Espanyol's victory over Sporting Gijon was an expected victory.
Since Real Madrid lost to Atletico Madrid in the same city derby, Espanyol still sits firmly in the second position, but the third-ranked Atletico Madrid is only 2 points behind Espanyol.
With Atletico Madrid's strength and foundation, it is very possible to catch up with the Spaniard.
The Spaniards are not worried about this.
Espanyol was still fighting relegation last season.
This season's ranking is a position that fans, players, and club managers could not have dreamed of.
Before the start of the season, they had never thought about competing for a Champions League spot, or even the Europa League.
Now, what the Spaniards are most worried about is not being unable to catch up with Barcelona in front, nor being overtaken by Atletico Madrid behind them. What they are most worried about is the yellow submarine Villarreal, which is chasing behind them.
Espanyol is now in second place with 58 points, but Villarreal is not bad either, they also have 52 points.
With only the difference of two goals, the Spaniard is in a bad state and will be overtaken by Villarreal immediately.
In the 27th round of the league, Villarreal will face Celta Vigo. This is a contest between two dark horses and a tough battle.
This is a good opportunity for the Spaniards, because their opponent Real Betis is average in strength, and the Spaniards are playing at home, so winning should be a piece of cake.
As long as Real Betis is defeated and Villarreal falters, Espanyol's Champions League spot will be almost guaranteed.
Obviously the Spaniard underestimated the fighting capacity of the relegation team at the end of the season.
Betis is a famous away killer.
This season, Betis' away win rate has reached 60%, ranking eighth in the league.
In the 27th round, Spain and Betis played very anxiously.
Facing the Spaniards, who were ranked third in the league, Betis was not afraid. Every player ran hard, and the field seemed to be full of Betis players.
There is no way, if we don't work hard, Betis may be relegated.
This is a matter of life and death.
Throughout the first half, the Spaniards were unable to do anything about Betis' defense.
It was not until the 60th minute of the second half that the Spanish took advantage of a free kick and Zhao Yang opened the scoring to break the deadlock.
With this goal, Zhao Yang has scored 31 goals in La Liga.
Before Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi, this number of goals would definitely win the Golden Boot, but now it is not necessarily the case.
Then Betis did not panic and continued to maintain a desperate attitude, preventing the Spaniard from scoring the goal that sealed the victory.
At the final stage of the game, the Spaniard sensed the danger and still hoped to score another goal.
However, the Spaniard tried his best to attack and failed to score.
In the last minute of the game, Betis midfielder Endier's long shot hit Espanyol defender Rocco and was deflected into the net.
1:1,
Betis unexpectedly drew with Espanyol at the last minute.
Since Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, and Barcelona all won this round of games, Atletico Madrid tied with Espanyol in points and ranked second in the standings with a goal difference. Real Madrid is only 7 points behind Espanyol.
Behind the Spaniard, Villarreal encountered the strong enemy Celta Vigo in this round.
Both Villarreal and Celta Vigo hope to win each other. Although the two sides are close in strength, Villarreal has more experience. In the end, Villarreal defeated Celta Vigo 1:0.
The points difference with the Spanish was reduced to 7 points.
Villarreal is Espanyol's biggest rival for the Champions League spot, and it can be said that Espanyol made a huge mistake when they were tied by a team like Real Betis.
Round 28. The Spaniard once again faced the challenge of the newly promoted Barrecano at home.
This is another relegation team.
Before Rayo Vallecano's Chinese player Zhang Dong returns to China, this game still has some gimmicks and can be hyped as the "Chinese Derby".
But after Zhang Dong returned to China, there was nothing interesting about this game.
In the last round, they were unexpectedly tied by the Betis team and missed the distance between them and the pursuers behind them. This time, the Spaniards did not dare to be careless at all.
From the first minute of the opening, the Spaniards launched a wave of attacks on Rayo Vallecano, and 20 minutes later, defender Alvarez scored with a header, opening the scoring for the Spaniards.
Then the Vallecano gate opened, Zhao Yang, Moreno, and Perez scored three goals in a row. In the end, the Spaniard easily defeated Vallecano 4:0.
Zhao Yang scored again and continued to lead the scorer list with 32 goals.
The subsequent game surprised the Spaniards.
Villarreal, playing at home, unexpectedly lost 0:1 to Las Palmas, with the point difference from the Spaniard reaching 10 points.
The Spaniard's other slightly more competitive opponent, Celta Vigo, suffered a 1:7 defeat to Real Madrid and basically withdrew from the competition for a Champions League spot.
In a match that seemed to be without any surprises, the Spaniard unexpectedly widened the gap between him and his two competitors.
At the end of the season, these 10 points gave the Spaniard more room for error, which can be said to be worthless.
In the 29th round, the Spaniard challenged Granada away.
Before the game, this game was considered to be a game without any suspense.
And then at the end of the season, anything is possible.
Less than ten minutes into the game, Spanish defender Duterte fouled in the penalty area and gave Granada a red dot package.
Granada striker El-Araby made the move in a pinch.
Granada leads Espanyol 1:0.
No matter how strong the Spaniards are, they can't compete with their opponents if they fight with one less person.
Fortunately, Espanyol head coach Sergio was pragmatic enough and then adjusted his strategy to counterattack steadily to see if he could get the score back.
The Spaniard also started out as a defensive player. Granada had a numerical advantage, but could never expand the score.
The Spaniards continued to use counterattacks to attack Granada, looking for opportunities to score.
In the 65th minute of the game, the Spaniard launched a counterattack after a break. Zhao Yang ran a long distance and single-handedly challenged two defenders and scored the equalizing goal. This was also his 33rd personal goal.
Subsequently, Granada, unwilling to accept the draw, launched a massive counterattack. However, after being beaten twice by the Spaniard and almost losing the ball, Granada recognized the reality and was ready to accept the result of the draw.
However, at the last moment, Granada made a careless long pass, which once again caused the Spaniard to foul in the penalty area, and the referee awarded a penalty kick.
Granada forward Alabi scored twice from the penalty kick to seal the victory for Granada.
In this round of the top three of the Western Premier League, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid won all.
Atletico Madrid overtook Espanyol by three points and secured second place in the league. Real Madrid is only 4 points away from Espanyol. With Real Madrid's current state, it is just around the corner to overtake Espanyol and return to the top three in the standings.
The only thing that makes the Spaniard feel lucky is that Villarreal also failed in this game. They lost to Sevilla away from home. The Spaniard still maintains a 10-point gap with Villarreal.