Chapter 055: Club World Cup
Real Madrid's 4-1 home win over Galatasaray has already qualified for the group ahead of schedule and locked up the top spot in the group, but Real Madrid, who are visiting in this game, still sent a large number of substitutes.
It's not that Real Madrid has to show a good mental outlook, it's just that the players who have been rested in rotation get the opportunity to play in the cold winter and stabilize their state.
In addition to the away trip to Copenhagen, Real Madrid have three games to play before the winter break, two domestic league games and a Copa del Rey second leg.
Although the strength of the team facing is not very strong, the competition in La Liga this season is unprecedentedly strong, and the Champions League will enter the knockout stage in the second half of the season.
Real Madrid won 2-0 at the Poten Stadium, with Cristiano Ronaldo, returning from injury, scoring a goal but missing a penalty.
In other words, at the end of the six Champions League group games, Cristiano Ronaldo scored a total of nine goals, successfully surpassing the record of eight goals in the Champions League group stage held by Ruud van Nistelrooy in 2003-2004 and Crespo and Inzaghi in 2002-2003, becoming the most goals scored in the Champions League group stage.
In addition, the whole Real Madrid team also set a record.
6:1, 4:0, 3:1, 2:2, 4:1 and 2:0, 21 goals in six group games, surpassing Manchester United in 1998-1999 and Barcelona in 2011-2012 to become the team with the most goals in the Champions League group stage.
Speaking of records, Real Madrid also set another record, surpassing Barcelona with 30 consecutive Champions League games to score.
It is worth mentioning that Real Madrid also set a record at the end of the fifth round of the Champions League group, having reached the round of 16 in 16 consecutive Champions League seasons.
In terms of personal record, captain Iker Casillas surpassed Raul in terms of Champions League minutes to become the player with the most Champions League appearances for Real Madrid.
And this game is also Xavi Alonso's 200th game for Real Madrid.
Dortmund was able to win the championship last season, which is directly related to Tang Zheng's eye-catching performance in the Champions League, fifteen goals in thirteen games, and now Cristiano Ronaldo has scored nine goals in the group stage, and many media who are optimistic about Real Madrid believe that Real Madrid this season is likely to win the tenth Champions League title in team history under the leadership of Tang Zheng and Cristiano Ronaldo!
Although Tang Zheng contributed only four goals in the six group games of the Champions League, he contributed a total of seven assists, which means that 11 of Real Madrid's 21 goals in the group stage came from Tang Zheng, accounting for more than 50%.
Cristiano Ronaldo contributed nine goals and only one assist, which means that his contribution to the team as a whole is not as good as Tang Zheng, and Tang Zheng has a huge role in defense.
According to a set of data given by the newspaper "Marca", Tang Zheng's pivotal role at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends is comparable to the sum of Ozil + Xavi Alonso during the Mourinho era.
With such an efficient and obvious effect, more and more media are optimistic about the prospects of Tang Zheng's annual FIFA awards ceremony in January next year.
Three days later, Real Madrid visited the El Sardar Stadium to challenge Osasuna, and it stands to reason that Real Madrid, who are second in the league, and Osasuna, who are 16th in the league, have a huge contrast in strength, and Real Madrid's win is a reasonable plot arrangement.
However, Osasuna at home showed a lot of tenacity, and they drew 2-2 with the mighty Real Madrid in a limited cheer from the home fans, with Tang Zheng and Cristiano Ronaldo scoring a goal each.
However, the away draw had little to do with the performance of the attacking players, it was the vice-captain Ramos who was a little frizzy in his defense during a transition from attack to defense, and received his second yellow card of the game, so the team was passive in terms of numbers......
The final draw is also directly related to the lack of one player.
In China, fans who watched Real Madrid's away draw with Osasuna did not choose to rest, but waited for the 2013 Club World Cup, Guangzhou Evergrande faced African champion Al Ahly, with the excellent performance of the core of the midfield, Conca, won the opponent 2:0, advanced to the semi-finals, and challenged the Champions League champion Dortmund.
There are many highlights in this game, first of all, whether Yan Junling and Lu Liang, who play for Dortmund, can play wonderfully, and secondly, whether Guangzhou Evergrande can go further.
Of course, this possibility is very small, even if the current Dortmund is no longer the Dortmund of the treble period, but after all, this team is only missing Tang Zheng, and the other backbones are still there.
