Valencia and Levante played out a 1-1 derby day draw on the second day of La Liga’s return. Rodrigo gave the hosts the lead after 89 minutes of entertaining but goalless football, and it looked like the hosts would hold on at the Mestalla. However, Moukhtar Diakhaby gave away a needless penalty deep into stoppage time, which was converted by substitute Gonzalo Mereno. This secured an unlikely point for the visitors, who played out the last 16 minutes with ten men after Roger Marti was sent off.
Let’s take a look at how some of Valencia’s younger talents performed.
Hugo Guillamon
Position: Centre-back
Age: 20
Nationality: Spanish
Young centre-back Hugo Guillamon was making his full La Liga debut for Valencia, and he looked very assured and mature for his age. In possession, he’s blessed with typical Spanish ball-playing ability. The way he’s happy to hang onto the ball to wait for that line-breaking pass to develop in front of him is hugely impressive. He never rushes and he looks to progress the ball for his team, which he did by finding Goncalo Guedes in the half-space on numerous occasions.
Guillamon was always showing for the ball, and he often raised his arm when Valencia’s right-back was in possession, showing his confidence when receiving from a switch of play. He played 59 passes – the second most out of all Los Murcelagos players. His overall passing accuracy was a very impressive 94.5%.
The 20-year-old likes to defend on the front foot, often stepping out of the defensive line to engage an attacker when they’re holding the ball up.
However, it would have been interesting to see how he’d have coped if Levante had given him more problems to think about in behind. There was a moment when Roger Marti latched onto a through ball into the channel, and he was too quick and strong for Guillamon who had to bring him down. So if Levante managed to turn the defender more, they could have caused him more issues.
He’s not the most physically imposing centre-back, and Valencia will be hoping he can bulk up as he gets a little bit older. According to transfermarkt.co.uk, the Spanish youth international stands at 5ft 10 – so he doesn’t have height on his side. It’ll be interesting to see whether Guillamon has a career as a centre-back, or if he gets converted into a defensive midfielder. That’s one to keep an eye on.
Jose Gaya
Position: Left-back
Age: 25
Nationality: Spanish
Spanish international Jose Gaya was Valencia’s most lively attacking threat. He had a telepathic understanding with winger Goncalo Guedes. They worked on the principle of one of them occupying the wing, and the other occupying the inside channel. This created problems for the visiting defence as they were able to gain numerical superiority. Gaya generally overlapped in the channel, but he also showed his ability to cause issues by underlapping into the half-space.
In the final third, Gaya was outstanding. He always plays with his head up, and has the intelligence to either pick out a teammate in space, or deliver the ball into a dangerous area for someone to attack. The academy product finished the game with one assist, but he could have had three. He’s excellent at delivering the ball across the face of goal, in between the defenders and goalkeeper for his teammates to run onto. Twice, Gaya put the ball into this area (once from the byline, once from the half-space just outside the area) and just a simple touch from the strikers would have resulted in a certain goal. And in the 89th minute, a striker finally got on the end of one of his teasing deliveries, as Rodrigo tapped in the opener at the front post.
In his own third, Gaya showed great composure when he was under pressure. When he was getting pressed by three players, he calmly took the ball past Campana and sent the ball down the line. He never panics when he’s got possession in tight areas.
Goncalo Guedes
Position: Left-wing
Age: 23
Nationality: Portugese
Portugese international Guedes put in a lively display. Like we mentioned earlier, he showed a telepathic understanding with Gaya down the left flank. He generally tucked in quite narrowly, dragging the full-back inside. This opened up space for Gaya on the overlap. Out of possession, he tucked infield as Valencia tried to force their local rivals to play wide instead of through the middle. Whilst this helped them retain a compact shape, the opposing right-back Jorge Miramon managed to find a lot of space in behind him a few times.
In possession, Guedes is quick and he’s not afraid to run at the opposition, even if he’s outnumbered. He looked to work the ball onto his right foot and deliver inswinging crosses to the back post – done with various levels of success.
In the first half, Guedes made an eye-catching diagonal run across the inside shoulder of the left-sided centre back into the right half-space, where he controlled a pass with his chest and brought a teammate into play. This demonstrates his unpredictability and knack of popping up in different positions, which gives defenders another problem to deal with.
