Sporting Gijón lost 0-2 to Atletico Madrid in the Copa del Rey semi-finals. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

In the subsequent league game, it only beat Levante 1-0.

These two games exposed the biggest dilemma facing Sporting Gijón: the lack of bench depth, and the team began to have a personnel crisis under the multi-front battle.

This also makes Barcelona people see hope, "World Sports" cheers for Barcelona, the newspaper believes that the season has entered the final sprint stage, the multi-front battle of Sporting Gijón is actually the end of the crossbow, Barcelona's player strength and bench depth are a large cut beyond Sporting Gijón, in this case, Sporting Gijón is bound to be blocked and make mistakes, this is Barcelona's chance to turn the tables.

Another Catalan media "Daily Sport" quoted Barcelona's famous local kinesiology expert Basquetz, who studied the recent games of Sporting Gijón, saying that Sporting Gijón's players obviously have physical problems, and the running distance of the players has also decreased, and finally came to the conclusion that Sporting Gijón has suffered a major fitness and employment crisis, and the team may only need one defeat to collapse.

At the Malato training base, Leon is communicating with the team's team doctor.

"How's it going?" asked Leon.

The team doctor, Mr. Rotalo, held a stack of papers in his hand, which were reports of the players' physical condition, and in the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey at Atletico Madrid, Leon made a large rotation of the team, and then in the league with Levante, Leon also rotated in some positions, so that some players who were extremely tired mentally and physically got a rest, and then he asked the team doctor to conduct a physical examination of the players.

"It's not optimistic. Rotalo said, and then saw Leon's gloomy face, and quickly added, "However, what I'm talking about is the ideal situation, and judging from the results of the current report, it's still good." ”

Leon's face turned gloomy, he knew that Rotalo was a guy who pursued perfection, and I was afraid that in Rotalo's eyes, only running around like a calf could be considered a good result.

"Those foul-smelling black potions, are they really so effective?" Rotalo then asked after Leon.

That's right, if it's just a rotation, the physical condition of the players can't improve too quickly, and there is another factor, that is, Li Ang asked people to buy a batch of Chinese medicine from a Chinese medicine store in Madrid, which can improve the physical fitness of the players, he personally decocted the medicine and ordered the players to drink the medicine.

Smelling those black, unpleasant potions, the vast majority of players frowned, not daring to drink, or Carlos is the most single, went up directly, frowned, drank a bowl of potion in a big gulp, someone took the lead, and then, Ribery also drank the medicine, but the Frenchman pinched his nose and drank the medicine, with the scars on his face, the picture was too beautiful.

At that time, when he heard that Li Ang was going to boil medicine for the players to drink, the team doctor Rotalo was strongly opposed, and he even suspected that Li Ang was planning to use doping for the players, Li Ang had to explain again and again that the ingredients of these traditional Chinese medicines were very normal and would never violate the doping regulations. It's just to avoid getting into doping trouble.

Now, judging from the physical condition of the players, there is still a certain effect.

"Of course, in fact, in China, we have been drinking this potion since ancient times to cure diseases and improve our resistance. Leon replied.

"That's a sin. Rotalo's face was terrifying, he couldn't imagine how he could drink something so unpalatable, but he had to admit that this kind of witchcraft from the East was still very effective.

***********

The media in Catalonia are singing the praises of Sporting Gijón, as if the team is like a castle of sand, ready to collapse at any moment.

Two days later, Sporting Gijón hosted Russian Premier League giants CSKA Moscow at home.

This was the first leg of the semi-finals of the 2004/2005 UEFA Cup.

According to the newspaper Daily Sport, this match could put Sporting Gijón in great trouble and further worsen Sporting's fitness crisis. Even if they barely win this game, the extremely tired Sporting Gijón will be greatly affected in the league at the weekend.

Other media outlets in Barcelona are also clamoring, bluntly saying that they hope CSKA Moscow can make maximum trouble for Sporting Gijón.