If you want to beat Dortmund, the difficulty factor is not usually low.
And this match was played the day after Real Madrid hosted CD-Olimp.
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The 16th round of the 2013-2014 La Liga season came to an end, and Real Madrid's draw away at Osasuna caused them to drop down the rankings and were overtaken by Barcelona, who won this round.
However, the gap between the top three in the league is not obvious, the top of the table Atletico Madrid has 14 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss with 43 points, Barcelona has 13 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses with 40 points, and Real Madrid has 12 wins, 3 draws and 1 loss with 39 points.
Atletico Madrid and Barcelona only have one win-loss relationship with each other, and the two teams have not played each other in the first round of the league, which means that once Atletico Madrid and Barcelona play each other, it will be the best moment for Real Madrid to chase points!
The league has been a long season, and Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti has not focused too much on the end of the league, and his focus has come to the second leg of the 1/16 final of this season's Copa del Rey at home to CD-Olimp.
Given the trip to Mestalla to face Valencia four days later, Carlo Ancelotti made some changes to his line-up, sending a large number of substitutes and young players against the limited CD-Olimp.
With goals from Alvaro Morata and Nacho, Real Madrid beat CD-Olimp 2-0 at home and advanced to the round of 16 of this season's Copa del Rey.
The next day, the attention of Chinese fans shifted to Morocco, and Guangzhou Evergrande will challenge Champions League champions Borussia Dortmund.
Tang Zheng also watched the live broadcast of the game in the villa in the wealthy area of Madrid, although Dortmund's overall strength has declined, but it is still not comparable to the current Guangzhou Evergrande team.
3:0
Lewandowski scored twice and Reuss added the icing on the cake.
It was normal for Champions League winners Borussia Dortmund to reach the final, but the next game was a surprise, when Copa Libertadores champions Atletico Mineiro lost 3-1 to hosts Casablanca......
In other words, Guangzhou Evergrande's third and fourth final opponents will be...... Ronaldinho's Atletico Mineiro.
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Real Madrid's away league game against Valencia is the last game of 2013, which means that after the away game, the whole Real Madrid team will be disbanded on the spot and enter the winter break.
It is worth mentioning that the La Liga winter break is different from the Bundesliga winter break, the Spanish region is closer to the southern end, so the winter break is shorter, and Real Madrid's first game in 2014 was at 7 p.m. local time in Spain on January 6.
This means that La Liga players have less than ten days to go off to the winter break, and then they have to return to the club to prepare for the second half of the season.
Real Madrid, who visited Mestalla, fielded the strongest squad that could play, goalkeeper Diego López, four defenders Marcelo, Raphael Varane, Pepe and Carvajal, two midfielders Luka Modric partnered Xavi Alonso, three defenders were Cristiano Ronaldo, Tang Zheng and Isco, and Benzema was at the front.
Valencia's home match against Real Madrid is one of the last two matches of the 17th round of the 2013-2014 season, after Atletico Madrid, who beat Levante 3-2 at home, won the winter half-way title, and Barcelona who beat Getafe 5-2 away to win second, and Real Madrid won or lost third.
Of course, the winter half-marathon championship and runner-up do not mean anything, and there is no championship medal.
Despite this, head coach Carlo Ancelotti still gave his players a must-win order before the game.
In recent seasons, Valencia's overall strength has declined significantly with the departure of key players, and the league is currently in ninth place, six points away from next season's European places, equal to two wins.
The league is a long one, and no one knows what the standings will be after the 38th round of the 2013-2014 season.
Coupled with the stubborn resistance of Osasuna away from Real Madrid last round, Valencia, who is a stronger player in this round, must be careful.
In the first ten minutes of the game, Real Madrid played very carefully, and under the triple control of Tang Zheng, Luka Modric and Xavi Alonso, they did not rush to attack, but boiled frogs in warm water by advancing layer by layer.
As time went on, Real Madrid got more and more shots on goal.
Much to Ancelotti's displeasure in front of the visitors' dugout, the attacking players up front were a little lacking in their ability to take chances, with shots either deflected wide of the net or denied by goalkeeper Guaita.
It wasn't until the twenty-seventh minute of the game that the visiting Real Madrid broke the deadlock.
