Chapter 222 Remnants of the battle against the strong enemy
Winter transfer is different from summer transfer. After all, it is the middle of the season. It is not for special reasons. Few players will choose to transfer at this time.
In other words, during the winter transfer period, even if you have money, you don't have many choices.
Moreover, Espanyol is a small club, and even if they have money, big-name stars are not willing to come.
Now that the Spaniard has performed well, the management has changed the goal of this season from relegation to a Champions League spot. According to this goal, low-level players will not be of much help to the Spaniard.
This has resulted in a situation where almost half of the winter transfer time has passed, but the Spaniard has still gained nothing.
The transfer is deadlocked, but the league and Copa del Rey are still in full swing.
After the game against Eibar, the Spaniard played the second round of the Copa del Rey against Barcelona in midweek.
Due to a huge defeat in the first round, the Spaniard gave up in the second round and used half of the substitutes.
In fact, if the opponent was not the city rival Barcelona, the Spaniard would have played this game entirely with a substitute.
The opponent was a sworn enemy in the same city, and the Spaniards were worried about being beaten badly, so they sent out half of their main force, and even Zhao Yang was placed on the bench.
Barcelona led by 3 goals in the first round. They did not believe that the Spaniard could come back at home, so they sent half of their substitutes to play.
In the derby, Barcelona certainly hoped to score as many goals as possible, but the Spaniards defended very fiercely and made many injurious moves. Barcelona did not dare to anger the Spaniards. In the end, after Barcelona led 2:0, they could not score again. In the end,
Barcelona defeated Espanyol with a total score of 5:0 to advance to the quarterfinals of the Copa del Rey.
After the game, the Spaniards did not take this defeat to heart.
With the Spaniard's current strength, there is no hope of winning the Copa del Rey. There is no practical significance in reaching the top 16 or the top 8. The best choice is to put energy and physical strength into a league with a bright future.
Even ordinary fans understand this truth.
In the 20th round of La Liga, Espanyol challenged Getafe away.
Getafe was ranked 14th last season and 12th this season, and is also a team focused on relegation.
In order to prepare for this game, the Spaniards hid half of their main players in the Copa del Rey midweek.
Even so, the Spaniard's physical fitness cannot be compared with Getafe, who waits for work.
Under Getafe's active pressing, the Spaniard played very hard. It was not until the last moment that the substitute teenager Moreno scored a header, helping the Spaniard defeat Getafe 1:0 away from home.
However, this victory for the Spaniards was also a tragic victory.
Captain Lopez was hit on the thigh by a defensive player while fighting with an opponent, causing a thigh muscle tear. He will not be able to play again for at least three weeks.
Main defender Rocco and defensive midfielder Diop accumulated five yellow cards and were suspended for one game, and they missed the next focus game with fifth-place Villarreal.
Lopez's injury and the suspensions of Roco and Diop have made the Spaniard's starting lineup very stretched.
Short of men and horses, and short of major generals, at this time Yellow Submarine Villarreal is the opponent that the Espanyol team least wants to encounter.
Last season, Villarreal ranked sixth. Last season, Villarreal was still ranked sixth, and now, they are ranked fifth.
Now Villarreal and Espanyol are very close in strength and points, and the two teams are also the biggest competitors for the Champions League seats.
This is a game where 3 points can be used as 6 points.
The Spaniards are exhausted and short of major generals. The outside world is generally not optimistic that the Spaniards will win at home and believe that a draw between the two teams is very likely.
Before the game, the Spaniards were very low-key, claiming that Villarreal was very strong and that this would be a very difficult game.
Villarreal takes this game more seriously than Espanyol.
Villarreal head coach Marcelino Garcia said before the game that this is a game that determines the success or failure of Villarreal's season. If Villarreal can defeat Espanyol on the road, they will
There is hope of reaching the Champions League. If they lose the game, unless the Espanyol team collapses behind them, their hope for this season will not be great.
On the 23rd, in the first four games of La Liga, Sevilla and Atletico Madrid had a focus battle. The two sides shook hands and ended in a draw, while Barcelona defeated Malaga 2:1 away from home.
Atletico Madrid's draw means that as long as the Spaniards beat Villarreal, they can once again top the standings.
In the early morning of the 24th, the match between Villarreal and Espanyol officially started.
Villarreal and Espanyol, who were aiming for three points, started an offensive battle from the beginning.
In the 3rd minute, Spanish forward Caicedo took the ball from midfield and headed towards the penalty area.
The Villarreal center back fell to the ground to intercept, and the ball hit Caicedo's leg and bounced forward, which was equivalent to Caicedo colliding with himself into a wall.
Caicedo caught up with the ball and entered the penalty area without any defense. Facing the attacking goalkeeper, Caicedo broke through the crotch and scored, rewriting the score to 1:0.
This is a dream start.
When Zhao Yang and Asensio were targeted for two consecutive games, Moreno and Caicedo both stood up.
What followed was a fierce counterattack by the Villarreal people.
Villarreal coach Marcelino Garcia has been the team coach since January 2013, and helped Villarreal, which was still in the middle and lower reaches of Segunda División at the time, gain a magical upgrade. It can be said that Villarreal is the team's head coach.
Godfather of Ar.
Marcelino is good at promoting and cultivating young players, and he also played a major role in the transformation of the Submarine offense. The Villarreal team he created is fast, direct, and has sharp counterattacks. It is a giant that gives many giants a headache.
Killer.
Once Villarreal started to attack, the offensive was continuous and overwhelmed the Spaniards.
In the 23rd minute of the game, Villarreal made a pass through the middle to find the team's top star Soldado.
Soldado is moving laterally, and he is followed by a Spanish defender.
Seeing the ball passing to Soldado, center back Alvarez was also moving towards Soldado, preparing to double-team.
Soldado was very smart and did not take the ball. Instead, he knocked the ball back with his heel and passed it to his forward teammate Terry Gross.
Terry Gross broke into the penalty area at high speed, fell to the ground without any defense, and pushed the ball into the goal, tying the score at 1:1.
Only twenty minutes into the game, the two sides had already scored two goals. What's amazing is that the two goals were very similar. They were both in the same position and used the same shooting technique.