Although the whole world is looking forward to the showdown between Yang Yang and Van Gaal, in fact, for Real Madrid, after playing Manchester United, the focus of preparation has shifted to La Liga again.

The team has to start preparing for the match against Barcelona.

Although this match is separated by a matchup against Racing Santander.

Unlike the first derby of the century, this time Real Madrid is at home against Barcelona.

In the quarterfinals of the Champions League, Barcelona eliminated Arsenal of the Premier League with a score of 2-2 away and 4-1 at home, and successfully advanced to the semi-finals.

Jose Mourinho's Inter Milan also beat CSKA Moscow 1-0 in two of the two legs.

In this way, the Champions League semi-final matchup becomes Real Madrid vs. Bayern Munich, and Barcelona vs. Inter Milan.

Everyone is looking forward to the fact that if Barcelona can knock out Inter Milan in the semi-finals, it is very likely that they will meet Real Madrid in the Champions League final, and this game will be even more exciting.

The second derby of the century this season has undoubtedly become a preview of the Champions League final in everyone's eyes.

Barcelona must win at the Bernabeu if they want to reverse Real Madrid in La Liga, and Real Madrid must remain unbeaten at home if they want to hold on to their five-point lead, and both sides can be said to have no way back.

What's more, in the first derby of the century this season, Real Madrid also beat Barcelona 5-0 at the Camp Nou.

It can be said that this battle has attracted worldwide attention!

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Benitez also takes this very seriously, and even to some extent, Racing Santander is not in Real Madrid's preparation plan at all, because Barcelona has been running more and more smoothly after a long period of adjustment.

It can be said that Barcelona are stronger now than last year, and their passing ability is also better.

How do you play against such a team?

Benitez was prepared and his strategy was to make a back three.

The day after the Manchester United game, Benitez held an internal meeting of the team, emphasizing that the tactic against Barcelona would be a counter-attack, and explained the reason for doing so.

"There was a big objective factor in the first leg away to Barcelona, that is, Barcelona was a big difference in fitness with us at that time, and we started the game well."

Benitez will not admit it, and the Real Madrid players will not say it, but in fact, everyone knows that the attacking strategy formulated by Real Madrid before the game was a failure, because Real Madrid has been very passive since the beginning.

To some extent, it is still unknown whether Real Madrid would have been able to leave Camp Nou intact in that game without Yang Yang's direct free-kick, let alone a five-goal victory.

Because of this, although the outside world has very high expectations for Real Madrid, it is always clear within Real Madrid that with the current situation of the team, if you go to Barcelona and adopt offensive tactics, it will be a stone with an egg.

Defending and counterattacking is the best choice for Real Madrid!

Since it is a defensive counterattack, it is necessary to come up with the idea of defensive counterattack.

Rafa Benitez intends to adopt a back three, the same tactic used by Liverpool when they beat Barcelona.

Real Madrid currently have Xavi Alonso, Mascherano, Las Diarra, Gago and Granero in midfield positions, and Guti can also play, but he is clearly not the type of midfielder that Benitez wants.

Therefore, barring any surprises, the starting three should be chosen among the others, depending on how those players are in form.

There is not much problem at the back, Pepe is injured, and after reimbursement for the whole season, the center-back combination of Ramos and Vermaelen has performed well, Arbeloa on the right side is also the main force of the team, and Maxwell and Marcelo are on the left side, which is also no major problem, and there should be no change in the back four.

So, when Benitez announced that he would play with a back three, Sneijder and Arjen Robben were clearly feeling nervous.

Even the two of them looked at each other in unison, with a little more competition and worry in their eyes.

Ibrahimovic and Yang Yang's positions will not move, the two are the main force that cannot be beaten, as long as they are not injured or sick, they will definitely go.

Robben's performance this season is indeed surprising, and the attendance rate has been stable, and it seems that Winston Bogard's special training is still very effective, but he is a player in the Calderon period, no matter how good he performs, his status is not as good as Yang Yang and Ibrahimovic.

Sneijder is in great form at the moment and is arguably one of the best performers in the squad, but he is also in an awkward position, especially given that the Dutch midfielder will have to give up his place once Kaka returns.

Four defenders, three midfielders, Yang Yang and Ibrahimovic are in a solid position, so it will definitely be Sneijder and Robben who will lose their position, depending on who it is.

……

Benitez won't be quick to announce his starting line-up, especially with just over a week to go until the Century derby, and he needs to take a good look at the performance and form of his players, so he won't make a decision lightly.

