Chapter 60: Penalty Spot
There are two rounds left in the league, Atletico Madrid is finally close to the relegation zone, and in the next two rounds of the league, their opponents are Sevilla, which has been relegated in advance, and Mallorca, a mid-table team, as long as there are no major accidents, relegation is basically a foregone conclusion!
So after playing two consecutive away games (it should have been three, Barcelona gave up one) away games and spending more than a week away, Atletico returned to Madrid, where they had been away for a while, with Dick giving the players two days off in anticipation of the 37th round of the league this weekend.
The past week or so has been fantastic for Atletico as they emerged from the relegation zone and reached the Copa del Rey final...... To have the opportunity to win an official competition after such a bad season is certainly something to be proud of.
For Barcelona, what happened in those two weeks was a nightmare......
First lost the Copa del Rey to Atletico Madrid by three goals, then was defeated by Atletico Madrid again in the league, and the gap that had only two points left widened to five points again, giving up the second leg of the game to prepare for the league and the Champions Cup, but after a week of rest, they still could not recover from the blow, in the 36th round of the league, although Deportivo La Coruna lost to Zaragoza, they were not able to seize this opportunity, only a draw with Rayo Vallecano, still four points behind Deportivo La Coruna - Deportivo only needs one win to win the league title for the first time in their history!
And even the Champions League, their most important match, suffered a major setback in the middle of the week - they were beaten away by Valencia with a brilliant defensive counter-attack, and the long-neglected striker Angulo shone in this game, not only scoring twice, but also forcing the young Puyol to be awarded a penalty for a foul in the box, Mendieta converted the penalty, López was the icing on the cake, and if it wasn't for Pellegrino's own goal, Barcelona might not have scored a goal!
In just two weeks, Barcelona's hopes of a treble have been hit hard one after another, with the Copa del Rey eliminated from the competition, four points left in the league and three goals lost away in the Champions League semi-finals - although they still came back at home after losing 1-3 away in the last round, but the difference between 1-3 and 1-4 is not only reflected in one goal, it can be described as a huge blow to the psychology of Barcelona!
Descended from heaven to hell in an instant, which made Barcelona fans quite painful and sad, and after the pain passed, they were stunned to find that the culprit of all this was one person, that is, Dick, and his Atletico Madrid!
That's right, it's his fault, before the game against Atletico Madrid, Barcelona reached the semi-finals of the Champions League and the Copa del Rey, and they were only two points behind Deportivo La Coruna in the league, which was enough for them to attack for the treble, but what did Dick do? He beat Barcelona by three goals in the cup to basically end Barcelona's hopes of winning the Copa del Rey, and then beat Barcelona in the league, leaving Barcelona five points behind Deportivo La Coruna with only three games left in the league, and the league title is basically hopeless, and he also allowed Atletico Madrid's players to injure Figo in the game - if it weren't for Figo, the central midfielder who scored five goals and provided eight assists in this season's Champions League, Barcelona would have lost so badly on the road?
That's right, it's all to blame on this bastard named Dick! Of course, Van Gaal is to blame, if he had reused the Spanish players earlier, then he would not have lost so badly......
Of course, they don't think that Dick is just doing what he should do as a manager, Figo's injury can only be regarded as an accident, and Van Gaal, if he hadn't brought so many great Dutch players and Portuguese-speaking players, where would Barcelona have won two consecutive doubles before?
Under the anger of the Barcelona fans, soon a TV station invited Dick to participate in a program about what had happened in the past few days......
It's Madrid's public broadcaster, and its full name is "Spanish National Economic Television" — yes, it's a channel with a focus on financial news — but almost every station in Spain has a football program or two, and this station also has a sports program called "Penalty Spot" that is known for supporting Real Madrid's sharp stance on Barça - but although they are extremely biased towards Real Madrid, they have little conflict with Atletico Madrid, even if they are rivals in the same city.
Dick had also heard about some of the positions of this program, so he asked Old Hill more carefully, and after getting Old Hill's approval, Dick went to the show with great interest - showing his face on TV is also a good choice, not to mention complaining about Barcelona......
To be honest, he really holds a grudge.
