Whether it was the impact of the pledge meeting at the Christmas party, or the lure of the management's huge winnings, or the potential for fame and fortune, the Real Madrid players were in a noticeably better position than in previous years when they returned after a week of Christmas break.

Every such long-term holiday is the most headache for the coaching staff, because some players will still maintain enough self-discipline even if they are on vacation, such as Yang Yang, and some players will take the opportunity to rest and relax, but there are also some players whose holidays are travel and eat and drink.

In the past, the last type of player was often not unusual, so every time the team restarted training, it was a hard-hit area for weight loss.

But what is surprising is that when the Real Madrid players returned to the team after the Christmas holiday, the team doctor was generally satisfied with the physical condition of the players, although after a week of rest, they were not in the best condition, but they were obviously still in good shape.

At the very least, there was not even a single case of fortune caused by the indulgence of eating and drinking in the past.

This is obviously not just from the motivation of the management, but also from the fierce competition within the team.

Everyone is holding back their strength to compete for the main position, so naturally they dare not slack off.

Ramos suffered a hamstring strain in his left leg after returning from Japan, which also sparked competition at the back, with Vermaelen and Raphael Varane both holding their breath to fight for the main spot, and both wanted to be Pepe's partner.

As for Ramos, he is also actively undergoing treatment and is expected to return as soon as possible.

After a week's break and back on the pitch, