Chapter 217 Celta Curse [Third explosion, begging for monthly ticket subscription! ]
On October 22, in the third round of the Champions League group stage, Valencia challenged Bruges of Belgium away.
After ninety minutes of fierce battle, the Bats suffered their first defeat of the season.
After 31 crazy shots on goal away from home, they unfortunately lost 0-1.
Bruges built a very solid iron bucket formation in its home stadium and did not give Valencia any chance at all.
Su Dong was very active in this game and was the biggest highlight in Valencia's frontcourt. Whether it was one-on-one or impacting the defense, as a center forward, Su Dong's performance was remarkable.
But unfortunately, the opponent almost trapped all eleven players in the penalty area, leaving Su Dong helpless.
0-1, Valencia lost away.
In another match that took place at the same time, Marseille defeated Inter Milan 1-0.
The Nerazzurri lost again in this round after drawing 0-0 with Bruges away in the previous round.
Head coach Cooper was also fired by Inter Milan chairman Moratti on the night of the game, and his successor was Zaccheroni.
This also caused a strong earthquake in European football.
Although his results as coach of Inter Milan were not very ideal and he was known as the perennial runner-up, Cooper is, after all, a famous European coach.
With Cooper's dismissal, the future of Inter Milan, this star black hole, has become increasingly unpredictable.
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This weekend, the eighth round of La Liga.
Valencia, which had been unstoppable all the way and won seven consecutive games, finally stopped at the Riazor Stadium.
In this powerful dialogue, Deportivo La Coruña, playing at home, took the lead 1-0 with a goal from Valeron just 16 minutes into the game.
This was a corner kick. After Cañizares kicked the ball out, it was headed back to the front of the goal by the opponent's player. Belleron shot with his left foot from the right side of the small penalty area and scored.
This Spanish attacking midfielder, who like David Silva is from the Canary Islands, has played a vital soul role in the Deportivo La Coruna team this season and has performed quite well.
Valencia's most threatening attack came in the 28th minute.
At that time, the team launched an attack from the right, Rufet failed to catch up in time, and Aimar was forced to dribble the ball and pass it into the penalty area.
Su Dong had already run to the position to receive the ball, but Aimar's pass lacked quality and was directly picked up by the goalkeeper Molina who came out, missing a great scoring opportunity.
After the second half, Deportivo La Coruña played more cautiously.
Benítez also realized that the players' overall condition was not ideal after the team's continuous battles, and made substitutions immediately.
Mista replaced Rufete and the team switched to a 4-4-2 formation, with Aimar appearing on the right.
It is obvious that Benítez's intention is to liberate the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe again.
Just five minutes later, it was Su Dong who received a pass from Albelda on the left and made a beautiful wall pass to Vicente. He used his speed to break through right-back Pablo and passed a low ball to the front of the goal in front of the baseline.
Mista followed up with the ball in the middle and calmly shot the ball in front of the goal, making it one to one!
This was Su Dong's first assist in La Liga this season! Unfortunately, just seven minutes after the goal, Tristan, who had been on the bench for only one minute, scored with a direct free kick and scored again for Deportivo La Coruna.
In the end, Valencia lost 1-2 away from home.
This was the Batsmen's first defeat in La Liga this season.
At the same time, it also ended Su Dong's record of scoring seven consecutive goals this season.
More importantly, after this round of losses, Valencia and Deportivo La Coruna both have seven wins and one loss in eight games, and the two teams have the same goal difference, but Irueta's team relied on the advantage of the head-to-head record to overtake Valencia and counterattack to the top.
This also caused Valencia, which has been at the top of the table for a long time this season, as well as Sudon who scored consecutive goals, and even midfielder Aimar, to be caught up in media controversy after the game.
…
Possession time: 50.2:49.8, same number of shots, same number of fouls.
The final score was two to one.
When analyzing the La Liga top battle after the game, AS expressed regret over Valencia's defeat.
They believe that the Riazor Stadium is one of the most terrifying home stadiums in La Liga, and is often even more terrifying than the Bernabeu and Camp Nou. When Deportivo La Coruna faced Valencia in the game, they did not come up with very effective methods in the open play.
The best proof is that the team's top scorer Pandiani was silent throughout the game.
"Irueta's team won by being efficient. They scored two goals from set pieces and prevented Valencia from getting even one point away from home."
AS believes that fighting on two fronts has had an impact on Valencia. Benítez's team was already a little tired when playing away against Bruges, and now playing away again, their performance is indeed poor.
"Aimar is indeed gifted, but in this midfield duel between the Joker and the Magician, the Argentine player was not stable enough. Instead, it was Valeron who played an important role at the critical moment."
