The match between Espanyol and Atletico Madrid takes place at 6:30 pm.
Before players from both sides entered the stadium, La Liga had already ended two games.
Malaga drew with Granada away from home and Real Madrid beat Eibar 4-0.
This is bad news for both Atletico Madrid and Espanyol.
Real Madrid tied with Espanyol and were only two points away from Atletico Madrid.
Ronaldo scored again, only 4 goals behind Zhao Yang.
This news affected players from both sides. After the game started, Atletico Madrid and Espanyol played offensive football in unison.
Atletico Madrid, which has always been known for its iron-blooded defense, is very concise in its attack.
Combining short passes with long passes, he reached the Spaniard's penalty area with just a few kicks.
On the front line are Griezmann and Torres.
Of these two men, one was skilled and the other was experienced. Under their impact, the Spanish back line was in a panic.
In the 5th minute of the game, midfielder Victor Sanchez was tackled from behind after being passed by Griezmann and received a yellow card.
The Spaniards saw that the defense could not resist, so they had no choice but to retreat collectively to compress Atletico Madrid's offensive space.
Atletico Madrid's skills were not enough to use short passes to penetrate the Spaniard's dense defense. After several passing errors and the Spaniards counterattacked, Atletico Madrid gave up short passes and penetration and began to make crosses and long shots from the side.
Headers and long-range shots are very effective weapons to break dense defenses.
But with so many players defending, it takes some luck to score with headers and long shots.
In the 15th minute of the game, Godin passed a cross to Torres from the wing. Torres missed it and the ball went to Griezmann's feet.
The moment Torres missed the ball, everyone's attention was on him.
Griezmann gained precious time and space to shoot. He didn't dare to stop the ball and shot directly.
Griezmann had done his best, but there were too many Spanish players around the penalty area. When Griezmann took off, Asensio stretched out a kick from behind to block Griezmann's shot.
The ball flew out diagonally and landed in front of Perez. Perez counterattacked with the ball, but Atletico Madrid counterattacked on the spot.
Perez was unable to escape the press and tried to kick the ball away. The ball hit the Atletico Madrid player and returned to the feet of Atletico Madrid player Carrasco.
Carrasco took two horizontal steps and shot from the corner of the penalty area into the back corner of the goal.
This is a banana ball. The ball speed is not very fast, but it has violent spin.
The ball bypassed the players in the center and goalkeeper Lopez and flew straight to the back corner of the goal.
The arc of the ball was too big, and goalkeeper Lopez had no time to intercept it and could only watch the ball fly towards the goal.
Then Carrasco lost some luck and the ball flew close to the goal post and flew out of the baseline.
Espanyol goal kick.
Because the opponent was pressing too hard, Lopez did not dare to pass to the defender and directly drove towards the frontcourt with a big kick.
Standing in the frontcourt of the Spaniard are Zhao Yang and Moreno.
Caicedo strained his thigh muscle while playing for the national team and needed to rest for two weeks.
This gave Moreno a chance.
In the game against Atletico Madrid, the Spaniard would definitely not dare to play three forwards. If Caicedo is not injured, then Caicedo will definitely be partnered with Zhao Yang.
In such a focused battle, Moreno seemed very excited and moved very actively.
Zhao Yang and Moreno both went to grab this point.
Moreno ran faster and almost caught the spot at the same time as the Atletico Madrid defender.
Zhao Yang couldn't grab the landing point and didn't move forward, but the ball bounced towards Zhao Yang.
Zhao Yang stopped the ball with his chest and wanted to volley directly to try his feet, but Atletico Madrid center back Juanfran had already blocked it.
Zhao Yang had no choice but to pick the ball and pass Juanfran.
Juanfran has rich experience. As soon as Zhao Yang picked the ball, he knew something was wrong. He didn't dare to count on other players and reached out to grab Zhao Yang's jersey.
Zhao Yang shot the ball over the top and tried to pass Juanfran from one side, but was unable to escape Juanfran's "claws" and was almost dragged down by Juanfran.
With this pull, another defender Felipe rushed over and kicked the ball away.
Juanfran's action was so obvious that the referee saw it clearly. He immediately blew the whistle to stop the game and gave Juanfran a yellow card.
The Spaniard was awarded a free kick.
This location is not very good, almost thirty meters away from the goal.
Asensio glanced at Zhao Yang and asked him if he was going to take the penalty or grab a point.
Zhao Yang wanted to try his hand, but it had been so long since the game started, and he hadn't even scored a goal yet.
Zhao Yang is the Spaniard's first taker of set kicks. He wanted to take the free kick. Asensio had no objection and also provided a screen for Zhao Yang on one side.
After the whistle blew, Zhao Yang took a short run and hit a "tiger-style shot". The ball flew straight to the upper left corner of the goal like a missile.
Zhao Yang's shot came from the system. There was no deviation after the shot was taken, and the ball went towards the goal.
The distance of thirty meters is still a bit far, which gives goalkeeper Oblak enough time to react.
Oblak moved quickly laterally, jumped into the air, stretched out one hand, and hit the ball past the baseline.
After the opening, the Spaniard was suppressed by Atletico Madrid and had almost no chance to fight back. Zhao Yang's shot was also the Spaniard's first shot.
Although the ball was not scored, it created a great threat.
The fans in the stands were encouraged. After feeling regretful, they couldn't help but applaud and cheer for Zhao Yang and the Spanish players.
The Spaniard gets a corner kick.
For the passive Spaniard, set kicks are the best chance to score.
When Asensio took a corner kick, not only Zhao Yang, but also Spaniard players who were good at headers came to the penalty area to compete for headers.
Zhao Yang is of course Atletico Madrid's key defensive target.
Atletico Madrid's two central defenders Felipe and Juanfran are both marking Zhao Yang.
Asensio fired a banana ball and the ball made a wide arc in the penalty area.
In the penalty area, players from both sides are fighting for the landing spot. You push and pull, squeezing and leaning against each other, just like crabs in the fish basket.
In such a situation, no matter how good your header is, it's useless because you can't get rid of the defensive players at all.
Just like Cristiano Ronaldo, who was so good at bouncing and heading the ball, he couldn't get rid of it. In the end, he became angry and knocked down Godin with three punches.
Zhao Yang's physical fitness is far inferior to Ronaldo, and it is even harder to get a chance to header.
However, the players in the penalty area were competing so fiercely that they ignored the Spanish midfielder Diop who advanced from the outside of the penalty area.
Diop was like a divine soldier, rushing into the penalty area, leaping high, and hit the goal with a header.
Goalkeeper Oblak saw Diop rushing towards the top, but he was surrounded by players and couldn't make a save even if he wanted to. He could only watch the ball fly into the goal.
1:0
The game had just reached the 23rd minute when the Spaniard, who had been lagging behind, took advantage of a corner kick and scored.