Valencia is the La Liga team that invested the most in summer transfers.
Valencia fires meritorious coach Nuno.
Valencia has hired Manchester United legend Gary Neville as coach.
However, after Neville took office, Valencia was winless in 12 rounds and was only one step away from the relegation zone.
The Spaniard is Neville's 13th opponent.
13, this number is an unlucky number in the West.
Many fans said that if he fails to win this game, Neville may be fired directly.
Although this statement is a rumor, it is extremely credible.
No matter how tolerant the chairman is, he cannot tolerate a head coach who has not won in 13 games.
A skinny camel is bigger than a horse.
Valencia is now in decline, but it was once a traditional powerhouse in La Liga, and its owner was also Chinese.
The Chinese Derby is also a very entertaining game, with the number of viewers no less than the Spanish vs. Real Madrid.
Although the rankings of Espanyol and Valencia are now reversed, the Spaniards do not dare to underestimate this bat army.
They have been forced into a desperate situation. If they lose again, the coach will be fired; if they lose again, the team will be relegated.
At this time, this kind of team will often burst out with huge fighting power.
The Spaniard is now only 2 points ahead of fifth-placed Villarreal, and is not in a good situation.
The Spaniards must win this game.
At 9:30 pm local time in Spain, Espanyol and Valencia fought with all their strength at the Mestalla Stadium.
The Spaniards were playing away from home, but their formation was not conservative at all.
The three arrows of Moreno, Caicedo and Zhao Yang are in front.
Asensio dispatched from the center, Diop defended from behind, and Cheryshev and Perez attacked from the wings.
This configuration is only used when facing teams at the bottom of the standings.
In the hearts of the Spaniards, the invincible bat army in the past no longer exists during the counterattack, and their opponent is just a relegation team.
Valencia's players are individually stronger than the Spaniard, and their bench depth is stronger than the Spaniard's. Their biggest problem is that they haven't gotten along well and their coach Neville is inexperienced.
In view of the weakness of the Valencians, the Spaniards turned against the visitors and took the initiative to attack Valencia.
Sergio had a good idea and hoped to quickly defeat Valencia's confidence and morale.
According to the tactical research before the game, Valencia basically lost all the games when it fell behind.
This is a team with weak cohesion and willpower.
The addition of Cheryshev helped the Spaniards a lot.
With Cheryshev who can attack from the wing, Zhao Yang can concentrate on playing forward.
When encountering a strong opponent, Cheryshev can also be placed in front, while Zhao Yang assists Asensio in controlling the midfield.
One Cheryshev kept the Spaniards alive.
Valencia was mentally prepared for the Spanish opening attack.
After all, the Spaniard is currently fourth in the league and has the strength and courage to take the initiative to attack away from home.
However, being prepared does not mean you will be able to prevent it.
In the 8th minute of the game, Asensio attacked in the middle. After the separation, Perez crossed the middle. Caicedo missed the goal. Zhao Yang followed up and shot the ball slightly wide of the goal post.
This shot kicked off the Spaniard's attack.
Three minutes later, Asensio made a precise long pass to Zhao Yang on the wing.
Zhao Yang jumped high and stopped the ball with his chest.
Valencia's full-back stayed close to Zhao Yang, waiting for him to land and steal.
Zhao Yang didn't wait for the ball to land, flicked the instep of his outside foot, and passed the ball behind the center defender in the middle.
After almost a season of running in, Caicedo and Zhao Yang have become more and more cooperative.
As soon as the ball left Zhao Yang's foot, Caicedo guessed Zhao Yang's intention. He quickly moved forward and went straight to the penalty area.
Caicedo has speed and body. Valencia's central defender didn't have time to close the door, but Caicedo broke into the penalty area.
The ball barely hit people.
Kesedo was so anxious that he jumped up high and stretched his toes in the air to poke the ball.
Valencia goalkeeper Domenech saw Zhao Yang passing the ball and Caicedo advanced, and attacked as quickly as possible.
Caicedo's unconventional toe poke in the air made Domenech's attack a step slower.
Domenech couldn't touch the ball and could only use his body to block Caicedo's shooting route.
At such a close distance, how could Domenech's tall body have time to block it?
The ball flew right into the net from Domenech's armpit.
1:0
In the 11th minute of the game, the Spaniard took the lead away from home.
After scoring the goal, Caicedo ran to the sideline with a loud shout and slid to his knees toward the stands.
Caicedo's passion ignited the Spaniard's passion. The players rushed towards Caicedo wildly, and the visiting fans in the stands shouted and applauded wildly.
Neville on the sidelines held his head in pain.
He worked hard for this ball, but unexpectedly he still failed to block the Spaniard's attack.
11 minutes, only resisted for 11 minutes!
Neville was so angry that he shook his head. He was disappointed with the players on the field and despaired of his coaching career in the Bat Corps.
Espanyol head coach Sergio is very satisfied.
This game process is in line with his plan.
If things continue like this, the Spaniards will soon be able to wait for Valencia to get out of control and win.
After the celebration, the game started again.
The leading Spaniard still attacked fiercely, hoping to score another goal and destroy the opponent's confidence.
The Valencians did not lose confidence, and while resisting vigorously, they continued to try to counterattack.
Five minutes later, Valencia seemed to have stabilized their morale and actually started a confrontation with the Spaniards.
Ten minutes have passed, and Valencia has not collapsed yet and is still playing in a very orderly manner.
Another ten minutes passed, and Valencia still did not collapse and could not attack. They still maintained the threat of counterattack.
Sergio frowned and said, "Valencia fought very hard today! It looks like they won't be able to collapse without scoring the second goal."
Seeing that thirty-five minutes had passed, Valencia was not in a hurry, but the Spaniards who were leading the attack were anxious.
The more anxious they were, the more problems they had. Because the Spaniards were too impatient, they did not organize their attacks carefully and often shot from long range.
This gives the Valencians a lot of opportunities to counterattack.
In the 41st minute, Valencia counterattacked. Cancelo got the ball and passed the ball to the right side of the penalty area. Negredo swept the ball from 11 yards.
Spanish defender Rocco tried his best to block the ball, and the ball hit Roco's body and then deflected towards the lower right corner of the goal.
Espanyol goalkeeper Lopez couldn't react in time and could only watch the ball fly into the net.
1:1
The Valencians were lucky enough to equalize the score.
After Valencia equalized the score, the Spaniards became even more anxious. They were eager to overtake the score again, but in the end they gave Valencia another chance.
In the 44th minute, Valencia got another chance to counterattack. Feguli made a pass from the right side of the penalty area, and winger Barkley scored with a header from the edge of the penalty area.
2:1
Valencia scored two goals in just 5 minutes to overtake the score.