Chapter 232 Another great defeat!
November 29th, the 13th round of La Liga.
This is another round of upsets.
First, Real Sociedad was tied 2-2 by Murcia away from home, and then Real Madrid drew 1-1 with Osasuna away from home.
Both draws felt subversive.
Real Sociedad was the runner-up of La Liga last season, but this team is now ranked 17th in La Liga this season, almost falling into the relegation zone. How incredible! Real Madrid, except for Ronaldo's goal, the whole team also performed poorly.
Queiroz said this was because the team was focused on European competitions, but everyone knows that it is not that simple.
Celta Vigo did win this round, winning 1-0 away from home. These three points saved them and prevented them from falling into the relegation zone, because Albacete, who was in the 18th place in the relegation zone, also won this round.
Interestingly, among the top teams in La Liga last season, Real Sociedad ranked 17th and Celta Vigo ranked 16th. They are in the same boat, which makes people very curious. What would happen if both teams were relegated? Of course, no one would believe that such a low probability event would happen.
But the upsets continue.
Deportivo La Coruna lost 0-1 to Valencia's city rival Villarreal at home.
Mauro Silva accumulated two yellow cards in the first half and was sent off, but Villarreal did not score until the 88th minute, which caused Deportivo La Coruna to lose three points at home.
Barcelona drew 0-0 with Valladolid at home, which was also an upset.
Many of their competitors either lost or drew, which made everyone very worried about Valencia.
But more Valencia fans still expect the team to win at home. After all, this is an excellent opportunity to widen the points gap.
Fortunately, the Bat Corps did not disappoint the fans' expectations.
After the start of the first half, Valencia took advantage of its home field and launched a fierce attack on Zaragoza.
First, Sudong assisted Jorge Lopez to score a goal, then Sudong planned and Aimar assisted Vicente to score a goal.
In the 44th minute, Su Dong made another assist, helping Aimar score.
A three-goal lead in the first half laid the foundation for the team's victory, while the second half belonged to Zaragoza.
Villa and Cani scored goals successively, but Valencia held on to the end with its solid defense.
In the end, Valencia won 3-2 at home.
After this round of victory, Valencia's league lead was extended to seven points.
Real Madrid replaced Deportivo La Coruna and ranked second in the La Liga standings.
Atletico Madrid also entered the top four of the league thanks to its recent excellent form.
…………
…………
In the middle of the week, La Liga ushered in the 14th round.
After continuous battles, Valencia was exhausted. In this round, they challenged Real Sociedad away. The two sides fought hard for 90 minutes, but finally shook hands and made peace as no one could score.
The score remained zero to zero until the end of the game.
This is also the second game this season that Su Dong did not create a goal. Anyone can see that he is somewhat tired.
After all, he is one of the players with the most playing time in Valencia this season.
…
Deportivo La Coruna drew 1-1 with Valladolid away from home, while Real Madrid defeated Atletico Madrid 2-0 in the city derby thanks to goals from Ronaldo and Raul.
As a result, Valencia's lead was reduced to five points.
But the most surprising thing was Barcelona.
Rijkaard's team lost 5-1 in the away game against Malaga! This was definitely another shocking defeat! What's more terrible is that Barcelona's only goal was an own goal scored by the opponent's defender.
As soon as the game ended, the entire Spanish football world was in uproar.
Almost all Barcelona fans are calling on the club management to dismiss Rijkaard, and many fans have even publicly criticized the team, believing that many players are not worthy of wearing Barcelona jerseys.
In the absence of Ronaldinho and Puyol, Barcelona's defeat in this round was indeed horrible.
…………
…………
This weekend, the 15th round of La Liga.
Valencia will host Athletic Bilbao at home.
Just seventeen minutes into the game, Su Dong assisted Vicente to score a goal, but he himself was closely guarded by the opponent throughout the game and never got a chance.
Although Athletic Bilbao scored a goal in the second half, it was Vicente's goal in the 65th minute that put Valencia ahead again.
2-1, Valencia narrowly beat Athletic Bilbao at home.
…
Deportivo La Coruna beat Malaga 1-0 at home, and Real Madrid defeated Barcelona 2-1 away with goals from Carlos and Ronaldo.
The top three teams in the La Liga standings all won and the ranking remains unchanged.
However, Celta Vigo lost 2-3 to Osasuna away from home, and Real Sociedad lost 0-4 to Real Betis at home. Both teams fell into the relegation zone of La Liga.
What’s interesting is that the team currently at the bottom of the La Liga standings is Espanyol.
In the first fifteen rounds of this season, Espanyol only won two games and drew two games.
