Because of the World Cup, La Liga's thirty-third-round matches were held in midweek once again.
Real Madrid hosted Athletic Bilbao.
Yang Yang started this time. In the ninth minute, he received Carvajal's cross from the right and headed the ball into the net, scoring Real Madrid's opener and his forty-fifth La Liga goal of the season.
That goal brought Yang Yang level with his league scoring record from the previous season.
Anyone could see that Real Madrid had performed noticeably worse this season than in the previous few campaigns, especially Yang Yang. Yet in the second half of the season, Yang Yang had exploded into astonishing form, constantly scoring across every competition and leading Real Madrid on a wild charge.
Whether against Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus in the Champions League or in overturning Barcelona's lead in the league table, Yang Yang could be said to have played the decisive role. The media and fans all knew very clearly that without Yang Yang's explosion, Real Madrid could never have achieved its current results in the second half of the season.
In the fourteenth minute, Cordoba sent a through ball forward, and Williams broke into the right side of the penalty area alone before chipping the ball into the net, leveling the score for Athletic Bilbao.
But before the end of the first half, Vázquez fooled a defender with a series of feints on the right side of the penalty area and crossed the ball. Inside the six-yard box, Yang Yang beat his marker to the ball and stuck out a foot, sending it into the net. Two–one!
A brace!
Yang Yang had scored his forty-sixth La Liga goal of the season, surpassing his tally from the previous campaign!
To conserve his energy for the Copa del Rey final at the weekend,