But before going to this show, Dick also looked forward to whether he could meet a beautiful host, and then spark after the show was over - isn't this always the case in Italian football shows? In order to attract ratings, get some beauties to be guests or hosts, maybe these beauties don't know much about football, but they can attract a lot of men to watch, and the more famous ones, and then show their tendency to support what club they support in the show, they can immediately be called "XX godmother" in the media, for example, Vieri's former lover Canaris is known as the godmother of Inter, and Ferrili, who is known as the godmother of Rome, danced a striptease on TV after Rome won the league championship, In the end, only a golden bikini was left, and the second Inter godmother Toniolo once gave a set of nude photos taken for the playboy to coach Jose Mourinho and the Nerazzurri after Inter Milan won the treble......
These beautiful women may not know much about football, but they add a pink color to football with their seductive bodies and bright appearance.
Dick also fantasized about meeting such a woman, but to his disappointment, Spain's national economic television is also a national television station, although they are not famous in the football world, but they will not use this method to attract attention, besides, the mere fact that they satirize Barcelona in every episode is enough to attract most Real Madrid fans to watch their show for an hour every Thursday night......
So after coming to the column group, Dick only saw a middle-aged man, this man is the host of the "Penalty Point" program, Pedre Lor, this person is known for his sharp teeth, snarky hosting style, ruthless to damage Barcelona, and he also likes to spit dirty, so his show often has a "beep-" sound to cover up his swear words when it is broadcast.
If you watch this kind of show from an anti-Barcelona standpoint, you can actually have some pleasure.
After shaking hands with Pedrelol, the self-proclaimed Barcelona host, who hates Barcelona the most, tilted his head and smiled: "Mr. Dick, you've done a great job in the last two weeks!" ”
Obviously, Atletico Madrid has blocked Barcelona on two fronts in the past two weeks, which makes the famous Real Madrid fan feel so happy, so much so that he also ignores Dick's status as Atletico's interim manager......
"It's just a matter of duty." Dick shrugged his shoulders: "From Atletico's point of view and from my personal point of view, I have to do this. ”
Pedrelol laughed, then made a gesture of please, ready to broadcast the episode.
Talk-based live broadcasts are actually a test of the host's skills, and this kind of invitation to guests to come to talk is to have a good exchange with the guests, Pedrelore seems to ignore this and goes straight to the stage, and then Dick is waiting behind the scenes......
"Welcome to Penalty Spot! The past two weeks have been spectacular and eye-opening, with the great Real Madrid beating Bayern Munich Munich by two goals at home to make a big stride towards their eighth trophy, with Anelka, who was considered the most useless signing, excelling...... Well, let's not talk about that, but let's talk about the more happy thing, Barcelona have collapsed on three fronts in the last two weeks, with the Copa del Rey knocked out of the tournament and four points down in the league, and the Champions League was beaten 4-1 to Valencia in the first leg...... When we interviewed Barcelona fans, we found that these angry Catalans all pointed the finger at one person, that is, the interim manager of Atletico Madrid, 21-year-old Chinese Dick, why did this happen? Now let's call in Atletico's interim manager, Mr. Dick! ”
There was sparse applause from the sidelines, and there were a few scattered boos - it was clear that the real Madrid fans were there, and they were still very unhappy with the Atletico people anyway, except for Barcelona's bad luck, and the thing they liked to see the most was that Atletico Madrid was unlucky......
Dick walked out of the backstage with a calm demeanor, he didn't look in the stands - he naturally heard the boos from the audience, since some of these Real Madrid fans booed themselves, there was no need for him to put a hot face on his ass.
After shaking hands with Pedrelol, Dick sat down on the sofa on his left hand, facing sideways to the audience, and Pedrelol was also facing sideways, and the two sofas were in the shape of a figure eight, which is also the most common scene of talk shows.
"Mr. Dick, when you took over less than a month ago, Atletico were in a terrible situation, but after you became interim manager, Atletico have won back-to-back victories, and now they are expected to win the Copa del Rey at the same time, congratulations here......"
Pedrelol said that since the main purpose of this talk show is to disgust Barcelona, he did not ask any topics such as how Dick did this kind of achievement, but directly led the topic to the topic: "In the past two weeks, Atletico Madrid have beaten Barcelona in two consecutive games, which has dealt a heavy blow to Barcelona's hopes of winning the Copa del Rey and the league, and Barcelona fans believe that you are the culprit of Barcelona's such a blow. What do you think about the fact that you led the team to beat them in the Copa del Rey and the league, and the Champions League defeat was directly related to Figo's injury against Atletico Madrid? ”
Dick kept his left hand on his chin and listened to him quietly as he spoke, and only after he had finished speaking did Dick put his hand down and let himself sit more straight.