…………
…………
Three days later, the Champions League ushered in the final round of the group stage.
Valencia hosts Marseille at home.
Sudong failed to score a goal, but he provided another assist, helping Valencia beat Marseille 2-0 at home.
The scorers were Rufete and Aimar.
In this way, all six rounds of the group stage were played, Valencia emerged as the first in the group, followed closely by Marseille.
The last 16 have been decided, and all that remains is to see the result of UEFA's knockout draw.
…………
…………
Back to La Liga, we ushered in the 16th round of La Liga.
Valencia will challenge Real Betis away.
Both teams are good at playing on the wing. Vicente of Valencia and Joaquin of Real Betis are both the main wingers of the Spanish national team and are also the best among the European winger killers. However, the game between the two teams was unusually dull.
They are both good at playing as wingers, so naturally they are also good at restraining the opponent's wingers.
In the 18th minute, Sudong scored a goal for Valencia.
This is also his 16th La Liga goal this season.
Thanks to Su Dong's goal, Valencia won 1-0 against Real Betis away.
…
Thanks to goals from Ronaldo and Raul, Real Madrid defeated Deportivo La Coruna 2-1 at home and continued to keep pressure on Valencia.
The two teams still maintain a five-point gap and are gradually starting to widen the gap with third-placed Deportivo La Coruña.
After this defeat, Irueta's team's points gap with Real Madrid has widened to six points.
So for now, Deportivo La Coruna has little hope of winning the league title again, unless Irueta's team can put in an eye-catching performance in the second half of the season.
Barcelona defeated Espanyol 3-1 away from home and won the city derby.
But the real protagonist of the game was not the players of the two teams, but the referee Zamorano.
In the second half of the game, the Spanish referee gave red cards to the two teams in turn, just like dealing poker cards.
First, Espanyol midfielder De La Pena was sent off with a red card, and then Barcelona defender Marcos was sent off with a red card.
Immediately afterwards, Sudong's good friend Quaresma was not spared. In the 51st minute, when he was competing with the opponent's forward Tamudo, he directly knocked down his opponent, which earned him another red card.
Later, Espanyol's Soldevila, Barcelona's Cocu and Espanyol's Lobo all received red cards.
Six red cards set a record for the most red cards in a single game in La Liga history. It also raised questions about the referee Zamorano's enforcement, with some people believing that he should not have issued red cards wholesale.
After the game, many media outlets, including Marca and AS, gave Zamorano zero points for his officiating.
…………
…………
In the middle of the week, in the King's Cup round of 32 knockout match, Valencia played against Murcia at home.
The competition between the two La Liga teams also made this game the biggest highlight of this round of the King's Cup.
Valencia played with a substitute lineup. Benítez kept most of the main players including Sudon, Aimar and Vicente in the bench. Among the regular starting eleven, only Marchena and vice-captain Baraja were regular players.
But at home, Valencia performed well. Twelve minutes into the game, Mista scored the first goal for the team.
After the second half, right-back Garrido scored another goal.
In the end, Valencia defeated the visiting Murcia 2-0 at home and successfully advanced to the next round.
It is not difficult to see from this game that Benítez basically does not intend to waste his manpower in the King's Cup, because La Liga and the Champions League alone are enough to make Valencia, whose lineup is not well-equipped, run around.
The fact that Valencia was able to defeat Murcia in the King's Cup this time proves that the depth of its bench is still quite strong.
…………
…………
This weekend, the 17th round of La Liga.
This is the last game before Christmas and the winter break.
After this game, La Liga will not resume until January.
After a long period of fighting on two fronts, the entire Valencia team was extremely tired.
In this match against Sevilla, which is not very strong, the Bats played not very well despite trying their best, and even faced dangerous situations many times. Fortunately, the defense performed solidly and Cañizares was as stable as ever.
In the 61st minute, Su Dong scored a goal for Valencia.
This was also the only goal of the game.
Valencia beat Sevilla 1-0 thanks to Su Dong's goal.
…
In the other few games, Deportivo La Coruna reversed Espanyol 2-1.
Real Madrid reversed Real Mallorca 3-1 away from home. Real Madrid killer Eto'o did not score in this game. Raul, Ronaldo and Figo scored for Real Madrid.
Among the strong teams, only Barcelona drew 1-1 with Celta Vigo at home, and they even equalized the score in the 69th minute thanks to a free kick opportunity.
Barcelona's performance is still unsatisfactory.
Everyone is wondering whether Rijkaard will be dismissed around Christmas. The call came at 3am! Thanks to the technicians from the power company for repairing the system overnight! I was half asleep at the time, and the first thing that came to my mind after hearing the call was to update...
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