Tang Zheng took a quick free kick about 45 meters from the goal in the middle, Modric made a slight adjustment to pick up the pass, Benzema padded the ball forward with his chest, and then pulled his foot and shot angrily, and the football hung in the corner of the goal.
However, Real Madrid were unable to extend the lead in the frenzied Mestalla stadium, and instead equalized with a header from Piati, who is only 1.63m tall, just before half-time......
In the second half, Real Madrid again exceeded the score by Cristiano Ronaldo.
But Valencia's resilience at Mestalla was surprising, and less than four minutes later, Valencia centre-back Mathieu headed the ball into the back of the net from a corner to help the home side equalise.
Next, the game reached a stalemate.
Because Valencia, who was sitting at home, seemed very tenacious and unified in thought, and decided to stick to the score until the end of the game when realizing that the overall strength was not as good as Real Madrid.
In the blink of an eye, the game came to 80 minutes, and the score on the field was still 2:2.
Atletico Madrid and Barcelona won the first game, and if Real Madrid draw away, the difference between them will further widen, and after the winter break, Real Madrid's schedule pressure will definitely increase dramatically.
If you are not careful, there is a high probability of a third-line collapse.
After all, Real Madrid has a strong squad and spent nearly 200 million euros this summer, and if it can't win the ideal championship, the pressure of public opinion will be unprecedentedly huge.
Just when Real Madrid's attack was helpless, Tang Zheng, who joined Real Madrid for 105 million euros this summer, stepped forward.
In the process of switching from attack to defense, he suddenly cooperated with Isco to force Parejo, the core of Valencia's midfield, and forced Parejo to pass back in a hurry, Benzema cleverly stretched his right foot, and the football was stopped by him to the range of his body.
Parejo and Mathieu both wanted to steal the ball, but Benzema moved faster and stabbed his toes and the ball went to Isco.
Isco didn't stop the ball and passed it directly horizontally, and the football came to Tang Zheng.
Tang Zheng started on the spot, stopped the ball slightly with his long right leg, and shot angrily about 35 meters from the goal.
The football did not spin in mid-air and flew towards the goal with a strong whistling sound, and Valencia players Bernate and Mathieu, including the Valencia fans in the stands, were suddenly shocked.
The goalkeeper, Guaita, moved quickly, but he was still half a beat slower than the speed of the ball.
The football sticks to the inside edge of the left post of the goal and the junction of the measuring corner, which is commonly known as the tenth corner.
In the face of the silent thunder, the Mestalla Stadium suddenly became silent, and only the Real Madrid fans who came to the away stadium with the team let out passionate cheers.
Yang 5 commentator He Wei was emotional, almost crazy shouting: "Beautiful! World Wave! Tang Zheng once again used his trademark long-range shot to help Real Madrid score, and now they are leading Valencia 3:2 again! With four minutes left in the game, this goal is tantamount to a stunner!"
Countless Real Madrid fans sitting in front of the TV roared hysterically and knew what it would mean if Real Madrid drew away to Valencia.
And Tang Zheng helped Real Madrid exceed the score again, turning one point into three points, and then the points continued to bite Atletico Madrid and Barcelona, and the impact on Real Madrid's journey in the second half of the season will be positive.
As He Wei said, Tang Zheng's goal was tantamount to a stunner.
Sure enough!
When the referee blew the whistle at the end of the game, the score was still fixed at 2:3
The home team is in the front, the away team is in the back.
The Real Madrid soldiers, who struggled to win the game, finally breathed a sigh of relief, and Cristiano Ronaldo and Tang Zheng, who contributed goals in this game, looked at each other and smiled at each other and gave each other a big hug.
Atletico Madrid and Barcelona have won the league respectively, and if Real Madrid drop points away from home, it will undoubtedly have a huge impact on the recovery of points after the winter break.
And the impact of this is negative.
At the end of this round of the league, the whole Real Madrid team disbanded on the spot, each went back to his own home, and found his own mother.
No, it's looking for their own wives, girlfriends and children.
Tang Zheng did not return to Madrid, he took a flight directly from Valencia Manises Airport to Lyon, France, and then took his girlfriend Zhao Lina, who had finished the French Women's League, to Rabat, the capital of Morocco, to watch the 2013 Club World Cup final.
Borussia Dortmund have already won the German Super Cup and the European Super Cup, which means that if they win the Club World Cup, Dortmund will equal Barcelona's record of six crowns set in 2009.