Chapter 179 The last opponent before Christmas (1)
The match between Espanyol and Celta Vigo is the penultimate game before Christmas.
There are four strong dialogues in this round, which are battles between the top four teams in the standings and the top eight teams in the standings.
They are leader Barcelona versus seventh-ranked Deportivo La Coruna, second-ranked Real Madrid versus sixth-ranked Villarreal, fourth-ranked Espanyol versus fifth-ranked Celta Vigo, and third-ranked Spain
Atletico Madrid vs eighth-placed Bilbao.
Since there was a key match in the final round of the Champions League group midweek, the top three of the Western Premier League did not use all their energy and main players.
This also resulted in two upsets in this round.
Real Madrid was defeated by Villarreal by 1 goal, Barcelona was tied 2:2 by Deportivo La Coruña, and only Atletico Madrid defeated Athletic Bilbao 2:1 in the top three of the Western Super League.
The battle for the top four between Espanyol and Celta ended with the Spaniard winning.
After this round of competition, Atletico Madrid and Espanyol became the winners. Atletico Madrid surpassed Real Madrid in points, tied with Barcelona, and tied for the top spot; Atletico Madrid defeated Celta Vigo and consolidated its third place.
After the game, in addition to discussing Barcelona and Real Madrid and criticizing Real Madrid coach Benitez, the major media also praised the Spaniard and Zhao Yang.
"The darkest horse, the biggest surprise, the Spaniard has risen strongly and become the leader of the second group."
"Scoring 15 goals in 15 rounds, Zhao Yang beat Ronaldo, Suarez, Neymar and other superstars to rank first in the scorer list and became a veritable devil."
"There was a strong dialogue. The Spaniards, who were short of major generals, had the last laugh. Zhao Yang scored twice. Kerry spent the whole game. The Chinese genius showed his sharpness and had already revealed his superstar style."
"After the 15th round, the Spaniards were only 3 points away from the top spot. After the game, the Spaniard general talked about relegation as their goal. This is definitely pretending to be a pig and eating the tiger. It seems that their goal is not only a Champions League seat, but maybe even a place in the Champions League."
He is also coveting the throne of La Liga."
…
Although the Spaniard really has no intention of peeking at the La Liga crown, the media's comments made both the Spaniard players and fans feel happy.
It turns out that Espanyol is just a team in the middle and lower reaches, the kind of team that no one pays attention to. It is not even as good as a relegation team. During the relegation battle, it was hotly discussed by the media and fans.
Now, they have finally become the darlings of the media and fans, and are even potential championship contenders in the eyes of the media.
This feeling of vanity makes the Spaniards very satisfied from top to bottom.
There are even many Spaniard fans who hope that the Champions League match in midweek will be more intense. It is best if the top three players in the Spanish Super League are exhausted and short-handed, and there will be another upset in the final round, so that the Spaniards can hope to win the first place in history.
Once at the top of the standings.
The La Liga team played quite well in the Champions League match in midweek.
There were 5 teams participating in La Liga this season. In the end, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Barcelona all won the first place in the group, while Valencia and Sevilla won the third place in the group and will compete in the Europa League.
In the Premier League, only Manchester United was eliminated. Manchester City and Chelsea almost finished first in the group. Arsenal survived and ranked second in the group. Two Bundesliga teams qualified, Bayern and Wolfsburg both ranked first in the group, Borussia Monchengladbach and LeBron James
Vorkusen is out, and the latter will compete in the Europa League. Both Serie A teams Juventus and Roma qualified second in the group
The Champions League is the best place to see the strength of major leagues, and La Liga’s performance is worthy of its title as the world’s best league.
Although it was three games a week, after finishing the Champions League matches, the top three players in the Western Premier League, who were not focused on anything else, finally spent all their energy on the last league game before Christmas.
Real Madrid went on a killing spree and slaughtered Rayo Vallecano 10:2 at home, creating the fourth double-digit massacre in Real Madrid's history.
In this game, Bale scored four goals, Benzema scored a hat trick, and Ronaldo also scored 2 goals.
In this way, Real Madrid has two players with more than 10 goals, Benzema 11 and Ronaldo 10.
Barcelona also easily defeated Sporting Gijon 3:1. Neymar scored two goals and Suarez scored one goal. Neymar and Suarez both scored 15 goals, closely chasing Zhao Yang in the scorer list.
The only upset was Atletico Madrid, maybe because they played too hard in the game before the Champions League. Now after the Champions League, Atletico Madrid has suffered from physical exhaustion. They were defeated by Malaga 1:0 in an away game.
Although the Spaniards have lost their dream of reaching the top of the standings, if they can defeat Las Palmas, they will enter the top three in the standings, a position that was once elusive for the Spaniards.
Espanyol's last opponent before Christmas is newly promoted Las Palmas. Las Palmas is the only team in La Liga not on the Iberian Peninsula this season and the only team from Africa.
Las Palmas is the largest city in the Canary Region on the Gran Canary Islands. Although Gran Canary Islands is a Spanish territory, it is close to Africa, which also creates the unique style of the island team of Las Palmas.
Las Palmas is a typical small-capacity operation. Before being promoted to La Liga, they made nothing in the transfer market for four consecutive years.
After being promoted to La Liga, Las Palmas Chairman Ramirez finally spent money on the summer transfer market. He spent 3.4 million euros to buy out three outstanding loan players: Araujo and Bié.
La and Ortunho. In addition, Las Palmas also signed Valladolid goalkeeper Xavi Barras, who suffered a lot in the promotion play-offs last season, for free.
Of course, Herrera, the head coach of Las Palmas, is not a famous coach. Before joining Las Palmas, his most glorious achievement was leading Celta Vigo to promotion from the Spanish Second Division in the 2011/12 season.
Herrera has been coaching for more than 20 years. However, the number of times he has led his team to La Liga can be counted on one hand, but it is such an unknown head coach who brought Las Palmas, which was unable to make ends meet, to La Liga.
Las Palmas' style of play is known for quick counterattacks. Whether it is a long pass or a pass behind the back, they always seek to quickly pass through the midfield when they are in possession of the ball, and then attack through the wings to resolve the battle. This style of play
Las Palmas became the most efficient team in La Liga last season. They and league champion Real Betis both scored 73 league goals.
Team coach Herrera's tactics are relatively simple. Unless he encounters a key game that must be won, he will use a 4231 formation, and it is the most reliable double midfielder arrangement.
It is said that making good use of what you have is the best. Although the tactics are relatively simple, Herrera does not have a single lineup to conquer the world. In key battles that must be won, Herrera also has a set of desperate tactics, bringing the 4231 formation collectively to the front.
Move it and it becomes 433.
Last season, Las Palmas used the 433 formation to achieve a complete victory record. Against opponents of similar strength, this move of Las Palmas was very effective as a surprise force.