On the evening of March 20, Beijing time, the 29th round of La Liga this season ushered in a relegation battle, with Espanyol playing at home against Mallorca. In the 41st minute of the first half, Duddell assisted De Thomas to score, the Spaniard went first, and the Spanish international scored his 14th goal in La Liga, completely beating Wu Lei.
At present, in the standings, espanyol has 33 points in 28 rounds, ranking 11th, 9 points ahead of the relegation zone, the relegation pressure is not much, Mallorca has 26 points in 28 rounds in the relegation zone, only 4 points ahead of the relegation zone.
In the last two rounds, Espanyol beat Getafe 2-0 and drew 1-1 with Levante, and Mallorca has lost in the last five consecutive rounds, and the relegation situation is grim. Last season the two teams competed for the title in La Liga and are now competing for relegation qualification, with Espanyol currently dominating, having not lost to Mallorca at home for 4 consecutive times in the past, with a record of 3 wins and 1 draw.
In terms of starting, espanyol continued the 442 formation, De Thomas and Embarba formed a double forward, Wu Lei continued to sit on the bench, while Dadel, Villena, Barre and Herrera sat in the midfield.
In the opening 5th minute, De Thomas' low left-footed shot from inside the box was deflected slightly offside. In the 9th minute, Cabrera brought down Angel Rodriguez, and the referee signaled mallorca to foul him after being confirmed by VAR, and the Spaniard escaped.
In the 41st minute, the Spaniards made a quick counter-attack with a steal from the back, Duddell instigated the attack, and then sent a direct kick into the box, de Thomas single-handedly pushed the goal to help espanyol take a 1-0 lead.
After the goal, De Thomas celebrated with excitement, which was his 14th la Liga goal of the season, equaling his single-season scoring record (14 goals in 33 games) set during his time with Vallecano in 2018/19. In addition, De Thomas moved up to second place in la Liga's top scorers list, behind Karim Benzema's 22 goals.
As espanyol's star, De Thomas previously joined Espanyol for more than 20 million euros, setting a record in team history, and now the high-priced signing is worth the money. In the case of De Thomas's stable play, Wu Lei gradually declined, and this season la Liga did not score a goal, scoring a 0-14 defeat to De Thomas.