Sporting Gijón won 2-1 at home to arch-rivals Espanyol in the fourth round of La Liga. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

This promoted polo team, which lost two consecutive games in the opening of La Liga, began to rebound, and counting this game, it is already two consecutive league wins.

Espanyol is not a weak team, this Barcelona team, although not as bright as their city rivals Barcelona, but also, is also a strong team in La Liga, this game was very difficult, but Sporting Gijón won the game, which only shows that this promoted polo team is currently in good shape.

And the 16-year-old 275-day-old French teenager Karim Benzema, who scored the winning goal for Sporting Gijón, also made his name appear in the Spanish media for the first time.

Although the first appearance, the first league goal, can not make Benzema famous, or to attract the attention of other giants, but, for this French boy, it is indeed a battle to become famous, at the very least, in the future Sporting Gijón may face the opponent's head coach on the tactical board, his Benzema's name, will also attract a certain degree of attention, the opponent coach will not forget that Sporting Gijón has such a more threatening rookie.

The local media in Gijón praised Benzema very much, the media always likes to praise and even praise the rookie, and the emergence of young talents is always exciting and exciting.

"Coach Leon brought Karim Benzema from Lyon, and his vision is still so precise, at the age of 16 and 275 days, Benzema's goal against Espanyol was invaluable...... We heard Coach Leon jokingly ask Benzema if he had done his autograph, and here, we're going to say, boy, you really need to practice your autograph!" - Mitra, a reporter for the Gijón Voice, encouraged the French boys with Leon's teasing of Benzema after the match, with the headline: "Hey, you need to practice your autograph, Karim!"

***********

Leon is now worried about the injury of the team's two strikers Diego Lost and Maqur Picira, even if Benzema scored his first goal in his debut, but Leon even, although Benzema is now more distinctive, and can even be said to be up-and-coming, but Benzema belongs to the future, and now Sporting Gijon, Benzema is not yet able to play the role!

Now, Sporting Gijon's forward combination should still be a combination of Diego Milito and Di Natale, and even in the future, it will be a combination of the two, and both Di Natale and Diego Milito are the kind of players who can reassure and trust Leon.

As for Makool Pihra, Leon also values it, although he is getting older and will play less and less time in the future, but Magur Pihra's header will still be an effective addition to Sporting Gijón's goal opening at some point!

"How's it going?" asked Leon, the team doctor, Mr. Rotalo.

"The Argentine's injuries are a little worse than expected, but not too bad. Rotaro said to Leon.

"How?" asked Leon.

"Originally, it was expected that Milito would only need to rest for a few days, but now I am optimistic that he will need to rest for about ten days!" Rotalo said.

"So, Milito won't be able to play in the UEFA Cup against Olomouc and the league against Osasuna?" asked Leon with a frown.

"Yes. Lee, it's a pity. Rotalo said.

Leon rubbed his temples, as Rotalo said, it's not good news, but it's not too bad, two games of injury.

"What about McGur?" asked Leon.

'McGurre's situation is not a big problem and he should be able to play in the next game. Rotalo said.

Leon nodded, it was finally good news, otherwise, in the League Cup match against Olomouc in the middle of next week, his forward line would be stretched.

***********

Three days later, Sporting Gijón travelled to the Czech Republic for the second leg of the 2004/2005 UEFA Cup third qualifying round and Olomouc.

In this game, in view of the fact that Magur Pihra had just recovered from injury, in order to be safe, he did not let Magur Pihra start, but discharged Di Natale's single striker formation.

In midfield, Marcos and Carlos started together, with the duo defending Albertini.

It's a completely defensive counter-attacking tactic.

For Sporting Gijón, who won the first leg at home to 4-1, it is not a smart choice to be conservative on the road.

In the end, the score was 1-1, with Olomouc scoring first and Di Natale equalizing for Sporting Gijón.

In doing so, Sporting Gijón managed to knock out Czech powerhouse Olomouc with a score of 5-2 over two legs and advance to the last 40 of the 2004/2005 UEFA Cup.

You read that right, it's the top 40 of the UEFA Cup!!

In the previous third round of the UEFA Cup, UEFA played a huge 80-team round of two knockout rounds in a round of 2 knockouts, and then 40 teams advanced.

The day after the third round of qualifying for the UEFA Cup, the entire team returned to Gijón from the Czech Republic, while Leon did not return with the team and will travel to Nyon, Switzerland.

The draw for the group stage of the 2004/2005 UEFA Cup will take place the following day at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.

Although the lottery ceremony was held a day later, in order to avoid the fatigue of traveling and tossing back and forth, Leon simply went to Nyon, Switzerland a day earlier from the Czech Republic.

***********

After the reform of the European competition system (the expansion of the Champions Cup, the merger of the Cup Winners' Cup and the League Cup), the attractiveness of the League Cup is not as good as before, the main reason is that the Champions League is changed to the Champions League, and more strong teams enter the Champions League, which makes the League Cup more watery.

So, this summer, UEFA met again to discuss another reform of the UEFA Cup format, with the new format and rules starting with the current 2004/2005 season.

At present, the new format has been announced.

Li Ang was already resting in the hotel where he was staying in Nyon, Switzerland, at this time, and he couldn't help but complain when he looked at the introduction of the new format of the League Cup.

After the third qualifying round of the League Cup, Sporting Gijón officially reached the top 40 of the League Cup!

The UEFA Cup round of 40 is divided into eight groups of five teams each, which are for the group stage, and UEFA's original intention was to increase the number of matches and ticket revenues, but this has instead made the UEFA Cup "stinky and long". First of all, what makes countless teams complain the most is that the group stage actually adopts a single round-robin, that is, there is no home-and-away double-legged game system, it is a single round-robin, which obviously does not guarantee that each team is completely fair.

Then there are five teams from each group, with up to three teams from each group qualifying!

What's more, the most bizarre thing is that the group stage ranking does not affect the position of the top 32 knockout stage draw, which makes the suspense of the group stage sharply reduced.

Leon is now studying this format, and then he was surprised to find that after four group games, even if he has 6 points, he can qualify from the group, and even 5 points can catch the last train, so that as long as he wins two games, he will basically qualify without worry, and the remaining few games can be grinding.

After analysis, Li Ang complained about this format that made countless teams sore eggs, and at the same time he was playing his own small calculations, he hoped to be able to be divided into a relatively weak group and win two games first, so that he would basically qualify without worry, and the team could also focus more attention on La Liga. (To be continued.) )