In this regard, Leon sarcastically said before the game that Barcelona is a childish family, "In fact, Sporting Gijón is currently the only surviving team in Europe, we are now fighting for the honor of Spanish football, in this case, the words of the Barcelona people really shouldn't be, but it is no wonder that the league title is their only hope now......

Leon's words made the Barcelona people hate itchy, but they can't refute anything, after all, Leon is right, Sporting Gijon, as the only Spanish team surviving in the European competition, is fighting for the honor of Spanish football.

You can curse and pray privately and hope that Sporting Gijón will be in trouble, but please don't say it.

Barcelona wanted Sporting Gijón to be in big trouble in this game, but the result surprised everyone, as Sporting Gijón beat CSKA Moscow 3-0 at home, and in the two-legged semi-finals, Sporting Gijón had the upper hand, in the words of the Spanish media, and had already stepped into the final of this season's UEFA Cup.

It is not surprising that Sporting Gijón won, and it is not surprising that CSKA Moscow won with the strength of this team, but to everyone's surprise, Sporting Gijón won relatively easily, and the team scored in the first half by Diego Milito and Grosso successively, firmly controlling the game in their own hands, and in the second half, Di Natale's goal helped the team seal the victory.

After the game, the Spanish media also praised Sporting Gijón and praised it, in Real Madrid and Barcelona have been out of the European Champions Cup, the Spanish club has all gone out of the European Champions Cup, and there is only one team in the League Cup, Sporting Gijón wins every game, every step forward, is to earn points for La Liga.

After the game, even FC Barcelona sent a 'congratulatory message' to Sporting Gijón on its official website, and wished Sporting Gijón in advance to reach the final of the League Cup, not to live up to the heavy responsibility of La Liga, and to have the last laugh.

Hypocritical!

Li Ang scolded, he sarcastically and ridiculed the Barcelona people before the game, regardless of the overall situation, after the game Barcelona people turned against the army, this is to create public opinion, force Sporting Gijón to pay more attention to the European competition, they know that Sporting Gijón squad is thin, if they put more energy into the League Cup, the league will inevitably be affected.

This is indeed a fake little trick, but the Barcelona people don't know that Leon is very greedy in his heart, and the League Cup championship trophy is already within his goal, and the League Cup will not give up. That's why Leon scoffed at Barcelona's tricks.

***********

In the 34th round of the league, Barcelona's match was ahead of Sporting Gijón, and they welcomed Albachet at their home stadium at Camp Nou.

In the end, thanks to goals from Ronaldinho and Deco, the Barcelona won 2-0 at home.

After the win, Barcelona held their breath and waited to see the game of Sporting Gijón. They are desperate to see Sporting Gijón blocked, and they think it is very likely for two reasons: Sporting Gijón played a UEFA Cup match in midweek and are in a worrying physical condition, and in addition, Sporting Gijón will play this round against Villarreal, who are currently fifth in the league, just one point behind fourth-placed Sevilla, nicknamed the 'Yellow Submarine', and are fighting for qualification for next season's European Champions Cup.

A day later, after Sporting Gijón's away match against Villarreal, at the post-match press conference, Leon was furious.

"The pigeons in Labrador Square saw the goal scored, only the referee didn't see it, short-sighted, farsighted, or poor and have no money for glasses?

The reason why he is so angry is that Sporting Gijón was drawn 1-1 by Villarreal in this game, and there was a huge controversy in this game, and the game went to 89 minutes, Sporting Gijón player Ribery's shot was saved by the Villarreal goalkeeper, and was blocked by defender Peña, and the players of Sporting Gijón raised their hands to signal Peña for handball, and they blocked the football with their hands, but the referee of this game, Kuasti, was unmoved, and his expression was serious like a rock.

Slow motion shows that Peña did indeed hit the ball from the goal line with his hands, which was an unmistakable penalty and red card foul!

It's no wonder that Leon is so angry, Sporting Gijón could have won away from home with this penalty, but now they have only won a draw, which also makes Sporting Gijón only three points ahead of Barcelona in the standings!