Sevilla marked the return of La Liga with a 2-0 win over their city rivals Real Betis, in El Gran Derbi.
Lucas Ocampos opened the scoring with a penalty in the second half, before turning provider six minutes later to set up Fernando with a stunning back-heeled flick.
Here’s a look at how Ocampos and two of his younger teammates performed.
Sergio Reguilon
Position: Left-back
Age: 23
Nationality: Spanish
The 23-year-old wasn’t massively tested defensively, as Sevilla enjoyed a comfortable return to La Liga action. Betis did finish the game with a late flurry of attacks, but Reguilon was taken off after 79 minutes – presumably to save him for their next outing.
Due to his attacking-minded nature, there were a few times when he got caught out of position. Reguilon demonstrated his clever off the ball movement by managing to get in behind the defence a few times in that left channel. He produced two key passes overall. The Sevilla man played with his head up and was able to appreciate where his teammates were on the pitch, so he could cut the ball back to them in dangerous areas.
However, sometimes his end product did let him down. The Real Madrid loanee attempted four crosses throughout the contest, but only one of them met its intended target.
Lucas Ocampos
Position: Right-wing
Age: 25
Nationality: Argentine
Credit: mundoalbiceleste
A sensational display from the former Marseille man. He was unquestionably the best performer on the night. As well as tormenting the Betis defence throughout the contest, Ocampos made the difference in the final third by scoring the first goal and assisting the second.
He opened the scoring with a penalty, side-footed into the bottom right corner with ice-cool composure. For the second goal, he conjured up a moment of pure magic.
As a short corner came in, Ocampos made a darting run towards the front post. He played a succulent back-heeled flick towards the back post, which Fernando managed to bundle in. There were just six minutes between the two goals, and those key moments ended up deciding the game.
But in the remaining 65 minutes of his time on the pitch, Ocampos was also exceptional. He’s got great coordination, and he combines an ability to take players on and work a bit of space for himself with a solid physical frame. At 6ft 2, the winger is very difficult to knock off the ball.
Tactically, Ocampos was very flexible. He’d pop in an array of positions: on the touchline, in the half-space, and sometimes on the left flank when he swapped wings with El Haddadi. The Argentine also worked hard to track back and help out his full-back.
He was substituted after 71 minutes, and it’s fair to say he deserved a rest. He’ll be vital for Sevilla’s next game on Monday.
Munir El Haddadi
Position: Left-wing
Age: 24
Nationality: Spanish
Former Barcelona man Munir El Haddadi put in a very good performance, especially in the first half.
El Haddadi played a little bit narrower than Ocampos, often tucking into the half-space to open up space for marauding full-back Reguilon.
He’s very easy on the eye, and he’s able to use one-touch or a quick body movement to dribble the ball away from pressing defenders. In the second half, he received the ball on the half-turn and allowed it to run through his legs so he was past his opponent without even touching the ball.
He’s also able to vary the pace and direction of his dribbling to catch defenders off guard. El Haddadi twice started slowly carrying the ball backwards, before instantly turning and driving it past the full-back. This kind of trickery is very hard to defend against because he’s capable of producing the unexpected. He completed more dribbles than any of his teammates, and won more fouls (both 4.)
The 24-year-old also managed to put in an excellent cross, which could have set up a goal.
He had a good chance in the first half after Reguilon cut the ball back to him, but he took his eye off the ball and scuffed the attempt.
Benfica were held to a second successive draw, this time by relegation-threatened Portimonese. Goals from Pizzi and Andre Almeida gave the visitors a commanding 2-0 lead at the interval, but they were pegged back in the second period by Dener and Junior Tavares. The result takes them down to second after Porto saw off Maritimo. Portimonense remain in the relegation zone.
Ruben Dias
Position: Centre-back
Age: 23
Nationality: Portugese
Portugese international and Benfica academy product Ruben Dias showed his ball playing ability throughout this contest. He played more passes (65) and had more touches (79) than any of his teammates. 41 of those passes were completed in the first half, as Portimonense sat off and allowed him time on the ball. However, he did a decent job of taking advantage of that.
