The green devil

The draw against underdog Utrecht in the first warm-up match is a good thing for the Espanyol.

At the press conference after the game, Espanyol coach Sergio said that the score should be underestimated. The warm-up match is to run the team and find problems, so you don't need to care too much about the outcome.

Sergio pointed out the problems of the team. The players entered the state too slowly, with too little cooperation, and the midfielder's interception was not strong enough, and they were easily hit near the penalty area by the opponent.

It is normal for these problems to exist at the beginning of the season, and the warm-up match is to discover and solve these problems.

Two days later, the Spaniards came to Almere, a small town near Amsterdam.

In this small town, the Espanyol team will usher in their second warm-up match opponent Almere City.

Almere City was established in 2001 and is a Dutch second team.

With the status and reputation of the Espanyol team, it seems a bit cheap to play a Dutch second team.

But the warm-up match is not that the stronger the opponent, the better.

Although the opponent is too strong, you can see your own defensive problems, but it is difficult to see the problems in offense.

In order to compete against a strong team, the Espanyol team may not have many chances to attack at all.

Playing against an underdog like Almere City, the Spaniard just happened to practice and look for problems in the offense.

Almere has a population of 18. In the eyes of Chinese people, this is a small town.

In fact, Almere is the eighth largest city in the Netherlands.

There were not many fans watching the match against a Eredivisie team like Utrecht. In the match against Almere City, no fans came except for the fans of Alcheng.

There are almost [-] to [-] fans in the stands at home, among which Zhao Yang's Chinese fans account for almost half of the total fans.

After the start of the game, the Spaniards, who took the lead to kick off, were still not excited.

As a team playing in the UEFA Champions League, it is actually a great time to play against the Dutch second team.

The Chinese fans who came to watch were dumbfounded.

In the eyes of these Chinese fans, the Espanyol team can play inextricably against giants like Real Madrid and Barcelona, ​​and playing against a team like Almere City should be completely crushed.

Is this the so-called meeting the weak is not strong and meeting the strong is not weak?

Chinese fans thought to themselves.

Although on the scene, Almere City and the Espanyol team played well, but there is a big gap between the two sides in seizing opportunities.

Almere City was able to intercept the pass in the midfield, but once the ball hit the frontcourt, the pass and cut cooperation could not be played, and only the bottom pass was left.

The problems of the Espanyol players playing in Utrecht still exist, but there is a big gap between the tactical literacy players of the Eredivisie and the Eredivisie. It is difficult for Almere City to limit the Espanyol's breakthrough in the frontcourt.

Less than 5 minutes into the game, the Spaniard had a good chance to shoot.

Espanyol's starting striker Baptistan broke through and crossed to Zhao Yang.

Zhao Yang catches the ball and dunks past the defender, taking advantage of the opportunity to volley.

Even if it's too late to accumulate strength, Zhao Yang's kick poses a big threat, because the angle is very tricky,

The goalkeeper of Almere City knew how good Zhao Yang was. He was very focused and flew to save the ball at the first time, saving the ball over the baseline.

In the subsequent corner kick, Zhao Yang grabbed the spot again, but under the interference of the defensive players, Zhao Yang was not good enough, the ball was higher than the crossbar,

After two shots, the city of Almere finally matched Zhao Yang in front of him with the legendary big devil.

Therefore, it will be difficult for Zhao Yang to have one-on-one chances. Once he gets the ball, Marseille will have players to help defend.

Almere City focuses on defending Zhao Yang, and Baptistan and midfielder Reyes on the front line have more room to move.

In the 15th minute of the game, Reyes made a diagonal pass to Baptistan, and he immediately stepped forward.

Baptistan dribbled the ball into the corner of the penalty area and wanted to shoot directly, but the defender followed closely, he couldn't find a chance to kick, he was almost at the bottom line, and the shooting angle was already very small, so he barely shot. It was also blocked by the defender out of the bottom line.

Reyes, who followed up, has already reached the penalty area. If Baptistan passes back, he has a great chance of scoring.

Seeing Baptistan shoot, Reyes spread his hands, looking very helpless.

Baptistan gave Reyes a thumbs up apologetically, saying that he didn't see him.

The head coach Sergio on the sidelines kept shaking his head, but there was nothing he could do about it. This was because the players spent a short time together and didn't know where their teammates were moving.

There is no other way but to let them train more and compete more together.

Even if they don't cooperate tacitly, Zhao Yang, Reyes, and Baptistan are not something that the Dutch second defenders can restrain.

In the 27th minute of the game, the Espanyol team intercepted the ball in the midfield. Zhao Yang, Reyes and Baptistan fired three arrows and quickly rushed towards the penalty area of ​​Almere City.

It was the new aid Jurado who advanced with the ball in the middle.

Jurado didn't have much desire to score goals, he kept watching the movements of the attacking trio up front.

The only open space is Reyes, but Reyes is right in front of Jurado, and it doesn't make much sense for Jurado to give him.

Baptistan's previous handling of the ball made Jurado uneasy about him, so Jurado passed the ball to Zhao Yang.

Jurado made an oblique pass, and Zhao Yang could directly pass the ball to the bottom.

But Zhao Yang didn't do that. He dunked the ball, flicked it horizontally, and cut to the penalty area.

This action was beyond the expectation of the guard who was following Zhao Yang, he hurriedly stopped and chased back and forth.

Zhao Yang's movements were fast, and the defender was left behind, so he could only chase desperately.

Seeing that Zhao Yang had reached the front of the penalty area, the central defender of Almere hurried over to defend and pinched Zhao Yang.

There was an interception in the front, and there was a chase behind. The goalkeeper was also moving quickly to the near corner, ready to block Zhao Yang's shot.

At this time, Zhao Yang seemed to have no choice but to force a shot or pass back to the midfielder.

However, Zhao Yang made the most impossible choice and dunked the ball into the penalty area.

The defender who was chasing and blocking was unexpectedly shaken and almost fell to the ground.

The goalkeeper was taken aback, and rushed out to catch the ball at Zhao Yang's feet.

Zhao Yang didn't do any fancy moves anymore, he tilted his body, pushed his arch, and pushed the ball to the far corner.

It was too late for the goalkeeper to fall to the ground, and he subconsciously stretched out his foot to block it, but he couldn't reach it. The ball flew into the lower right corner of the goal against his toes.

1:0

Espanyol leads Almere City.

Zhao Yang scored the second goal of the warm-up match.

Zhao Yang's goal was a bit unique.

It was originally a bottom pass, but it was so complicated by Zhao Yang.

but!

The ball is in!

Goals are the last word!

No one can blame a goal scorer.

Newcomers such as Reyes, Baptistan and Jurado complained, but they had to admire Zhao Yang's extraordinary ability and shooting skills.

In that situation, being able to finish the shot calmly and accurately is really beyond the reach of ordinary people.