On October 22, in the third round of the Champions League group stage, Valencia challenged Club Brugge of Belgium away from home.
After ninety minutes of fierce battle, the Bat Legion suffered its first defeat of the season.
After 31 crazy shots in the away game, they unexpectedly lost 0-1.
Brugge created a very solid iron barrel formation at their home court and simply did not give Valencia the slightest chance.
Su Dong was very active in this game and was the biggest highlight of Valencia's frontcourt. Whether it was one-on-one or an impact on the defense, as a high center forward, Su Dong's performance was remarkable.
But unfortunately, the opponent had almost all eleven players huddled in the penalty area, leaving Su Dong helpless.
Zero to one, Valencia lost away.
In another match held at the same time, Marseille defeated Inter Milan 1-0.
The Nerazzurri lost again in this round after drawing 0-0 away to Club Brugge in the previous round.
Head coach Cooper was also announced to be fired by Inter Milan president Moratti on the night of the game, and his successor was Zaccheroni.
This also triggered a strong earthquake in European football.
Although his performance as coach of Inter Milan is not very satisfactory and he is known as the second best coach in the world, Cooper is still a famous coach in Europe.
With Cooper's dismissal, the future of Inter Milan's star black hole has become increasingly unpredictable.
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Over the weekend, the eighth round of La Liga.
Valencia, which had been on a roll and won seven consecutive victories, finally came to a halt at the Riazor Stadium.
In this strong dialogue, Deportivo La Coruna, playing at home, took a 1-0 lead with Belleron's goal in just 16 minutes.
This was a corner kick attack. After Canizares hit the ball, it was pushed back to the goal by the opponent's player. Belleron hit with his left foot from the right side of the small penalty area.
Like David Silva, this Spanish attacking midfielder from the Canary Islands has played a vital and soulful role in the Deportivo La Coruña team this season and performed very well.
Valencia's most threatening attack came in the 28th minute.
At that time, the team launched an offensive from the right, but Rufitt failed to catch up in time. Aimar was forced to break through with the ball and cross to the penalty area.
Su Dong was already in place to respond, but Aimar's pass lacked quality and was directly picked off by goalkeeper Molina, who missed an excellent scoring opportunity.
After changing sides in the second half, Deportivo played more cautiously.
Benitez also realized that after the team continued to play, the overall condition of the players was not ideal, so he immediately made substitutions.
Mista replaced Rufet, and the team switched to a 442 play style, with Aimar appearing on the right.
It is obvious that Benitez's intention is to liberate Soviet East again.
Just five minutes later, Su Dong received a pass from Alberda on the left and made a beautiful wall-to-wall coordination with Vicente. Using his speed, he forced a breakthrough to right back Pablo and passed the ball low in front of the baseline.
Go to the door.
Mista followed up in the middle and calmly pushed the shot in front of the goal, one to one!
This is Su Dong's first assist in La Liga this season!
But unfortunately, just seven minutes after the goal, Tristan, who came on as a substitute for only one minute, scored with a direct free kick and scored again for Deportivo.
In the end, Valencia regrettably lost 1-2 in the away game.
This is the Bats' first defeat in La Liga this season.
At the same time, Su Dong's record of scoring in seven consecutive rounds this season was terminated.
More importantly, after losing this round, Valencia and Deportivo both had seven wins and one loss in eight games. The goal difference between the two teams was the same, but Irueta's team relied on
With their superior performance against each other, they defeated Valencia and made a counterattack to reach the top.
This has also caused Valencia, which has occupied the top spot for a long time this season, Sudong, who has scored consecutive goals, and even midfielder Aimar, to be involved in media controversy after the game.
…
Time of possession: 50.2:49.8, same number of shots, same number of fouls.
The final score was two to one.
When Aspen analyzed the La Liga top spot after the game, it regretted Valencia's defeat.
They believe that the Riazor Stadium is one of the most terrifying home stadiums in La Liga. In many cases, it is even scarier than the Bernabeu and Camp Nou. When Deportivo faced Valencia in the game, they did not show much in the sports battle.
Effective method.
The team's top scorer Pandiani was misfired throughout the game, which is the best proof.
"Irueta's team wins because of their efficiency. They scored two set-piece goals and Valencia didn't even get a point in the away game."
Aspen newspaper believes that the two-front battle still has an impact on Valencia. Benitez's team was already a little tired when they played Bruges away from home, and now they play away from home and their performance is indeed poor.
"Aimar is indeed talented, but in this midfield showdown between the Joker and the Magician, the Argentinian player's performance was not stable enough. On the contrary, it was Belleron who played an important role at the critical moment."