For the first goal, he spotted gap a between the opponent’s left-back and centre-back. Rafa Silva was running through, and he played a well-weighted ball into his path. Silva then played a cutback to Pizzi, who fired Bruno Lage’s side into the lead.
Alongside his partner Jardel, Dias would push slightly wider into the half space, as they looked to break the lines by playing passes out wide or into the feet of the front two.
Dias’ heatmap shows how active he was in the half space
Defensively, Benfica tried to maintain a high line – until the hosts pulled a goal back. Dias’ role in that was important. When Portimonense tried to play a ball into his channel, or a cross from deep, he’d generally be one step ahead of the curve. The youngster would read the cue and cut out the ball calmly, getting there ahead of the attacker. He defended these types of deliveries sideways on, so he wasn’t flat-footed and he could see the striker and the ball at the same time.
However, the Amadora-born defender should have done more to stop Dener’s goal, which brought the home side back into the contest. Defending a wide free-kick, he got sucked into trying to deal with the ball instead of staying on his man. This only happened for a split second, but it was vital. He misjudged the flight of the ball, and was then not in a position to use his body to block off Dener. The midfielder then had the luxury of having a clear run up to attack the ball, which he did triumphantly, powering a header past Vlachodimos in Benfica’s goal.
Alejandro Grimaldo
Position: Left-back
Age: 24
Nationality: Spanish
It wasn’t the most eventful evening for the Barcelona academy product. He didn’t really break into the final third as much as he’d have liked to. Because of that, Grimaldo didn’t manage to make a cross or key pass throughout his involvement in the game, which ended on the hour mark due to injury.
Defensively, the Spaniard didn’t do too much wrong. His positioning was good: he didn’t stray too far away from Benfica’s left sided centre-back, but he made sure he was in a position to affect the ball if Portimonense played it into his channel.
He stayed tight to his men, which was mostly effective as he didn’t allow them to turn easily. However, there were a couple of times when he got a little bit too tight, which resulted in him getting turned and played around with a quick one two.
Julian Weigl
Position: Central midfield
Age: 24
Nationality: German
Certainly one of the best performers on the night, Weigl excels in the art of doing the simple things well. He’d often drop in between the two centre-backs during the build up. This would form a back three, allowing both centre-backs to push wider, therefore occupying the same vertical lines as the wingers. They’d tuck inside as the two full-backs would advance higher up the pitch.
Weigl’s pass accuracy was a very impressive 94.5%, and although most of those balls were simple, they were usually forward-thinking. When he was under pressure, he brushed opposing players off with his upper body strength. His first touch in those situations is excellent: he can manipulate the ball by using his touch to take it away from pressing opponents.
His role out of possession was to cut off passing lanes into the strikers, rather than man-marking them. He did this well most of the time, but Portimonense did manage to get in between the lines a couple of times due to him marking zonally instead of man to man. But when that happened, he often got back and made a perfectly-timed recovery tackle to win possession back for his team.
Weigl picked up an unnecessary booking for diving into a challenge in the second half.
Carlos Vinicius
Position: Striker
Age: 25
Nationality: Brazilian
A frustrating night for the joint top scorer in Liga NOS, who didn’t manage a shot all game. Sometimes, he was a bit static with his running and there were a few times when he wasn’t on the same wavelength as his teammates. Towards the end of the night, he became frustrated and started giving away needless fouls.
Vinicius showed glimpses of his hold up play. There’s no doubting his physical strength. He’s very good at playing with his back to goal – sticking his arms out to create distance between himself and his marker. The Brazilian will put his body between the man and the ball to successfully hold defenders off, or win a foul.
Borussia Dortmund cruised to a 4-0 win over Schalke in an eerie Revierderby. Usually known for its fiery passion and raucous fanbases, this derby was never going to feel anywhere near the same in front of an empty stadium. But Dortmund didn’t let it affect their play, taking control of the contest and sweeping aside a below par Schalke team.
Erling Haaland opened the scoring after 29 minutes when he got on the end of Thorgan Hazard’s sensational low cross, and Raphael Guerreiro added a second on the stroke of half time.