Five points and three points are completely different concepts, in the case of five points, it means that Sporting Gijón has room and room for error, even if they lose a game, they can still continue to lead Barcelona, but in the case of three points, Sporting Gijón has almost no room for error.

The Spanish media generally believed that Sporting Gijón suffered a loss, thinking that the referee missed a penalty, and expressed his understanding of Leang's anger after the game, after all, this controversial penalty may affect Sporting Gijón's championship.

Only the Catalan media said in a veiled way that the referee's decision is the only criterion on the field, and even the occasional controversial decision is part of the football game, and the coach should learn to adapt, not be noisy without grace.

This caused Li Ang's huge dissatisfaction, he was interviewed by the Spanish national station three, his words were fierce, "As a profit-making party, (the Barcelona people's) words are really disgusting, take advantage and come out to say this kind of thing, tsk, if it was Barcelona who suffered, they would have already burst into a thunderstorm, and the whole Spanish football world would have been earthquaked, of course, they couldn't suffer this kind of loss!"

The most direct response to Leon's remarks was that the Spanish Football Federation sent a letter to Sporting Gijón Club, asking Leon to explain whether there was any suspicion of inappropriate groundless accusations and malicious speculation against referees.

At this moment, Leon's old opponents and old grievances, the Madridians stood up, and the Madrid media rarely stood on Leon's side, questioning the referee Kuasti who did not dare to award a penalty at a critical moment, precisely because he was afraid of being under pressure and afraid that the misjudgment of the penalty would be blamed and criticized by the Barcelona people, so he would rather let the Gijón people suffer than dare to award a penalty.

"Marca" even directly raised a question mark, is it because the Spanish Football Federation does not want a grassroots team to win the championship?

Li Ang and "Marca" are old grudges, the two sides have fought many times, but, this time, he wants to give a thumbs up to "Marca", there are some words, he is not suitable to say as the head coach of Sporting Gijón, but, Madridians can, as Madridians, it is common to scold Barcelona, because Barcelona is dissatisfied with profits and then criticize the Football Association, it is also common, this is not wrong!

Now, with this remark from the newspaper Marca, Leon only hopes to put some pressure on the Spanish Football Federation, so that Sporting Gijón will no longer suffer because of the referee's enforcement. He doesn't expect his team to profit because of the referee's law enforcement, and it's good not to suffer losses, just as the Barcelona man's nemesis Madrid said, the referee was scared at that time and didn't dare to blow the penalty! If this is changed to Barcelona getting a penalty opportunity at the last moment, do you see if the referee dares to blow it? Even if it is a suspected penalty, it will definitely blow! Of course, the same is true for Barcelona to Real Madrid, the big clubs are always taken care of, not just in La Liga, but also in the Premier League and the Bundesliga and Serie A.

Three days later, in the second leg of the 2004/2005 UEFA Cup semi-finals, Sporting Gijón lost 1-2 away to CSKA Moscow, and finally advanced to this season's UEFA Cup final with an aggregate score of 4-2!

Three days later, the 35th round of the 2004/2005 La Liga season:

Barcelona 2-0 away to Valencia.

Real Madrid won 5-0 at home to Racing Santander.

Sporting Gijón 2-0 at home to Real Sociedad.

With three rounds of the league remaining, Real Madrid are nine points behind Sporting Gijón, and considering the relationship between the two sides, Real Madrid will completely miss out on the league title.

Sporting Gijón continues to lead Barcelona by three points!

Three days later, in the second leg of the Spanish Copa del Rey semifinals, Sporting Gijón ushered in Atletico Madrid at home, in the ninety-minute game, 2-0 Atletico Madrid, the aggregate score was 2-2, in extra time, both sides did not score, and finally in the penalty shootout, Sporting Gijón won 4-2, successfully eliminated Atletico Madrid, and advanced to the final of the 2004/2005 Spanish Copa del Rey!

Spanish Copa del Rey!

UEFA Cup!

La Liga Championship Trophy!

In May 2004, Sporting Gijón finally achieved the final piece of the puzzle towards the treble......