Chapter 26 The Devil's Race
In February and March, the Champions League kicked off again, and Real Madrid will start to enter a one-week double-game match. This time, Real Madrid's senior executives only have one requirement for Capello to support this, and the Champions League must enter the quarterfinals. Real Madrid has been out of the quarterfinals for several consecutive years, and the shameful title of "Dream Eight" has been following them for a long time.
Real Madrid drew a draw in the knockout stage. They will fight against Bundesliga class boss Bayern Munich at the end of February and early March, working hard for a place in the quarterfinals. Needless to say, the grudge between Real Madrid and Bayern is not to mention, and there is nothing to say when they encounter it, and only one side will fall.
Next, Real Madrid will challenge Real Sociedad away, and then it will face Real Betis again at home. After two league games, La Liga giants and Bundesliga top players will have a world-renowned battle at the Bernabeu.
After playing Bayern at home, it is the Madrid derby, second only to the century-long battle with Barcelona in the league. Atletico Madrid's youngest captain, "San Infant" Torres, has been waiting for this city-wide mortal enemy battle that concerns dignity.
After the Madrid derby, he challenged Bayern Munich again away, which was a Champions League match that concerns Real Madrid's years of dignity.
After the Champions League, in mid-March, the most intense and most eye-catching battle of the century in the entire La Liga and even the world. Real Madrid will go to the Camp Nou to challenge Barcelona, which has the number one player in football today. Barcelona only lost one game in the first half of the season, that is, the Spanish derby between Bernabeu and Real Madrid. The intense game can be imagined. Facing Barcelona, who is vowing to revenge, Real Madrid, who has just returned from Germany, is in danger.
The number one title of "Marca" this morning was "The Devil's Schedule before the fight with Barcelona", and analyzed the schedule before Real Madrid's next meeting with Barcelona in detail. Finally, a conclusion was drawn.
"How much Real Madrid can gain this season depends on how well they play in February and March. As long as they can bite them tightly before Barcelona's fight, the Camp Nou game will determine the ownership of the La Liga championship this season. In addition, in the Champions League, Bayern Munich can be said to be the opponent that Real Madrid least wants to meet, but the result of the draw is not something we can decide.
In terms of players, Real Madrid's players may be more famous than Bayern, but their strength is not superior. The goalkeeper position is Cassi and Kahn, with Bayern winning the defense line. After Gago is in the midfield, Real Madrid can compete with Bayern. The forward line is probably the only place where Real Madrid wins. Fanny and Raul's partner is definitely better than Makai and Podolski.
If Real Madrid wants to appear from the Champions League, they can only rely on attack!”
This report by Marca was analyzed very carefully, but Gago knew that Capello could not listen to them at all. In any case, Capello would first defend and then think about attacking.
But this is all at the end of February. Now the league is in front of you. Real Madrid will challenge Real Sociedad away. This is also a very important game. Real Madrid can no longer afford to lose. If they lose, they will fall to fifth place. If the Galaxy Battleship cannot even enter the European arena, they will probably be scolded to death by fans all over the world.
Moreover, Real Madrid, which lost two consecutive games, urgently needs a big victory to boost morale.
In this game, Capello rarely sent an attacking lineup. Cannavaro returned to the starting lineup and partnered with Elgra as the central defender, Torres and Ramos were separated from the left and right guards. Midfielder Emerson replaced Diyala, who made the mistake in the last game, but Emerson and Gago have now changed positions. Now Gago is the core player on the court, and Emerson is more responsible for the defense tasks.
Although Gago was happy when he heard Capello's tactical arrangement, he still did not show it. Now he finally conquered the head coach and teammates with his outstanding performance, making them willingly admit that he was the core.
Beckham, who was re-activated, returned to his most familiar right forward, Guti served as the midfielder, and Raul acted as the left forward. Fanny broke forward alone on the forward line.
But Real Madrid conceded the goal at the beginning of this game, which made Capello, who wanted a big victory, very angry.
Cassie, who has always performed well, made a rare mistake and stood far away from the goal. Real Sociedad's cross from the right was directly hung to the goal, but was barely blocked by Casillas, but Alan Bru, who was inserted, easily headed the ball without defense at the far point.
Next, Real Madrid launched a counterattack. Gago did not blindly command the midfield to press the pressure, and gradually pulled the opponent's defense line apart. While stabilizing his defense, he constantly penetrated the opponent's defense line with short passes.
Finally equalized the score in the 26th minute. After Gago got the ball, he was assigned to the left in time. Guti observed it after receiving the ball, and then passed it to the middle. After Raul received the ball, he turned around and wiped the opponent's defender. He was pulled when he was about to break into the penalty area.
Beckham took the free kick, and the position was neither good nor bad, but the heartthrobs who had been holding it in for a long time kicked a very beautiful arc ball. After going around the wall, they hit the inside of the goal post in the far corner and bounced into the net.
After scoring the goal, Beckham was very excited. He turned around and ran towards Capello, but was caught up by Guti and rushed to the lawn halfway. This was his first game of his comeback and his first goal of the season. He used this goal to tell Capello that he was absolutely wrong to use him.
After equalizing the score, Real Madrid's offensive became more and more powerful, and scored again before the end of the first half to overtake the score. Gago pressed Preto in the midfield and grabbed the ball with the help of Beckham. Then he stuffed it directly to the left. Raul's ball was very beautiful and turned around and shot directly.
The ball aimed at the upper left corner of the goal. The opponent's goalkeeper Bravo had no choice but to watch the ball enter the net.
Raul, who scored the score, came to the Real Madrid fans who followed and made a celebration move. The iconic kiss ring.
In the midfield, Capello criticized the goal in the first half and praised the offense continuously. At the same time, he slowed down Gago in the second half and stabilized defense was the most important thing.
But even so, Real Madrid scored again at the second half of the kick-off, this time it was Fanny.
Gago passed the ball in the middle, Guti kept passing the ball across the frontcourt directly to the right, Ramos who inserted at high speed made a cross, and the king of the small penalty area headed the ball before the goalkeeper attacked, scoring his twelve goals of the season.
3:1.
This is also the last score of the game. Real Madrid also had several chances in the next halftime, but they did not score. With twenty minutes left, Real Sociedad's counterattack made Real Madrid's goal frightened. Elgra and Beckham collided with each other many times, and both sides received yellow cards.
At this time, Capello made the most critical substitution, and Diarra replaced Emerson, who was mediocre in the game again.
Hei Youhan, who had been on the bench for most of the game, used his undead physical strength to intercept and blocked the opponent's attacks several times. Gago and his tacit understanding also allowed them to work together to protect the front of the penalty area.
The goal conceding at the beginning made Casillas perform well in the next game, blocking the opponent and shooting several times.
Chapter completed!