Hazard notched a goal of his own three minutes into the second half, and Guerreiro scored again after 63 minutes to complete the rout.
Borussia Dortmund
Lucien Favre made four changes from Dortmund’s last outing – a 2-0 Champions League defeat to PSG. Julian Brandt came in for Jadon Sancho in the inside left position, and Manuel Akanji replaced the injured Dan-Axel Zagadou on the left side of central defence. It was all change in central midfield, as Emre Can and Axel Witsel both sat out through injury. Thomas Delaney and Mamoud Dahoud stepped in for them.
All graphics credited to WyScout unless stated otherwise/watermarkedDortmund’s average player positions
Roman Burki – 7
The Swiss goalkeeper wasn’t massively busy in this encounter, but he dealt with what he had to well. He made a decent stop from Cagliuri in the first half, but that’s the only shot on target the away side managed from insidee the area. His post shot expected goals against was 0.9, so he’s done relatively well to keep a clean sheet based on the shots he faced.
Lucas Piszcek – 7.5
A comfortable enough afternoon for the Polish defender who seems to have added a few more years onto his Dortmund career by converting into the right sided centre back in three. He wasn’t tested a great deal defensively. The club captain started the move that led to the opening goal by playing a forward pass into Julian Brandt. He dribbles towards the centre circle before playing a line breaking pass into Brandt’s feet.
Mats Hummels – 7.5
A solid performance from the veteran after getting caught in possession a few times early on. He was involved in 11 duels, winning an impressive 10 of them. Like the rest of the back three, Hummels was typically assured in possession as the game wore on.
Manuel Akanji – 8
The 24-year-old started this clash poorly, and his missed defensive header gifted an early half chance to the visitors. However, Akanji grew into the game superbly and his passing ability caught the eye. Not only did he keep the ball for his team, but he was able to make line breaking passes into Hazard and Brandt’s feet in the half spaces.
All screenshots credited to BT Sport
The images above are an example of how Akanji looks to progress the ball up the pitch for Dortmund. Most defenders would play a simple pass into Thomas Delaney (yellow dotted arrow) or clear their lines. However, Akanji manages to play a pass into Thorgan Hazard. The Belgian midfielder has taken a position behind Schalke’s midfield, so the pass has taken four visiting players out of the game. Hazard can then run at Schalke’s exposed defence.
When you consider his willingness to take risks with his passing, it’s even more impressive that he completed 92.5% of them. His scored a monumental 685 on the progressive distance metric – by far the highest score on the pitch. Put simply, this is the total number of yards a player’s passes have travelled towards the opponent’s goal.
Achraf Hakimi – 7.5
Hakimi wasn’t involved quite as much as his opposite full back Raphael Guerriero, but his pace is absolutely frightening and he showed that in spells. He could have had an assist out of nowhere in the example below when he raced from his own half with the ball down the right and side and found Thorgan Hazard with a pull back.
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Mahmoud Dahoud – 7
A solid showing from the former Borussia Monchengladbach man without setting the world alight. He started off the game passing at a pedestrain pace but he soon picked up and played lots of short, simple passes.
Thomas Delaney – 7
Like his midfield partner, Delaney was solid but unspectacular. He made a nine ball recoveries in total and ended the game with an impressive pass completion of 91.3%.
Raphael Geurrerio – 9
A sensational display from the Portugese international who was right at the heart of most of what Dormund created, and he took both of his goals very cooly. As you can see from the graphic below, Dortmund’s most dangerous attacks came down his left flank.
Not only was Guerreiro a menace down the wing, he often came inside to link up with the likes of Brandt, Haaland and Hazard. Below is a screenshot of his heatmap , which shows plenty of blue on the inside left channel.
He created his second goal and Dortmund’s fourth by taking possession on the left hand side, and coming in field to play a one two with Haaland.
Guerrerio also completed four tackles and 62 passes.
Thorgan Hazard – 8.5
Fantastic performance from Hazard, especially in the first half. Playing as a right sided attacking midfielder/inside forward, the 27-year-old showed terrific awareness when timing his runs into the half spaces. Hazard and Brandt constantly found space in behind the Schalke midfield line, and when they did they used their link up play and technical ability to exploit that.