"Sudon is one of the few bright spots in the Valencia team."
"In the first half, due to the team's overall performance and the defensive tactical stance, Su Dong did not perform very well. But in the second half, as Valencia gradually opened up the situation, Su Dong also got more opportunities to perform and proved his strength with an assist."
…
Valencia captain Albelda directed his criticism at the referee after the game, believing that Deportivo La Coruna's first goal was illegal because Belleron fouled Valencia goalkeeper Cañizares first.
"It's obvious that he was influenced by the fanatical home fans. It was clearly Valeron who fouled our goalkeeper, but in the end, he not only ruled the goal valid, but also gave our protesting goalkeeper a yellow card. I can't understand this logic."
Albelda's anger is understandable because without that goal, the game would have gone in a completely different direction.
Head coach Benítez was also unhappy with Valeron's goal, believing it was a foul.
"To be honest, both goals were from set pieces, which makes me feel very sorry, especially the second one. We played very well at the time, but the opponent scored a direct free kick into our goal."
"Also, my players told me that Valerón fouled Cañizares before the goal, but the referee turned a blind eye to it."
Valencia's protest was also recognized by the media after the game.
In the review, Marca mentioned that before Belleron scored, he did foul Cañizares.
"But the referee obviously didn't notice that, so the goal was awarded as valid."
But no matter what, Marca still believes that Valencia's form has declined after experiencing seven consecutive wins at the beginning of the season, and they gave up the lead in La Liga at the Riazor Stadium. This requires the Bats to sound the alarm.
…
Regarding the team's recent situation, the Valencia management and coaching staff convened a temporary meeting with the players to discuss.
The team currently has no problems, the main problem is the ups and downs in performance caused by fighting on multiple fronts.
In order to better stimulate the players' condition and enhance the team's ambition to regain the league title, the management offered a 6 million euro championship bonus. As long as the team can win the La Liga championship, this bonus will be paid to the first-team players.
Not only that, since the team also participated in the King's Cup and the Champions League, the management also gave bonuses one after another.
Among them, the goal of the Champions League is the knockout stage. As long as you can stand out from the group stage and enter the round of 16, you can get a bonus of 2 million euros. If the result is better, the bonus can be increased.
The rewards from management have indeed stimulated the team and boosted the players' enthusiasm.
But it’s really hard to say about the players’ condition.
Especially three days after playing against Deportivo La Coruna, the team welcomed another La Liga powerhouse, Celta Vigo, at home.
This team is not afraid of Valencia at all, because Benítez has never defeated Celta Vigo, with an overall record of five draws and two losses, without a single win.
Not only that, last season, Celta Vigo was the source of Valencia's penalty curse. In the game against them, Baraja missed two penalties, which caused Valencia to fail to score any penalties for the entire season.
After losing to Deportivo La Coruna, Valencia will face Celta Vigo at home, which undoubtedly makes people worry about their prospects.
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On the evening of October 29th, Valencia Mestalla Stadium.
In the ninth round of La Liga, Valencia faced Celta Vigo at home.
This was not a lucky day for Valencia.
First, captain Albelda was suspended due to accumulated yellow cards, and then left winger Vicente only played for 30 minutes before he was injured in the ankle due to the foul of the opponent's defender.
Before the end of the first half, Carbone and Canobbio, who came on as a substitute, made a wall pass and Aimar headed the ball into the goal from the center.
But the situation changed suddenly in the second half. First, Celta Vigo midfielder Jesuli broke through the wing and made a cross. Rookie Navarro hurriedly stopped the ball and gave it to the opponent, who volleyed the ball to equalize the score.
Then it was Hesuli who broke through Marchena and shot with his left foot to help Celta Vigo reverse the score.
Two minutes later, Canobbio's shot luckily hit the post and bounced into the goal.
2-2! The game was too close to decide.
Anyone can see that Valencia, playing at home, is not in the best condition and has long lost the aggressiveness it had at the start of the league.
Mista, who replaced Su Dong in the starting lineup, was also unable to score for the team in the game.
On the other hand, Celta Vigo played very aggressively. In the first seventy minutes of the game, the referee showed six yellow cards, all to Celta Vigo.
This shows how intense this game is.
The time was about to enter the 70th minute, and there was not much time left for Valencia.
Did they lose to Deportivo La Coruna away from home, but were tied by Celta Vigo at home? The fans of the Mestalla team cheered for the team, and many fans of the Bats even called for a change of head coach, especially Su Dong.
"Change to Su Dong!"
"We need him!"
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(End of this chapter)
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