The green devil

Levante, which had a poor record, needed a scapegoat. The resignation of coach Lucas was immediately approved, and Levante announced Ruby as the firefighting coach of the Levante team the next day.

The 45-year-old Ruby served as an assistant coach in Barcelona in the 2013-14 season. He coached Valladolid in the second division last season.

Judging from his resume, Ruby is a very suitable coach for the middle and lower reaches of La Liga. He is definitely not a firefighting coach who is just looking for.

Originally, after the first two games, the Spaniard had already figured out the details of Levante. He won a big victory in the league and his morale was already full. The third game is very sure to advance.

But now that Levante has a new coach, they don't know the team's style of play, morale, or even the lineup. It's like confronting a new opponent.

Meeting on a narrow road, who can win, who will advance, has become blurred again.

The second leg of the fourth round of the Copa del Rey was played at the Espanyol's home stadium El Prat.

Before the game, the new Levante coach Ruby made his first appearance at the press conference.

Regarding this Copa del Rey game, Ruby said: "Our current league ranking is very poor, and relegation is our most important task this season. Of course, this does not mean that the Copa del Rey is not important. If the Copa del Rey can be won, it will be against the ball. The morale of the team will be greatly improved."

Against the opponent Espanyol, Ruby said: "The Espanyol is a strong team and their form has been very good recently. It is very difficult to play against the Espanyol, but our goal at the El Prat Stadium is to win , and advance.”

Regarding the Levante team, Ruby said: "Levante is a very strong team. They can often beat giants such as Atletico Madrid, Barcelona and Real Madrid. I am very proud to be able to coach this team. I'm sure the team will finish the season well."

Regarding the team's lineup and style of play, Ruby said: "I will not stick to one formation and style of play. We will make slight changes in the formation every game. As long as it is beneficial to the team, we will continue to do so. Do, we need to be more flexible in formation. The starting lineup has not been determined yet, don't worry, you will know before the game."

Espanyol head coach Sergio.Gonzalez is very cautious. He said that in the past two games against Levante, the Spaniard played very well and reached the goal in both games, but this time is different. This is a decisive game. Contest.One mistake can lose the whole game.With a new coach at Levante and uncertain morale, we must remain cautiously optimistic.

Naturally, Sergio can't be too humble, and destroys his morale. He said that Zhao Yang's goal in the away game is very important. He gave the Spaniard the initiative in the game, which is also the biggest advantage of the Spaniard in this game. .

Espanyol was the first team to play the second leg of the fourth round of the Copa del Rey, and they also kicked off at the same time as Deportivo and Sporting Gijon.

Although it was a game that decided to advance, head coach Sergio still did not fully use the league lineup. The goalkeeper came on as a substitute for Bardi, and the striker continued to practice the combination of Zhao Yang, Moreno and Caicedo.

Levante's starting lineup is also different from the previous league and cup games. Obviously, Ruby also used this game to practice the formation.

But no matter what kind of lineup Ruby is on, he wants to win. This is Ruby's first game. If he can win against a strong team like the Spaniard, Ruby's prestige and persuasion in the team The strength immediately increased.

After the start of the game, the Espanyol team did not take the initiative to attack because they had the advantage of away goals. Instead, they fought hard in the midfield and waited for the Levante team to attack.

Although Levante suffered a disastrous defeat to the Espanyol in the last game, after the coaching change, the players were in good spirits and were very active in running. Several newly replaced players had a stronger desire to perform.

In the 5th minute of the game, Levante first created a shot opportunity.

David.Navarro took the ball straight to the core of the team, Reuven. Reuven stopped very spiritually, tapped his heel, and passed a single-handed ball to forward Davis.

Davis didn't seem to realize that, running a bit slower, he was chased by defender Alvaro when he shot, interfered a bit, the ball had no strength and was confiscated by goalkeeper Baldi.

Two minutes later, the Espanyol team also launched a counterattack. Moreno quickly advanced on the wing and was intercepted by the opponent in the middle.

Moreno's pass to Zhao Yang was also cut off.

Moreno can only pass Diop back and reorganize the offense.

In this way, the speed of counterattack is reduced.

There is no difference between counterattack without speed and fighting positional warfare.

Judging from this counterattack, Levante's new coach Ruby watched the Spaniard defeat Levante by a big score and made targeted deployments.

Ruby is the former assistant coach of Barcelona. He is very familiar with the 433 formation and naturally knows the disadvantages of the 433 formation.

But the Spaniards are not in a hurry, they are not relying on the 433 formation, but a quick counterattack.They have the initiative and are not afraid that Levante will not attack.

Levante's new coach took office and changed to a new style of play. The morale of the players has improved. They all want to show in front of the new coach, but they don't understand the tactics enough and make frequent mistakes. This also gave the Spaniard more opportunities to counterattack.

In the 15th minute of the game, Levante made a mistake in the frontcourt, and the ball was shoveled to the midfielder Diop by the central defender.

Diop passed Zhao Yang directly, and Zhao Yang dribbled the ball straight into the Levante penalty area.

Zhao Yang waded the ball a lot, and it seemed that he was not going to pass the ball, as if he wanted to single out two central defenders and a midfielder.

Seeing that Zhao Yang was getting closer and closer to the penalty area, Levante's central defender Fedal finally lost his patience and went forward early, ready to intercept the ball with the midfielder.

Zhao Yang suddenly made a diagonal pass and gave the ball to Caicedo who moved laterally.

Levante's central defenders and midfielders were all focused on Zhao Yang, but they didn't notice that Caicedo moved sideways, as if the full-backs hadn't caught up.

The midfielder Victor hurried over to defend Caicedo.

At this time, Zhao Yang suddenly walked to the side, and switched positions with Caicedo.

At this time, Levante's defense was a little messed up, and Fedal didn't know whether to follow.

At this moment, Caicedo suddenly handed the ball to Zhao Yang.

Zhao Yang took a step, adjusted his step, and shot a burst.

Zhao Yang's shot was powerful and heavy, like a cannonball, and went straight to the near corner of the goal.

The angle of this shot is extremely tricky, and it was still a close corner. The goalkeeper Martinez was originally defending in the middle, so he could only watch the ball into the net before it was too late.

1:0

The Spaniard took the lead at home.