Dortmund’s first goal is a superb snapshot of the Belgian international’s quality. In the first image, Hazard sees that Julian Brandt has dropped into the right half space and drawn the Schalke defender towards him.
Hazard identifies this and immediately makes a run into that space before the ball has even reached Brandt.
He’s then away from the Schalke defence, and can look up and deliver a perfect cross just in front of Haaland. The big Norweigan the guides the ball into the bottom corner with his left foot.
Hazard got on the scoresheet himself just after half-time, making it 3-0 with a driven effort from just inside the area.
He also completed more dribbles (4) than any other Dortmund player.
Julian Brandt – 9
Sensational display from a young player who showed exactly why he’s so highly rated. Like Hazard, he drifted unmarked between the lines because of how well he timed his runs. When he got into those positions, he showed great awareness and technical ability to lay the ball off to his team mates.
For example, in the build up to the first goal he laid a classy first time flick into Hazard’s path.
Brandt also switched the play a few times. In the image below, he plays an exquisite ball with the outside of his boot to release Achraf Hakimi.
Brandt registered two direct assists alongside the part he played in Dortmund’s opener. He had the most touches in the final third out of all Dortmund players (20) and he completed the second highest amount of progressive passes out of all of his teammates. The former Leverkusen man also completed five shot creating actions – the most on the pitch.
After the interval, Brandt stayed just behind the Schalke midfield line in his own half when Dortmund sat a bit deeper and looked to hit their rivals on the break. This meant he was in a great position to run at Schalke’s defence in transition. Such an intelligent player who is an absolute joy to watch.
Erling Haaland – 8
Got the better of the defence physically and is always making runs to receive the ball in space. He took his goal extremely well, just guiding the ball into the bottom left corner. Haaland also managed to set up the fourth goal and his all round link up play was very good.
The 19-year-old would probably wanted to have had more sniffs at goal himself, but he took the one big chance he had. Clinical as ever.
Substitutes
Leonardo Baleri (on for Delaney after 68 minutes) – 6.5
Jadon Sancho on for Hazard after 79 minutes
Mario Gotze on for Dahoud after 87 minutes
Marcel Schmelzer on for Raphael Guerriero after 87 minutes
Schalke
David Wagner made four changes from his team’s last outing – a 1-1 draw against Hoffenheim over two months ago. Timo Becker, Alessandro Schopf, Rabbi Matondo and Guido Bergstaller were replaced by Salif Sane, Sout Serdar, Amine Harit and Dani Calgiguiri.
After starting in a 3-4-3 formation as they tried to match Dortmund up, Wagner switched to their more usual diamond system in the second period.
Schalke’s average player positions
Markus Schubert – 3
Schalke may want to re-think their decision not to play their top goalkeeper Alexander Nubel for ‘political reasons’ as he’s set to join Bayern Munich on a free at the end of the season. 21-year-old Schubert never looked comfortable in this clash. His kicking was horrendous all afternoon and it was his poor clearance the gifted Dortmund their second goal.
Schubert’s shot stopping wasn’t any better either. He faced four shots on target, conceding all four and he really should have kept out the third goal.
Jean-Claire Todibo – 6
Didn’t do a great deal wrong before being brought off at half time, as Schalke switched to a back four. Struggled with the pace of Hakimi when he got dragged out wide, but not many defenders would be able to contain him.
Salif Sane – 5
The Senegalese actually started the game well, making a few important blocks and interceptions. However, as the game progressed his lack of defensive discipline left his team in danger.
In the images above, he stepped out of the defensive line to try and tackle Haaland. If you’re going to take this risk you’ve simply got to get it right. Instead he takes out the striker instead of winning the ball, but Haaland had managed to pass the ball to Brandt. This leaves Nastastic on his own against the advancing Brandt and Hazard, and the latter unsurprisingly scored from this situation.
Matija Nastastic – 5.5
Looked a bit lightweight and only won three of the eight defensive duels he was involved in.
Jonjoe Kenny – 4.5
The Everton loanee offered very little going forward and his passing was poor at times. He struggled to handle Guerrerio throughout the contest.
