucas' resignation was immediately approved, and Levante announced Rubi as Levante's firefighting coach the next day.
The 45-year-old Rubi served as an assistant coach at Barcelona in the 2013-14 season. He coached Valladolid in the Spanish Second Division last season and achieved very good results. Unfortunately, the team ended up in the play-off semi-finals.
Judging from his resume, Rubi is a very suitable coach for the middle and lower reaches of La Liga, and he is definitely not just a firefighting coach.
After the first two games, the Spaniards had already figured out the details of Levante. They had defeated their opponents in the league and their morale was high. They were very sure to advance in the third game.
But now that Levante has a new coach, they don't understand the team's style of play, morale, or even the lineup. It's like playing against a new opponent.
When they meet on a narrow road, who can win and who will advance becomes blurry again.
The second leg of the fourth round of the Copa del Rey was played at the El Prat Stadium, the home stadium of Espanyol.
Before the game, Levante's new head coach Rubi made his first press conference appearance.
Regarding this King's Cup game, Ruby said: "Our current league ranking is very poor, and relegation is our most important task this season. Of course, this does not mean that the King's Cup is not important. If we can win the King's Cup, we will win the King's Cup."
Team morale will be greatly improved.”
Regarding the opponent Espanyol, Rubi said: "Espanyol is a strong team and their recent form is also very good. It is very difficult to play against Espanyol, but our goal at El Prat Stadium is to win.
, and then advance.”
Regarding the Levante team, Rubi said: "Levante is a very strong team. They can often defeat giants like Atletico Madrid, Barcelona and Real Madrid. I am very proud to be able to coach this team.
I believe the team will achieve good results at the end of the season."
Regarding the team's lineup and style of play, Ruby said: "I will not stick to one formation and style of play. We will make subtle changes in the formation in every game. As long as it is beneficial to the team, we will continue to do so.
Yes, we need to be more flexible in our formation. The starting lineup has not been determined yet, so don't worry, you will definitely know before the game."
Espanyol head coach Sergio Gonzalez was very cautious. He said that in the past two games against Levante, Espanyol played very well and achieved the goal in both games, but this time is different.
, this is a game that determines the outcome. One mistake may lead to losing the entire game. Levante has a new coach and their morale style is uncertain. We must remain cautiously optimistic.
Naturally, Sergio cannot be too modest and destroy his own morale. He said that Zhao Yang's away goal was very important. He gave the Spaniard the initiative in the game. This is also the Spaniard's biggest advantage in this game.
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Espanyol is the first team to play the second leg of the fourth round of the Copa del Rey, and they will also kick off at the same time as Deportivo La Coruña and Sporting Gijon.
Although it was a game that determined promotion, head coach Sergio still did not fully use the league lineup. The goalkeeper came on as substitute Baldi, and the striker continued to practice the combination of Zhao Yang, Moreno and Caicedo.
Levante's starting lineup is also different from the previous league and cup games. Obviously, Ruby also used this game to practice formation play.
But no matter what kind of lineup Ruby plays, he still wants to win. This is Ruby's first game. If he can win against a strong team like Espanyol, Ruby's prestige and persuasion in the team will
The strength immediately increased.
After the game started, the Espanyol team did not take the initiative to attack because they had the advantage of away goals. Instead, they fought hard in the midfield and waited for Levante to attack.
Although Levante suffered a heavy defeat against Espanyol in the last game, after the coaching change, the players were in good spirits and ran very actively, and several new players had a stronger desire to perform.
In the 5th minute of the game, Levante created a shooting opportunity.
David Navarro took the ball and passed it to the core of the team, Reuven. Reuven stopped smartly, knocked his heel, and passed the ball to forward Davis for a one-on-one goal.
Davis didn't seem to realize that he ran a little slower. When he was shooting, he was chased by defender Alvaro and interfered. The ball had no power and was confiscated by goalkeeper Baldi.
Two minutes later, the Espanyol team also launched a counterattack. Moreno quickly advanced on the wing and was strongly intercepted by his opponent in the center.
Moreno's pass to Zhao Yang was also cut off.
Moreno could only pass back to Diop and reorganize the attack.
In this way, the speed of counterattack is reduced.
Without speed, there is no difference between counterattacking and positional warfare.
Judging from this counterattack, Levante's new coach Rubi watched the Spaniard's huge victory over Levante and made targeted arrangements.
Ruby is the former assistant coach of Barcelona and is very familiar with the 4-3-3 formation. Naturally, he also knows the disadvantages of the 4-3-3 formation.
However, the Spaniards are not in a hurry. They do not rely on the 433 formation, but on quick counterattacks. They have the initiative and are not afraid that Levante will not attack.
Levante's new coach took office and changed his style of play. The morale of the players has improved. They all want to perform in front of the new coach, but they don't understand the tactics well enough and often make mistakes. This also gives the Spaniard more opportunities to counterattack.
In the 15th minute of the game, Levante made a mistake in the frontcourt and the ball was shoveled forward by the central defender and passed to midfielder Diop.
Diop passed the ball directly to Zhao Yang, who dribbled the ball straight into Levante's penalty area.
Zhao Yang made a wide range of passes and seemed not to prepare to pass the ball, but wanted to single out two central defenders and a defensive midfielder.
Seeing Zhao Yang getting closer and closer to the penalty area, Levante's central defender Fedal finally lost his patience and stepped forward early, preparing to intercept the ball with the midfielder.
Zhao Yang suddenly made a diagonal pass and passed the ball to Caicedo, who moved laterally.
Levante's center back and defensive midfielder were all focused on Zhao Yang, and did not notice Caicedo moving sideways, as if the full back hadn't caught up yet.
Midfielder Victor quickly went over to defend Caicedo.
At this time, Zhao Yang suddenly walked to the side and crossed with Caicedo to change positions.
At this time, Levante's defense was a little messy, and Fedal didn't know whether to follow or not.
At this time, Caicedo suddenly handed the ball to Zhao Yang.
Zhao Yang took a step forward, adjusted his stance, and shot with a blast.
Zhao Yang's shot was so powerful and heavy that it went straight to the near corner of the goal like a cannonball.
This shot was from a very awkward angle, and it hit the near corner. Goalkeeper Martinez was originally defending in the middle, but he had no time and could only watch the ball go into the net.