In a weekend in which the spotlights were aimed at Álvaro Odriozola, Javi Martínez and Thiago Alcántara, whose victory in the Champions League final raised the number of titles won by Spanish footballers and coaches abroad in 2020 to 37, they also highlighted Jesús Jiménez in Poland, Pablo González in the Czech Republic or Juande Prados in Australia.
Jesús Jiménez inherits Igor Angulo's boots
The opening day of the Polish First Division had a name of its own: Jesus Jimenez. The Madrid striker for Górnik Zabrze began his third season in Poland scoring a hat-trick against Podbeskidzie, a recently promoted to Ekstraklasa who did not include Iván Martín in his call-up. Jiménez proved to be ready to make up for the absence of Igor Angulo, who left for India after scoring 88 goals in 154 games for the miners. He was voted best player of the match and ended up being acclaimed by the more than 7,300 fans who came to Arena Zabrze. In the locker room, the rest of the Górnik Zabrze player also appreciated the outstanding performance of the former Leganés or Alcorcón.
He also stood out in Poland Israel Port, voted Slask Wroclaw's best player in the 2-0 win against Piast Gliwice. The right-handed central defender of the military tied the rival attackers short and that allowed his team to live calmly during the entire match. Puerto, who is facing his second season in Poland, stood out once again in the passing game and long displacement.
In Finland, it is worth highlighting the match of the Madrid goalkeeper Antonio Trail, which was not required in the HJK visit to RoPS but did experience a special weekend since the meeting marked his return to Rovaniemi, the city that was his home for the last four seasons. Reguero kept a clean sheet and took the win, putting HJK just one point behind the Veikkausliiga lead. The first position is currently held in Inter Turku by José Riveiro, who with Álvaro Muñiz and Connor Ruane in the starting lineup fell (1-0) during his visit to TPS Turku.
He was also unlucky Ruben de la Barrera, who could not make his debut with victory at the controls of Viitorul Constanta. The team owned by Gheorghe Hagi took a penalty in the 43rd minute but UTA Arad, recently promoted to the Romanian First Division, leveled moments later. Victor FernandezThe 22-year-old Barcelona striker played his first minutes with Viitorul in the second half.
He did manage to win Sigma Olomouc, which started the Czech First Division by defeating Liberec thanks to a solitary goal from the Spanish. Paul Gonzalez. The Andalusian winger headed the locals ahead, who could lose their advantage in the second half. Hubnik's penalty, however, was saved by Mandous.
He also marked, although in Bulgaria, Hyginius Marin. The 26-year-old striker from Murcia, who had just scored on his debut in the Champions League qualifying phase, stayed on the bench when his new club Ludogorets visited Cherno More. However, he took to the field in 84 'and showed his scoring instinct, scoring 1-4 in favor of the eagles.
Pablo González celebrates his first goal of the season with Sigma Olomouc.
Sigma Olomouc (Twitter)
We finished the review of UEFA competitions by traveling to Israel to report a new title of Enric Flavor with Maccabi Tel Aviv. Although he did not participate in the Toto Cup final, in which his team beat Saknnin 0-2, the Barcelona side lifted his sixth title since leaving Athletic in the summer of 2018. In his record he already has two leagues, two Super Cups and two Toto Cups.
Barcelona knocks Emelec down and takes the Clásico
In the American continent, good news can be counted on the fingers of one hand. The weekend, without going any further, ended with Emelec's defeat in the Shipyard Classic in front of Barcelona. The team led by the Rescalvo brothers, Ismael (coach) and Juan (assistant), took the lead in the 66th minute thanks to Ordóñez, but Barcelona, which was better and deserved the victory, came back with goals from Fidel Martínez and Cristian Colman in minutes 83 and 94 respectively. Miguel Ángel Ramírez's Independiente del Valle did manage to win, who beat Technico Universitario 0-1 and was placed just one point behind the head.
In Brazil, Flamengo worries, who has not yet managed to give a good image since the arrival of Domènec Torrent to the Maracanã bench. On the fifth day of the Brasileirao, the 'Mengao' failed to get past the tie against Botafogo. And thanks, since the 1-1 came in the discount and after the VAR whistled a hand that was ignored in the first instance by the referee. After the meeting, Torrent claimed a tight schedule to justify the many changes in the eleven. “I think we played better than other days, but we could not achieve victory. Coaches need time, and in Brazil much more. We have many games and we can hardly train,” said the Catalan.
“We coaches need time, and in Brazil much more. We have many games and we can hardly train”
Domènec Torrent, Flamengo coach
Further north in Canada Atlético de Ottawa and Edmonton tied for the second 'Spanish derby' of the week in the Canadian Premier League. Those of Michael Angel Myst, with Nacho Zabal again under the sticks, they won 2-0 at halftime thanks to a double from 'Messi' Acuña, but Edmonton, in whose center of the defense Ramón Soria played the 90 minutes, managed to tie in the final moments thanks to the many goals of Alemán and Ongaro. In the other peninsular match of the week, Álvaro Rivero's York9 and José Galán's Valor drew goalless.
Al Qadsia cuts two points to Al Kuwait
Despite having their coach, Pablo Franco from Madrid, almost 7000 kilometers away, Al Qadsia managed to do their homework and beat Al Salmiya 2-3 in the return of the Kuwaiti Premier League. The victory, coupled with Al Kuwait's draw against Al Arabi, allowed Pablo Franco's men to get just one point from the lead with three games to go.
Good news is also coming from Iran. The Persian Gulf Pro League ended the 2019/20 season with great results for us: Gol Gohar by Pepe Losada (physical trainer) managed to maintain the category while the Foolad of his counterpart Josu Sesma and goalkeeper coach Asier Rey finished third and achieved a placed in the qualifying phase of the Asian Champions League.
The day in Japan was also full of victories. After falling to Kawasaki last Wednesday, Cerezo Osaka of Michelangelo Lotina returned to the winning track after beating Vegalta Sendai 2-1. The same result was achieved by Vissel Kobe, who with Sergi Samper In the starting eleven he managed to prevail in the field of Urawa. Although in the Second Division, the three points were also won by Ricardo Rodríguez's Tukushima Vortis, Fernando Jubero's Iwata and Albert Puig's Albirex Niigata. The three teams in the category led by Spanish coaches are third, fourth and fifth respectively and are fighting for promotion to the J-League.
We closed the Asian section in China, whose First Division left us lights and shadows this day. On the bright side Qingdao Huanghai, who finally achieved his first win of the season after beating Tianjin Teda deservedly (0-2). The Canarian center-back Yaki Yen started and played the 90 minutes with the Tigers, who add one defeat, four draws and one victory and accumulate five games without losing. The big game of the week was, however, the one that faced Beijing Guoan of Jonathan See with the Shanghai SIPG. The Las Palmas de Gran Canaria midfielder had a great game, but he could do nothing to prevent the defeat of his team, which went ahead on the scoreboard but ended up succumbing thanks to goals from Shenchao Wang and Óscar. Nor did he win the Dalian Pro of Rafa Benítez, who still has not won the victory -two draws and four defeats- and closes the classification of Group A.
Juande Prados, to the semifinals of the A-League
Despite winning only two of the six games played after the restart, Juande Prados's Perth Glory was able to defeat (0-1) Wellington Phoenix and sneak into the semifinals of the 'play-off' for the A-League title. The Spanish midfielder from the purple box started and played all 90 minutes of the match. Perth Glory, which has the sensitive voluntary dismissal of its captain, the Galician Diego Castro, will face the great favorite: Sydney FC in the next round.