After the top 12 draw, the World Cup qualifiers have temporarily come to an end, and Zhao Yang can finally put all his energy into the league.
In the 33rd round of the league, Espanyol challenged Levante away from home.
This team was originally the enemy of the Spaniards, but in the first half of this season, Spain met Levante three times in the league and the Copa del Rey. The Spaniards won two and drew one, and finally succeeded in revenge.
When the two teams meet again in this round, things have changed.
Levante, with 25 points, has become the deputy captain who is almost guaranteed to be relegated, while Espanyol ranks fourth in the standings and has become the upstart of La Liga.
The bottom three teams in La Liga are relegated.
Rayo Vallecano and Granada, fourth from the bottom, both have 31 points, 6 points more than Levante at the bottom. With 6 rounds left, Levante cannot say that there is no chance of relegation.
Levante almost had a last-ditch battle against the Spaniard.
In desperate situations, the fighting power a team can unleash can be astonishing.
Against Levante, the Espanyol team, which was only 7 points ahead of fifth place, did not dare to be careless at all.
The highlight of this round is the match between Barcelona and Valencia.
Barcelona has been winless in two rounds of the league, and was eliminated by Atletico Madrid in the Champions League in midweek. If Barcelona fails to win this game, the league will be tied by Atletico Madrid.
However, the first game in the 33rd round was between Levante and Espanyol.
This game does not have much impact on the Espanyol team, but Levante's failure to win this game will basically lead to relegation.
Before the game, Levante's firefighting coach Rubi said, "The Spaniard is very strong, but Levante can't lose anymore! Even if we face Barcelona and Real Madrid, we will not give up in this game!"
After the game started, Levante put up a very offensive lineup and launched a fierce attack on the Spaniard from the beginning.
Levante's desperate decision was expected by the Spaniards.
In this game, the Spaniard has a 442 offensive and defensive formation.
Moreno was assigned to the midfield this time, and Zhao Yang and Caicedo were paired up front.
Levante attacked fiercely, and the Spaniards shrank their formation very steadily, waiting for Levante's counterattack.
In the 2nd minute of the game, Levante winger Verdu made a cross from the wing and found his forward Vidison.
The Spaniard's defensive formation was not chaotic. There were many players inside and outside the penalty area. Vidison did not dare to stop the ball and directly volleyed.
Vidison is just an ordinary striker with average footwork. The ball comes very quickly, so if he can hit it, it's good. If he wants to shoot more accurately, it's difficult for others to do so.
Witson's shot was too on target and hit goalkeeper Paulo Lopez directly.
Paul Lopez was worried about letting go, so he didn't dare to hug the ball and just hit the ball with both fists.
There were many people near the Spaniard's penalty area, and Paul's ball was tipped by Diop to Asensio.
Asensio looked around before receiving the ball.
A long pass was played forward, looking for Zhao Yang who had already moved to the side.
Asensio's long pass was like a precision-guided missile, hitting the path Zhao Yang was running on.
Asensio took the ball, and Levante midfielder Bielsa, who was marking Zhao Yang, looked at Asensio and missed Zhao Yang's movement.
The marking player failed to keep up. Zhao Yang easily unloaded the ball with his right foot without any resistance, moved forward, and rushed straight towards Levante's full-back.
Levante's full-back Munoz had heard of Zhao Yang's name. He did not dare to be careless. He did not go up to block the ball immediately, but kept retreating, waiting for his teammates to come over and respond.
Zhao Yang saw that it was difficult to break through, but Caicedo and Moreno on his side had already penetrated into the penalty area, so he passed the ball across the penalty area.
Zhao Yang passed the ball very quickly. Levante midfielder Bielsa, who returned to the penalty area, did not dare to be careless and cleared the ball out of the baseline with one kick.
The Spaniard won a corner kick.
Asensio took the corner kick, and five Spaniard players came to the penalty area to compete for the header.
Zhao Yang was the key player. He was almost hugged by the Levante defender. Zhao Yang finally broke away from the defender and went to fight for the header. At this time, the referee's whistle sounded.
It turned out to be Spaniard defender Duterte who pushed down Levante's defender during the scramble.
Zhao Yang was very angry and told the referee that his opponent was hugging him but no foul was called.
This was Levante's home court, and the referee ignored Zhao Yang, canceled the attack, and handed the ball over to Levante.
Levante quickly counterattacked with a long pass and found forward Rossi.
Rossi dribbled the ball along the wing and was brought down by full-back Alvarez. Levante won a free kick.
Levante midfielder Morales took a direct free kick and the ball slightly missed the right post.
Goalkeeper Paul picked up the ball and passed it forward.
Paul's long pass was very lucky and went directly to Caicedo's head.
Caicedo almost stood still and occupied the most advantageous position. He didn't stop the ball and passed it directly to Zhao Yang.
Levante's players did not expect this attack to be so fast, and the defensive players were not prepared.
Bielsa, who was marking Zhao Yang, was also a step slower, and Zhao Yang grabbed the spot not far from the corner of the penalty area.
Bielsa was just one step away from Zhao Yang. Zhao Yang did not dare to stop the ball, so he jumped up and volleyed sideways in the air.
The ball drew an arc and went straight to the back corner of the goal.
Levante goalkeeper Diego was moving forward to prevent Zhao Yang from shooting, and the ball came over.
Diego jumped up and tried to intercept the ball.
However, the speed of the ball was very fast and the arc it drew was so high. Diego jumped up and failed to touch the ball, and the ball flew past between his hands.
Diego felt cold and felt bad. When he looked back, the ball flew into the back corner of the net and hit the net.
The ball went in!
1:0
Seeing the ball hit the net, Zhao Yang, who scored 36 goals, jumped up and raised his arms and shouted.
There were not many Spanish fans who came to Levante's home game to support the game, only a few hundred people.
At this moment, the Levante fans were silent, and the only voices left in the stands were the Espanyol fans chanting for Zhao Yang.
Espanyol head coach Sergio shook his fist fiercely.
Levante played so fiercely in the opening game that it startled Sergio and worried that the boat would capsize in the gutter.
Zhao Yang's goal made Sergio feel relaxed. After all, Levante is the deputy squad leader, and his strength cannot be compared with the Spaniard. After Zhao Yang scored this goal, Sergio felt that he could knock half of Levante's confidence away.
.Just one more goal and Levante will probably collapse.
The on-site commentator He Wei also thought so. After cheering for Zhao Yang's goal, he said: "Levante is a strong outsider but a strong player! Zhao Yang scored in the first 7 minutes! I hope the Spaniard will score another one and defeat Levante."
Special, this way Zhao Yang can score more goals."
Fang Jian also said: "Playing against the vice squad leader is a good opportunity to increase the number of goals. The advantage of five goals is not big. Cristiano Ronaldo is a scoring machine. A few more goals will be safe. We have not yet seen the five major leagues in Asia.
The top scorer."
He Weidao: "The Spaniards cannot be careless. Levante is fighting against the odds. If they are attacked by surprise, the situation will not be good."