Chapter 23 Love Song Stadium
Real Madrid's next round opponent is Villarrell. Last season's "Yellow Submarine" reached the peak of the club. Under the leadership of Chilean engineer Pellegrini, he entered the Champions League for the first time and reached the semi-finals. However, at the beginning of this season, the contradiction between Riquelme and Pellegrini has been irreconcilable, and the conflict between the team's core and the head coach also made the Yellow Submarine's performance poor to believe.
La Liga has been in total for 20 rounds, and Villarreal has only won seven games, now ranked seventh from the bottom. Although he has not yet fallen into the relegation zone, it is unforgivable for fans who have experienced the glory of last season. Riquelme has been completely banned by Pellegrini since the beginning of the season because of his lazy attitude. Fans believe that the team's performance is so poor because the head coach does not allow Riquelme to play, so Pellegrini's life is not easy. It can be seen that the fans of the Love Song Stadium booed him since he appeared.
But Pellegrini is also a tough person. Even in such a dilemma, he did not change his attitude and still let Riquelme sit on the bench. But it has to be said that the coaching ability of the Chilean engineer is not also top-notch. His contribution was indelible to the semi-finals of the Champions League last season.
All media believe that Real Madrid will definitely win in this game, because since Villarreal was promoted to La Liga, he has played against Real Madrid seven times, and Real Madrid has won 4 and 3 draws and remained unbeaten. If it were the "yellow submarine" last season, it would be a little interesting, but now it is good if it is not a little bit lost.
However, the development of this game was beyond everyone's expectations. Capello used his recent winning streak in this game, but after the opening, Real Madrid fell into a passive position. Villarrell used his home advantage to launch an offensive, and Diego Fran led the attack line directly suppressed Real Madrid's defense.
Pellegrini used attack instead of defense, and used attack to suppress Real Madrid in halftime and could not move.
In the 26th minute of the first half, Fran and Carney made beautiful cooperation, and entered the penalty area with two passes and shot from Casey at a small angle to score the team's first record.
Villarrel, who had gained a lead, had no intention of recycling. Under the command of Pellegrini on the sidelines, the attacks were even higher, threatening Real Madrid's goal again and again.
At this time, because of a goal conceding, Casillas showed the style of the world's number one goalkeeper in the future, and made six key saves in a row to ensure that the goal was not lost.
The most dangerous thing is that at the end of the first half, Fran shot a cold arrow outside the penalty area and was saved by Cassie. The supplementary shot that Kaney inserted into the penalty area was also saved by Cassie. The re-shoot that Matthias followed was blocked by Cassie and flew out of the baseline.
Three consecutive wonderful saves made all Real Madrid fans present scare and sweat while being surprised.
During the halftime break, Capello severely criticized Real Madrid's defense line and midfielder, believing that he did not give the opponent enough press, allowing the opponent to shoot calmly several times.
The second half of the game changed sides. Gago, who was scolded by Capello in the midfield, cut off Marcos' ball in the midfield, and sent the ball into the penalty area with a scalpel-like pass before Senna's flying tackle. Robinho scored his maximum speed and fell to the ground before the opponent's goalkeeper and tackled the ball into the goal.
Robinho, who equalized the score, immediately took out the ball from the goal and put it in the center line, signaling the opponent to drive the ball quickly.
The angry Villarrel began to attack Real Madrid's goal continuously, and Real Madrid was not inferior. During the halftime break, after Capello's guidance, Gago began to organize the team's offense to fight against the opponent.
But Villarrell was the one who surpassed the score first. In the 68th minute, Fran made a fake shot and made a real pass, shook Diarra and then passed the ball to Matthias. Matthias, who received the ball, passed it straight into the penalty area again. Marcos made an emergency stop and then faced Cassi alone on the left side of the penalty area, calmly pushed the ball to the near corner to score.
2:1.
After Capello saw this score, he sent Drarede, who had finished warming up, to replace Reyes, who was in average form in this game.
After leading the score, Villarrell's offense slowed down slightly, and then Real Madrid, who was suppressed for most of the game, launched a counterattack like a tide. Gago kept dispatching balls in the midfield and created several opportunities for Real Madrid, but Villarrell, who was united, did not hesitate to run physically to resolve all the attacks one by one.
Senna, who is praised by the coach Aragones as the last puzzle of the Spanish national team in the future, showed world-class standards in this game. His sweeping interception in the midfield made Real Madrid's attacks basically not threaten Villarrell's goal.
In the 76th minute, after a midfield steal, Gago was about to pass the ball, and he felt a gust of wind behind him. He was alert and jumped quickly, but he was still tripped by the opponent's player. The opponent's shoe nails also scratched Gago's thighs. Seeing Gago bleeding, Capello quickly replaced him with young player Nieto.
Although Gago was unwilling to accept it, he had to leave because of bleeding.
At the last moment, Gago lost the midfield commander, and Real Madrid's offensive was messy, and he was unable to equalize the score in the end. Real Madrid had its first defeat at the Love Song Stadium. Villarrell finally tasted the taste of home victory. After this game, there was no booing at Pellegrini on the court, and some cheers. The football world is so realistic. As long as you can win, everything will be fine.
Real Madrid's winning streak was terminated at the Love Song Stadium, which was also the second defeat that Gago encountered this season.
After this game, most of the media were exaggerating the players. Because they had just experienced the internal disaster of Calderon's "speech", it was normal for Real Madrid players to be in a state. Capello is the world's top coach and can adjust his condition immediately.
However, it is a pity that Barcelona won again after the start of the game, easily defeating the relegation team Celta 3:1. Sevilla, who was most concerned by Real Madrid, finally showed his strong team style after losing two consecutive games, defeating Levante 4:2. The two teams once again widened the gap with Real Madrid.
After the game, Gago's injury was cared for by many people. Real Madrid now really cannot lack him as the midfield organizer. But luckily, Gago's injury looked terrible and bleeding, but it was not serious. After stopping the bleeding, it would be fine if it took a few days to rest. This made Capello and Real Madrid fans breathe a sigh of relief.
Real Madrid will face Levante at home in the next round. This game has special significance. This is the 1,000th league game that the Bernabeu Stadium has ushered in. The first league game in 1947 was staged at the Bernabeu. The Spanish Capital Stadium, which has experienced 60 years of ups and downs, attracted a celebration of thousands of league games today.
This is a game where you can win but not lose.
Before this game, the news that Raul and Guti returned from injury made Real Madrid fans very excited. However, to be on the safe side, Capello did not let Gago, who was injured in the last game, enter the roster, and prepare to let him recover completely before making his debut.
ps: There should be another chapter later.
Chapter completed!