That night, the Football Association held a banquet to celebrate the team's advancement to the top 12.
It was almost ten o'clock when the game ended, and it was close to one o'clock after the banquet.
The next morning, when it was still dark, Zhao Yang took the high-speed train to the capital and flew back to Spain from the capital.
Zhao Yang was unlucky. When he arrived in the capital, it rained heavily and all flights were grounded.
The heavy rain continued until the afternoon, and Zhao Yang had to spend the night in the capital before returning to Barcelona the next night.
At this time, all the Spanish players have returned to the team, and Zhao Yang is the only late player.
Considering that Zhao Yang's long journey was too hard, Spanish head coach Sergio gave Zhao Yang a day off and asked Zhao Yang to rest at home. The next day, he went directly to Malaga with the team to challenge Malaga away from home.
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Malaga is currently ranked eighth and is a mid-table team, but they have always been one of the most difficult mid-table teams to deal with.
This season, Malaga relied on their excellent defensive counterattack tactics to draw with the powerful Real Madrid.
Although the Spaniards defeated Malaga 3:0 in the first round, they did not dare to underestimate Malaga.
After all, Malaga at home and Malaga away are completely different.
National team match days are called FIFA virus by wealthy teams.
Because after every national team game, the players in the team are either injured or tired, and the next league game is often either a draw or a loss.
The last time Espanyol played against Malaga, it was after the national team match day, and this time it was after the national team match day.
Compared with the first half, the Spaniards seemed to be more "poisoned" this time, and the players participating in the national team competition seemed very tired during the game.
Especially Zhao Yang, not only was his steps slow, but his reactions were far inferior to normal.
In the 8th minute of the first half, Asensio passed a diagonal pass to Perez. After Perez broke through to the baseline, he passed the ball back to the front of the penalty area to find Zhao Yang.
The ball was passed into space. As long as Zhao Yang got rid of the defensive player, he would have a chance to score.
However, Zhao Yang disappointed his teammates. He failed to get rid of the defense and the ball was kicked out of the baseline by the defender following him.
Then Asensio took a corner kick and Zhao Yang grabbed the spot, but he didn't jump high enough and the ball went over his head and flew out of the baseline.
Malaga goalkeeper Ochoa was a little surprised, and he even patted Zhao Yang on the shoulder in a friendly manner.
Head coach Sergio on the sidelines couldn't help but shake his head, regretting that he had arranged for Zhao Yang to start.
With Zhao Yang's current state, it is obviously more appropriate to be a substitute.
Malaga players saw Zhao Yang's weakness and became more unscrupulous when attacking.
However, Malaga is a team with strong offense and weak defense. Although the Spaniards were in poor condition and gave them many offensive opportunities, Malaga failed to seize them.
As the first half was about to end, Malaga launched a wave of fierce attacks.
After passing the ball continuously on the wing, Miguel passed the ball into the penalty area and looked for Horta who was advancing.
Horta did not stop the ball, but knocked it laterally and passed it to forward Kopp.
Kopp took the ball and tried to get out of the way to shoot, but was hit from behind by Spaniard midfielder Diop and fell to the penalty area.
Under the condemnation of the fans in the audience, the referee did not hesitate, pointed directly to the penalty spot, and showed Diop a yellow card.
The forward who took the penalty kick took it personally. He passed Lopez with a fake move and pushed the ball into the lower left corner of the goal.
1:0
Malaga took the lead towards the end of the first half.
When the ball was lost, Espanyol head coach Sergio looked ugly.
In yesterday's game, Atletico Madrid defeated Betis with 5 goals. If the Spaniard loses in this game, I am afraid there will be no chance to catch up with Atletico Madrid.
After Malaga scored, the first half ended quickly.
When the Espanyol players returned to the locker room, head coach Sergio found Zhao Yang and said: "Zhao, how do you feel? Can you persist in the second half?"
Although Zhao Yang was a little tired, the team was still lagging behind, so he said: "Coach, I have no problem."
Sergio said: "Then I'll be relieved."
After talking alone with Zhao Yang, Sergio said to the players: "I know it's hard for everyone to finish the national team game, but we must persist. There are still 7 rounds left in the league, and every round is important.
Don't think we are ahead of Villarreal by more than one point, anything can happen."
Sergio then made simple adjustments to the tactics in the first half, mainly adjusting Zhao Yang's position to allow him to move more on the wing to avoid being surrounded by Malaga's heavy troops.
This adjustment is still very wise. Zhao Yang is not in good physical condition and is not suitable for entangled with many defensive players in the middle.
After the start of the second half, the Spaniards quickly launched several waves of offense.
Moreno was in good physical condition in the middle, and he disrupted Malaga's defense in the middle.
Although Moreno did not get a chance to shoot, he created opportunities for Asensio and Perez who moved forward.
In the 64th minute of the game, Asensio split the ball to the side, Zhao Yang made a move to cut inside, and made a 2-on-2 with Moreno in the middle, receiving the ball and going down quickly.
Moreno attracted troops in the frontcourt, and the Spaniard's midfielder moved forward to grab points.
Zhao Yang's pass accurately found Asensio.
But Asensio's header was really average. He headed the ball directly into the arms of goalkeeper Ochoa.
Ochoa took two quick steps and threw the ball to launch a quick counterattack.
However, the Spaniards grasped the transition of offense and defense very tightly. As soon as the ball reached the frontcourt, it was intercepted by the Spaniard defenders and then launched another attack.
This attack caused Malaga to lose its footing. Asensio passed the ball through to Moreno, who had the opportunity to go to the meeting alone.
Malaga goalkeeper Ochoa made a decisive attack, rushed to the penalty area line, and destroyed the ball with his feet.
At this time, there was an excellent opportunity to equalize. Seeing Moreno's single-handed goal being destroyed by the opponent's goalkeeper, head coach Sergio was so angry that he threw away the tactical board.
In the 70th minute of the game, Zhao Yang took the ball from the wing and cut inside.
Perez lined up behind Zhao Yang.
Perez's forward penetration created an opportunity for Zhao Yang. Zhao Yang dodged a defensive player at the front of the penalty area and shot directly.
When taking the shot, Zhao Yang felt that the ball had strength and angle.
However, goalkeeper Ochoa has been in very good form recently, keeping clean sheets in two consecutive rounds. He leaped forward and hit the ball past the baseline with one hand.
Ochoa's performance drew cheers from the fans in the stands.
The Spaniard got a corner kick opportunity. Asensio and Zhao Yang played a tactical corner kick. Zhao Yang passed the low ball into the penalty area.
At this time, the Spaniard's midfielder Diop came in from the back row at high speed and broke the goal guarded by Ochoa with a powerful header.
1:1
Diop unexpectedly equalized the score.
Both Malaga and Espanyol were dissatisfied with the draw and then started to attack.
However, Malaga's offensive power was weak and the Spaniard was in poor condition. In the end, no one was able to score again. In the end, the two sides could only reluctantly shake hands and make peace.