Kenny was also partially at fault for Dortmund’s fourth goal. He’s playing Guerriero onside in the image above, but he also doesn’t get anywhere near close enough to his opposite wing back who is given the freedom of Signal Iduna Park to make it 4-0.
Weston McKennie – 6.5
Miscued some of his passes early on in the game but he did improve as it went on, and he was probably Schalke’s best performer in the second period. The American made a total of 10 ball recoveries.
Suat Serdar – 4
Completely anonymous performance from the 23-year-old who just couldn’t impose himself on the game. Serdar completed only seven passes. To put that into context, his midfield partner McKennie completed 49. Hauled off after 73 minutes.
Bastian Oczicapa – 6
Steady enough performance from the German, but he didn’t get much chance to show any attacking quality.
Daniel Caliguiri – 5.5
A frustrating day for all of the front three who rarely posed a threat. He had an effort saved in the first half from Burki, but apart from that it was quite easy to forget that he was playing.
Amine Harit – 6
Started on the left side looking to cut in onto his stronger right side, but he was often crowded out by Dortmund’s compact shape. He did complete three shot creating actions, the joint most on his team.
Benito Raman – 4.5
A difficult afternoon for the Belgian who was isolated and really had nothing to feed off. Before being hauled off at allf time, Raman had touched the ball only 12 times, and just five of those were in the final third.
Substitutes
Rabbi Matando (on for Todibo at half time) – 6
Dortmund’s PPDA (passes allowed per defensive action in the final 60% of the pitch – a measure of pressing intensity) was 9.4 in the first half, but 21.8 in the second. They sat deeper and left no space in behindd after half time. Therefore, the young Welshman wasn’t really able to use his pace to good effect.
Guido Bergstaller (on for Raman at half time) – 5.5
Offered more of a physical presence for David Wagner’s men, but his link up play was generally pretty poor.
We spoke to Bundesliga commentator Dan O’Hagan to preview the return of top tier football in Germany. Also, we had a chat with Fox Sports’ Simon Hill about the return of the K League. If you’re wanting to know more about the only “biggish” leagues that are on during these strange times – this is a must-listen.
Watford have announced the signing of Le Havre midfielder Pape Gueye on a pre-contract. This means he will have played his last game for the promotion-chasing side, after the French FA confirmed that the season has been cancelled.
The 21-year-old central midfielder pens a five-year deal at Vicarage Road. He’ll officially become a Watford player on July 1 when his contract with the Ligue 2 club expires.
Gueye, who came through the system at Le Havre, had been linked with the likes of Arsenal and AC Milan earlier this year. He’s represented France at U18 and U19 level.
Liverpool have opened talked with the representatives of LOSC Lille striker Victor Osimhen, according to Le Foot Mercato.
According to the report, Liverpool are laying down the foundations to offer Osimhen a deal at Anfield. However, they’re likely to find themselves in a battle against other top English clubs for the Nigerian international’s signature. Leicester City have expressed an interest, and reports have suggested that Chelsea and Manchester United are also keen on the 21-year-old.
Lille are thought to be demanding around £60 million for the exciting youngster. He’s scored 18 times in his debut season in France.
ChelseastrikerOlivier Giroudis willing to take a significant pay cut to move to Inter Milan this summer, according toGazetta dello Sport.The Frenchman’s contract at Stamford Bridge is set to expire at the end of June.
Tottenham could join the race to sign Barcelona midfielder Philippe Coutinho, according to Darren Lewis of the Daily Mirror.
The Brazilian has spent this season on loan at Bayern Munich, and Barcelona are offering him to Premier League clubs as they look to offload him. Bayern are reportedly unwilling to make the deal permanent.
The Belarusian Premier League continued this weekend, despite numerous fan groups warning fellow supporters to stay at home and try to halt the spread of the coronavirus.
The country’s authorities are still takinga lassiez-faire approachto dealing with the pandemic, and the Belarussian Football Federation have made money by selling TV rights to 11 different countries.
Matches in the country have taken centre stage, but attendances have plummeted as the majority of supporters have chosen to stay away.
Connor Thorpe Football 