After both sides scored a goal, the game became open.
Everyone stopped testing and boldly deployed troops when attacking, hoping to break the deadlock again and take the initiative in the game.
In the middle of the league, the true colors of all teams have been exposed.
Now everyone knows that the Spaniards are supported by Zhao Yang and Asensio. If these two people are killed, the Spaniards will have nothing to do.
Even when attacking with all their strength, Villarreal did not relax its defense against Zhao Yang and Asensio at all.
Asensio and Zhao Yang were targeted, and the Spaniard failed to switch between offense and defense. He slowly lost the initiative on the court and could only rely on physical confrontation and fouls to block Villarreal's offense.
Villarreal is different from the Spaniards. They play a holistic strategy, and their passing and cutting skills are second only to Barcelona, and even better than Real Madrid.
Villarreal was able to keep an eye on the Spaniard's key players and defend them, but the Spaniard was unable to retaliate in kind.
Villarreal had the advantage, but it was not an overwhelming advantage. The Spaniard's defense at the front of the penalty area was very tight and did not give Villarreal too many opportunities.
Soon, the first half of the game ended in a fierce confrontation between the two sides, with the score tied at 1:1.
Although the two sides were evenly matched, the two goals still made the fans very happy. When the game came off, fans from both sides gave the team warm applause.
Although Zhao Yang did not perform well in the first half, he is now the flag of Spain. The fans still gave him warm applause and chanted his name, asking him to score one.
After the halftime break, the game started again. Villarreal played well in the first half and did not make any adjustments to the lineup, while the Spaniard changed someone.
Forward Moreno came on, replacing Cañas, while Zhao Yang returned to the midfield.
Zhao Yang was closely guarded and could not receive the ball at the forward line and was of little use, while Asensio was isolated and helpless in the midfield.
After Zhao Yang returns to the midfield, he can help Asensio control the ball and attract firepower. At the same time, Zhao Yang can also attack from the back row.
It can be said that the adjustment made by Espanyol head coach Sergio is quite thoughtful. After Zhao Yang returned to the midfield, with him attracting firepower, the pressure on Asensio was greatly reduced, and the Espanyol midfield organization quickly became smooth again.
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What made Sergio even more unexpected was that after Moreno came on the field, he actually put a lot of pressure on Villarreal. He and Caicedo's active running increased Villarreal's backcourt.
The difficulty of delivering the ball relieves the pressure on the Spaniard's midfield.
In the second half, the two sides returned to an even match, and the Spaniard even had a slight advantage.
The two sides fought back and forth for more than ten minutes. Villarreal made a mistake in a direct pass from the backcourt, giving Zhao Yang a chance.
Villarreal was in an offensive state, and no one was marking Zhao Yang. The defender passed the ball directly to Zhao Yang's feet. Zhao Yang easily passed the ball, crossed the center line, and went straight into Villarreal's penalty area.
Villarreal's defense against Zhao Yang was a priority. Seeing Zhao Yang rushing towards the penalty area, the players in the center and the wings all shrank to the middle to intercept and double-team Zhao Yang.
Zhao Yang was obviously well prepared for this, and his seemingly unstoppable attack was just to attract the opponent's defense.
Seeing the person attracted, Zhao Yang suddenly separated and passed the ball to Moreno.
Moreno is a substitute, and Moreno is a newcomer. He receives far less attention in the frontcourt than Caicedo, who scored the goal.
When Moreno got the ball, there was no one around him for ten meters.
Moreno took the ball and headed for the baseline along the wing as quickly as possible.
In the middle, after Zhao Yang passed the ball, he continued to penetrate into the penalty area without stopping.
What makes Zhao Yang depressed is that even if the ball is passed, the attention he receives does not decrease at all. There is a person following him, and two players are constantly staring at him from the corner of their eyes, and they may come over to cover or double-team at any time.
Moreno reached the bottom line almost unimpeded, and he even had time to look at his teammates' movements.
What Moreno wanted to find most was Zhao Yang's point, but seeing Zhao Yang being closely watched, he knew that this point could not be passed, so Moreno could only pass it to Caicedo, another teammate who was outflanking him.
Zhao Yang had already inserted into the penalty area. When he saw Moreno passing the ball to Caicedo, he stopped at the line of the penalty area to watch Caicedo grab the point.
Caicedo was also marked, but his body was strong and he was able to withstand the defense. However, when the ball flew over, Caicedo had no time to take off.
Watching the ball fly over his head, Caicedo was so angry that he just wanted to curse.
Fortunately, there is Perez, a player who likes to attack, on the wing.
The ball flew to the wing, and Perez arrived just in time. He had no time to stop the ball and kicked the ball back into the penalty area with a volley.
The ball came quickly and suddenly. Before the other players could determine where it would land, Zhao Yang had already arrived and jumped to head the ball.
The player who was originally guarding Zhao Yang slacked off because the ball flew to the wing. He was a step too late to find Zhao Yang and could only watch Zhao Yang slam the ball towards the goal.
Villarreal goalkeeper Areola had already gone out to get the ball, but he was also a step too slow, and the ball flew from between his hands and into the net.
2:1
Zhao Yang scored with a header, giving the Spaniards the lead again.
After a period of silence, Zhao Yang scored again. He was very excited and rushed to the sidelines to celebrate with the fans.
Villarreal head coach Marcelino Garcia was so angry that he wanted to curse. Before the game, he made strict demands on his players. They must keep an eye on Zhao Yang. Anyone else can score goals, but not Zhao Yang.
However, with just such a mistake, Zhao Yang scored again and took the lead.
It is too dangerous after this period of time, and all the efforts in the previous sixty minutes may be in vain.
The Spaniard is Villarreal's biggest opponent for the Champions League spot, and this game must not be lost.
After Zhao Yang scored, Villarreal quickly made substitutions, replacing Adrian with forward Bakambu, replacing Suarez with Garcia, and gave the Spaniard a try.
At this moment, the weakness of the Spaniard's lack of depth in the bench was revealed. At this time, Villarreal replaced the new force, but the Spaniard had no one to replace.
The game entered the final 15 minutes, and Villarreal was still lagging behind. At this time, they changed to another forward and tried their best to attack the Spanish defense.
After taking the lead, the Spaniards took the initiative to shrink their defense, but now they were forced to attack by Villarreal.
The Spaniard's defense was also resilient. They defended for 87 minutes without conceding a goal.
In the 88th minute, Moreno retreated to defend, tackled Bakambu from behind and was sent off with a red card.
The referee gave Villarreal a free kick from the wing.
Dos Santos took a free kick, and everyone in Spain was excited. There was a leak in the defense. Pedraza succeeded with a header from behind, rewriting the score to 2:2.
Villarreal then attacked aggressively, trying to take the opportunity to win the game, but the Spaniards returned to defense and finally managed to hold on to the tie.