Juventus is the well-deserved Serie A hegemon. By last season, they had won the Serie A championship for five consecutive seasons.
However, in the Champions League last season, Juventus performed poorly and was eliminated by Bayern when they reached 8 out of 16.
During the offseason, Juventus was recruiting players in the transfer market while frequently participating in various friendly matches in the Guinness Cup.
Juventus has a well-organized staff and a stable lineup. After beating West Ham United 3-2 in the last friendly match, Juventus has four wins and one draw in the past five warm-up matches, and is in excellent condition.
However, Juventus's defense is obviously not as strict as before, conceding goals in 2 Guinness Cup games and 2 friendly matches.
Although Espanyol and Juventus are not on the same level, Espanyol has been in good shape recently. If they perform exceptionally, they may not have no chance of winning.
After playing the game against Everton and taking a day off in Liverpool, the Espanyol team took a flight to Modena, the engine capital of Italy, to prepare for the warm-up match against Juventus.
Modena is a tourist attraction and historical city in northern Italy. It is also the location of the headquarters of many luxury cars such as Maserati, Pagani, and Ferrari.
The game against Juventus is the last warm-up match for the Espanyol team. In four days, the Espanyol team will go to the Champions League to prepare for the Champions League play-offs against Monaco.
The Champions League play-offs will be played in four days, and this warm-up match against Juventus can only be a warm-up.
After arriving in Modena, the Espanyol players were in a very relaxed mood. Instead of adapting to the venue, they first went to visit the most famous Roman Dome Cathedral in Modena.
Watching the beautiful scenery and admiring the famous cars, the Espanyol players happily played in the city of Modena all afternoon, and then went to the Alberto Stadium in Modena to play on the field the next day.
Juventus's influence in Italy is not comparable to that of Espanyol's previous opponents. Even if it is a warm-up match, it is not Juventus's home court. When Espanyol steps on the field, thousands of fans come to watch.
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The Alberto Stadium can only accommodate 20,000 fans, but on the day of the game, the stands of the stadium were almost full.
Not all the fans in the stands are Juventus fans, there are also many fans who come to watch the Espanyol game. The Espanyol team has little influence and appeal, and the fans mainly come to watch Zhao Yang.
The Espanyol team doesn't care too much about the result of the game, but playing against an established giant like Juventus is definitely of great training value, and everyone in the Espanyol team attaches great importance to it.
This was the last warm-up match for the Espanyol team, and Sergio once again tried the striker combination.
The diligent Baptisto and the lazy Reyes partnered up front, and Zhao Yang moved into Reyes' previous position as an attacking midfielder.
Behind Zhao Yang are 8-Piatti, 11-Diop, 4-Victor Sanchez, 7-Perez;
The four defenders are: 3-r-Duarte, 4-Demichelis, 5-Alvaro, 2-Lopez
The Spaniard's back line has also been adjusted, and newly joined Argentinian center back Demichelis also got a chance to start.
Demichelis, 36, is a free agent like Reyes.
Young Demichelis is a world-class central defender, but now Sergio doesn't know how much gas he still has in the tank, so he can only observe it through this warm-up match.
Except for Higuain who has just joined and may not have a tacit understanding with his teammates, the others are all veterans of Juventus who have won five consecutive championships.
The first to kick off was the Espanyol team.
Facing a giant like Juventus, the Espanyol team did not have any psychological burden and started attacking with ease from the start.
The Juventus players did not expect the Spaniard to play so openly, but they had experienced many battles and did not panic. They almost always retreated calmly, leaving the midfield, defending well, and waiting for opportunities to counterattack.
Zhao Yang is the starting point of the Espanyol team's offense.
Juventus retreated, compressing Espanyol's offensive space. The Espanyol players passed the ball to Zhao Yang, allowing him to organize the attack and tear open Juventus' defense.
Zhao Yang is such a popular player that even giants like Juventus dare not look down upon him.
Before this game, Juventus head coach Allegri emphasized the defense against Zhao Yang and conducted drills based on Zhao Yang's technical characteristics.
However, under the focused defense of Juventus players, Zhao Yang still showed his strong strength as the top scorer in La Liga.
In the 2nd minute of the game, Alvarez passed the ball, Zhao Yang turned around to catch the ball, knocked his heel, and penetrated the crotch of Pereira who was marking him.
Pereira was very experienced. After being crotched, he did not turn around in a hurry, but reached out and grabbed Zhao Yang's jersey.
Sure enough, after Zhao Yang penetrated the crotch, he turned around and tried to get rid of Pereira, but was pulled so hard by Pereira that his center of gravity became unstable and he fell to the ground.
The referee on duty gave Pereira a verbal warning and gave the Espanyol a free kick in the frontcourt.
The free kick was a bit far from the goal, almost thirty-five meters away.
This distance was no longer suitable for direct shooting, but Zhao Yang did not let it pass to other teammates. He stood in front of the ball, preparing to take the penalty.
After Marco returned to Real Madrid, Zhao Yang became the Espanyol's number one set-kick and penalty-kick taker. If he refused, the others would have to step aside.
The free kick tactics have all been rehearsed before the game. Everyone came to the penalty area and took their positions in a tacit understanding, ready to grab points.
Zhao Yang chose a long-distance run-up, as if he was going to shoot directly.
However, Buffon didn't believe it at all. He thought Zhao Yang was bluffing. From this distance, facing a goalkeeper of his level, it was impossible for Zhao Yang to shoot directly.
Not only Buffon thinks so, but other players also think so.
However, Zhao Yang ran in front of the ball and shot directly with a "tiger style" shot. The ball did not spin at all and flew straight towards the goal like a cannonball.
The angle is not tricky, but the speed is extremely fast!
If the goalkeeper is not focused enough, it is not impossible to score a goal.
Buffon had a look of shock and anger on his face.
This ball was beyond Buffon's expectation. He thought Zhao Yang would pass the ball.
However, it is impossible for such a shot to break through Buffon's fingers. In Buffon's view, it is almost a provocation.
Even though Buffon is 38 years old, he still reacts very quickly. He is tall and covers a wide area. He leaps forward and hits the ball with one palm.
In the process of flying into the air, Buffon felt the terrifying power of the ball. He turned his palm into a fist and used his fist to hit the ball out of the baseline.
The ball flew out of the baseline. Buffon touched his fist and felt a little palpitating.
The ball was so powerful that if he had just used his fingertips, he might have been injured.