## 3 Results
### External Load  
Figures 1-4 present the between-groups differences according to the distance covered at different speed thresholds. On MD+2, G2 covered significantly higher TD \(>\) 19 km\(\cdot\)h\({}^{-1}\) than G1 (\(p\) < 0.001) and G3 (\(p\) < 0.05); significantly higher TD \(>\) 25 km\(\cdot\)h\({}^{-1}\) than G1 (\(p\) < 0.001) and G3 (\(p\) < 0.01); a significantly higher number of sprints than G1 (\(p\) < 0.001) and G3 (\(p\) < 0.01). Also, G1 achieved the lowest max. speed (\(p\) < 0.01). Figure 1: Differences in distance covered \(>\)19 km\(\cdot\)h\({}^{-1}\) between different group players by training day. Note. m = meters; MD+2 = two days after match; MD-4 = four days before match; MD-3 = three days before match; MD-2 = two days before match; MD-1 = one day before match; MD = match day; \({}^{*}p\) < 0.05; \({}^{***}p\) < 0.001. Figure 2: Differences in distance covered \(>\) 25 km\(\cdot\)h\({}^{-1}\) between different group players by training day. Note. m = meters; MD+2 = two days after match; MD-4 = four days before match; MD-3 = three days before match; MD-2 = two days before match; MD-1 = one day before match; MD = match day; \({}^{*}p\) < 0.05; \({}^{**}p\) < 0.01; \({}^{***}p\) < 0.001. Figure 4: Differences in maximum speed reached between different group players by training day. Note. MD+2 = two days after match; MD-4 = four days before match; MD-3 = three days before match; MD-2 = two days before match; MD-1 = one day before match; MD = match day; \({}^{\star}\)_p_ < 0.05; \({}^{\star\star}\)_p_ < 0.001. Regarding MD-4 values, G1 covered significantly lower TD \(>\) 19 km\(\cdot\)h\({}^{-1}\) than G3 (_p_ < 0.05). On MD-3, G1 achieved a greater max. speed than G2 (_p_ < 0.05), while on MD-2, G2 achieved a higher max. speed than G3 (_p_ < 0.01). Figure 3: Differences in number of sprints performed between different group players by training day. Note. n\({}^{o}\) = number; MD+2 = two days after match; MD-4 = four days before match; MD-3 = three days before match; MD-2 = two days before match; MD-1 = one day before match; MD = match day; \({}^{\star}\)_p_ < 0.05; \({}^{\star\star}\)_p_ < 0.01; \({}^{\star\star\star}\)_p_ < 0.001. On MD-1, G3 covered significantly higher TD \(>\) 19 km\(\cdot\)h\({}^{-1}\) than G1 (\(p<\) 0.05); significantly higher TD \(>\) 25 km\(\cdot\)h\({}^{-1}\) than G1 (\(p<\) 0.05); and a significantly higher number of sprints than G1 (\(p<\) 0.05). With respect to MD, G1 covered higher TD \(>\) 19 km\(\cdot\)h\({}^{-1}\) and TD \(>\) 25 km\(\cdot\)h\({}^{-1}\) than G3 (\(p<\) 0.001), performed a significantly higher number of sprints than G3 (\(p<\) 0.001) and achieved the greatest max. speed values (\(p<\) 0.001). Between-groups differences according to variables related to mechanical demands are shown in Table 2. On MD+2, G1 had a significantly lower number of ACC than G2 and G3 (\(p<\) 0.001); significantly lower number of DEC than G2 and G3 (\(p<\) 0.001); and covered a significantly lower PLoad than G2 and G3 (\(p<\) 0.001). Regarding MD-3 values, G3 had a significantly lower number of ACC than G1 (\(p<\) 0.05) and significantly lower number of DEC than G1 (\(p<\) 0.001) and G2 (\(p<\) 0.01). On MD-2, G1 had a significantly lower number of ACC than G2 (\(p<\) 0.001) and G3 (\(p<\) 0.01); significantly lower number of DEC than G2 and G3 (\(p<\) 0.001); and covered a significantly lower PLoad than G2 and G3 (\(p<\) 0.001).