After staying in Barcelona for four days, the Chinese fans who came to Barcelona to watch the game returned home.
Although Zhao Yang was not able to spend much time with these fans these days, with Xu Bing taking care of them, these fans had a great time in Barcelona.
Gao Han, Wang Lei, Ye Min, and Huang Lu didn't stay long. They returned home with the fans who came with them.
In the past four days, the relationship between Zhao Yang and Gao Han heated up quickly. Zhao Yang's parents were also very satisfied with Gao Han. They only waited for Zhao Yang to return to China and meet her parents with Gao Han before they could settle down on the marriage.
After Gao Han and others left, Zhao Yang returned to the intense competition.
In the 26th round, Espanyol challenged the relegation team Sporting Gijon away.
In the first half, Espanyol lost to Sporting Gijon at home.
Although a large part of the reason was that Zhao Yang was unable to play due to injury, it also shows that Sporting Gijon has good combat effectiveness.
If the Spaniard is careless and underestimates the enemy, it is not impossible to be double-killed by Sporting Gijon.
In this round, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid will play a city derby. No matter whether these two teams win or lose, as long as Espanyol defeat Sporting Gijon, they will be able to break into the top three in La Liga again.
The top three in La Liga are quite tempting for the Spaniards.
If you reach the top three, you won't have to play the Champions League qualifying rounds and will directly enter the Champions League group stage.
Facing the challenge from Espanyol, who is ranked fourth in the standings, Sporting Gijon did not show any signs of timidity.
They played very actively after the start and seemed ready to score points against the Spaniard.
So far, La Liga teams are more jealous of the Spaniard than afraid of him. Many teams always believe that the Spaniard's current ranking is more due to luck than the Spaniard's ability.
Sporting Gijon was lucky. In the 20th minute of the game, their midfielder Castro scored a volley that broke the Spanish goal.
After the goal, Sporting Gijon defended tenaciously, waiting for opportunities to counterattack the Spaniard.
Fortunately, the Spaniards were fully mentally prepared and did not panic or be anxious when they fell behind. They dealt with Sporting Gijon calmly and calmly.
Facing the challenge from the Spaniard, Sporting Gijon was certainly not unprepared.
Accept the result of losing and try your best to get one point or three points. This is Sporting Gijon's goal in this game.
If you want to score points against the Spaniard, you must score first and then see if you can seize the opportunity to counterattack.
Now, Sporting Gijon scored first, but after holding on for twenty minutes, they did not wait for the chance to counterattack.
The Spaniards are not in a hurry, Sporting Gijon is the one who is in a hurry.
After a not-so-good counterattack opportunity, Sporting Gijon couldn't wait to attack with heavy troops, trying to expand the score.
Sporting Gijon's counterattack failed midway.
Spanish defender Alvarez intercepted the ball and quickly counterattacked.
The Spaniards were prepared for almost all fronts to fight Sporting Gijon's counterattack.
Sporting Gijon attacked aggressively, with no one in the backcourt.
Alvarez marched straight in, meeting little resistance.
Arriving to the side of the penalty area, Alvarez saw Zhao Yang following up and immediately found Zhao Yang with a diagonal pass.
Zhao Yang led the ball toward the penalty area, as if he wanted to go straight into the penalty area.
After deceiving Sporting Gijon's defender to come up and block the ball, Zhao Yang suddenly made a horizontal move and knocked down the defender who rushed towards him.
Zhao Yang raised his foot and prepared to shoot, but another defender rushed over desperately.
Zhao Yang faked a shot and made a dunk. He made a "Cruyff turn" and passed another defensive player.
Sporting Gijon originally had not many players back to defend, but Zhao Yang passed two players and there was no one in front of him.
With another horizontal move, Zhao Yang adjusted his footwork, and Zhao Yang volleyed vigorously from the front of the penalty area.
When there is no one defending, if the forward shoots from this position, the goalkeeper will not be able to save it at all.
Zhao Yang is famous for his accuracy in shooting. The Sporting Gijon goalkeeper tried his best but failed to touch the ball. The ball flew close to the post and into the net.
1:1 flat.
It is now the 41st minute of the first half.
The draw with Espanyol at almost half-time should have been a tactical victory for Sporting Gijon.
But Sporting Gijon became very anxious and seemed unable to accept the result of conceding the ball at halftime.
The Spaniards, on the other hand, have become more confident. They organize their attacks more patiently and don't care about the score.
This good mentality once again gave the Spaniard a chance to score in the stoppage time of the first half.
In the 47th minute, after the Spanish full-back and captain Xavi Lopez successfully intercepted the ball, he passed the ball directly to Zhao Yang in the frontcourt.
Zhao Yang stopped the ball with his chest and volleyed the ball into the penalty area.
Gerald Moreno came in at high speed and scored in front of the small penalty area.
2:1
With a one-goal advantage, the Spaniard easily returned to the locker room to rest.
After the halftime break, Sporting Gijon's players learned the lessons of the first half and prepared to play steadily and see if they could score a point.
However, less than five minutes into the second half, with the cover of the front three of Zhao Yang, Moreno and Caicedo, Asensio suddenly dribbled the ball straight into the penalty area.
The defender came to block Asensio's shot angle.
Asensio did not shoot, but chose to cross the ball to Zhao Yang who came in the middle.
Luis Hernandez tried to destroy the ball, but the distance was too close and the ball was fast. Hernandez did not control his footwork well, and the ball was blocked by him toward the goal.
The Sporting Gijon goalkeeper had no time to react and could only watch the ball flying from his side into the net.
3:1
The Spaniard somewhat unexpectedly took a two-goal lead.
Hernandez's own goal destroyed the mentality of Sporting Gijon people.
The calm mentality during the halftime break exploded again.
Sporting Gijon people have forgotten that the person standing in front of them is not the relegation team, but the fourth place in La Liga.
The dead horse of Sporting Gijon was treated as a living horse doctor, and they simply launched a massive attack.
The Spaniards counterattacked easily.
In the 62nd minute, team deputy Victor Sanchez counterattacked in the frontcourt and scored the ball. Gerald Moreno shot an oblique shot from the right rib of the penalty area into the far corner, rewriting the score to 4:1.
In the 70th minute, Sporting Gijon midfielder Honey took the ball from the left wing. Castro headed the ball in front of the penalty area and scored twice, rewriting the score to 2-4.
But five minutes later, Caicedo, who was in the Spaniard's front three, finally showed his power. After passing two people in a row, he shot a curling ball from the front of the penalty area. The goalkeeper could only watch the ball and sigh.
5:2
The Spaniard continues to maintain a 3-goal lead.
Then Sporting Gijon continued to attack for ten minutes. After 85 minutes, the score still could not be narrowed, and Sporting Gijon could only accept the result of losing at home.
The Espanyol defeated Sporting Gijon in an away game and successfully avenged their home defeat.