He expects the players in the team to show better strength and condition to compete for the main position.

But in the internal meeting, Benitez spent more than an hour explaining to all the players his philosophy of defending Barcelona, most of which he had used during his time at Liverpool, and determining what would work for Barcelona, with only some details to improve.

Yang Yang, Xavi Alonso, Mascherano and Arbeloa are all familiar with this style of play, and it is not difficult or unfamiliar to understand, but the others are a little harder.

To put it simply, Rafael Benitez's defensive system needs players to understand more and then implement it, so he will carefully arrange it to make sure that every player understands what he wants to do.

His style of play requires patience in defence and players working well with each other.

In addition, Benitez is not the kind of person who is complacent, he has also adjusted the characteristics of Real Madrid's players, such as the backline, the combination of Ramos and Vermaelen, which is obviously faster and more flexible than the combination of Carragher and Skrtel, with more fine work at the foot and stronger ability to play the ball, but the defense of high balls is obviously inferior.

And Ibrahimovic, this guy is simply a strengthened version of Crouch.

But Real Madrid don't have a player like Kuyt.

After the meeting, Benitez also conducted defensive drills in the afternoon training session, focusing on what had been studied in the previous meeting to deepen the impression of the players, which will also be the most important preparation for Real Madrid in the next week or so.

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After the training session, the players left Valdebebas one after another.

Yang Yang is still the same as usual, staying and training.

The likes of Ibrahimovic, Vermaelen, Arjen Robben and Maxwell stayed with him, but they all left one after another.

They are different from Yang Yang, a training maniac, and high-intensity training is also a kind of consumption for them.

After all, they don't have a cheat like a super training ground to recover quickly.

Sneijder stayed until the end, but mostly watched from the sidelines.

He's in trouble!

With Yang's years of knowledge of the Dutch midfielder, he knew that Sneijder must have something to look for him.

After the training was over, the coaches and staff who accompanied him in training were sent away, and Yang Yang and Sneijder walked side by side to the locker room.

"What's wrong?" There was no one on the road, Yang Yang asked.

Snead smiled bitterly, knowing that he couldn't hide it from Yang Yang, "There's something I want to tell you." ”

"Important?" Yang Yang saw the serious expression on Sneijder's face.

"Hmm." Sneijder nodded.

Yang Yang stopped, frowned, and looked at Sneijder, indicating that he was listening.

"I want to leave Real Madrid!" Sneijder said softly.

Yang Yang's eyes widened, obviously surprised, but soon he realized some details that he had just overlooked.

Sneijder was telling him, not asking for his opinion, which was clearly because Sneijder had already made his decision.

"Why?"

Sneijder saw Yang Yang's surprised expression, and he was somewhat guilty, because a year ago, it was Yang Yang who persuaded Florentino to stay in the team, but now he is leaving.

"Actually, you know, I should have left a year ago."

Yang Yang understands that Sneijder looks kind on the surface, but in fact he is also a very proud person, and he is also very emotional, so when he divorced and couldn't see his daughter, he really almost broke down.

But because he is emotional, he can't accept what Real Madrid club and fans have done to him before.

"I stayed because of you on the one hand, and because I wanted to prove my worth, and now that I've done it, a lot of teams want to get me, and I can leave Real Madrid with a higher transfer fee, which shouldn't be my failure to Real Madrid."

Sneijder said this, somewhat with a clear conscience.

"It doesn't make sense for me to stay because next season will be Kaka and I don't want to go back to the days when I couldn't play, so I want to go to a team that trusts me and is willing to give me a place in the team."

"For example?"

"It could be Inter, maybe Manchester United, or Chelsea, it could be Bayern Munich...... I do not know. Sneijder shook his head, he didn't look like he had the team in touch yet.

But his determination to leave the team is very strong.

Yang Yang suddenly felt a little uncomfortable, because reuniting with his old friends was the happiest thing he was after coming to Real Madrid, but he didn't expect that a year later, they would be separated again.

He suddenly reached out and put his arm around Sneijder's shoulder, as he had done at Ajax, and walked side by side to the dressing room, without saying a word.

He knew that Sneijder certainly hadn't told anyone else, including management.

And he also concluded that in the next game, Sneijder will do his best to show himself, he wants to prove it to everyone, and try his best to fight for the transfer benefit.

Perhaps, for professional footballers, separation is normal.