"Su Dong is one of the few bright spots in the Valencia team."
"In the first half, due to the overall performance of the team and the defensive stance at the tactical level, Su Dong did not perform very well, but in the second half, as Valencia gradually opened up the situation, Su Dong also gained more
He had many performance opportunities and proved his strength with one assist."
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Valencia captain Alberda directly targeted the referee after the game, believing that Deportivo's first goal was illegal because Belleron fouled Valencia goalkeeper Canizares.
First.
"Obviously, he was influenced by the fanatical fans at home. It was clearly Belleron who fouled our goalkeeper, but as a result, he not only ruled that the goal was valid, but also gave our protesting goalkeeper a yellow card. I can't
Understand the logic."
Albelda's anger is understandable, because without that conceded goal, the game would have gone completely different.
Head coach Benitez was also dissatisfied with Belleron's goal, thinking it was a foul.
"Frankly speaking, the two goals conceded were both set pieces, which makes me feel very sorry, especially the second goal conceded. We played very well at that time, but the opponent took a direct free kick through our goal."
"In addition, my players told me that Belleron fouled Canizares before the goal, but the referee turned a blind eye to it."
Valencia's protest was also recognized by the media after the game.
Marca mentioned in the review that Belleron did foul Canizares before scoring.
"But the referee obviously didn't notice this, so the penalty was valid."
But no matter what, Marca still believes that Valencia has experienced a decline in form after experiencing seven consecutive victories at the beginning of the season, and gave up its position as the leader of La Liga at the Riazor Stadium. This requires bats.
The Legion sounded the alarm.
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Regarding the current situation of the team, the Valencia management and coaching staff convened an impromptu meeting with the players to discuss.
The team currently has no problems, but the main reason is the ups and downs caused by multi-front operations.
In order to better stimulate the players' condition and enhance the team's ambition to win the league championship, the management has given a championship prize of 6 million euros. As long as the team can win La Liga, this bonus will be cashed to the first team.
players.
Not only that, because the team also participated in the King's Cup and the Champions League, the management also gave bonuses successively.
Among them, the goal of the Champions League is the knockout rounds. As long as you can stand out from the group stage and enter the knockout round of the top 16, you can get a bonus of two million euros. If the results are better, the bonus can be increased.
The rewards from the management have indeed stimulated the team and the players' enthusiasm has been improved.
But it's really hard to say about player status.
Especially three days after playing Deportivo La Coruña, the team welcomed another La Liga powerhouse, Celta Vigo, at home.
This team is not afraid of Valencia at all, because Benitez has never defeated Celta Vigo, with a total score of five draws, two losses, and no win.
Not only that, last season, Celta Vigo was the source of Valencia's penalty kick curse. In the game against them, Baraja missed two penalty kicks, which caused Valencia's subsequent entire penalty kick.
No penalty kicks were scored this season.
After losing to Deportivo La Coruna, they welcome Celta Vigo at home, which undoubtedly makes people worried about Valencia's prospects.
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On the evening of October 29th, Valencia Mestania Stadium.
In the ninth round of La Liga, Valencia faced Celta Vigo at home.
This is not Valencia's lucky day.
First, captain Albelda was suspended due to accumulation of yellow cards, and then left winger Vicente injured his ankle due to an infringement by the opponent's defender after playing for only 30 minutes.
Before the end of the first half, Carboni and Canobbio, who came on the bench, collided with each other, and Aimar hit a header from the center.
But the situation suddenly changed in the second half. First, Celta Vigo midfielder Hersuli broke through and crossed from the wing. The rookie Navarro stopped the ball in a hurry and gave it to his opponent, who volleyed hard to equalize the score.
Then it was Hesuli who forced a break through Marchena and scored with his left foot, giving Celta Vigo the lead.
Two minutes later, Canobbio's shot luckily hit the post and bounced into the goal.
Two to two!
The game was inextricable.
Everyone can see that Valencia, playing at home, is not in its best condition and has long lost the energy it had at the start of the league.
Mista, who replaced Sudong, also failed to help the team in the game.
On the other hand, Celta Vigo played very aggressively. In the first 70 minutes of the game, the referee showed six yellow cards, all of which were given to Celta Vigo.
This shows the intensity of this game.
The time is about to jump to seventy minutes, and there is not much time left for Valencia.
Could it be said that losing to Deportivo in the away game is enough, and returning home, they will be tied by Celta Vigo, continuing the curse of Celta Vigo for many years?
The fans of the home team in Mestania cheered for the team one after another, and many fans of the Bat Legion were even calling for the replacement of the head coach, especially Su Dong.
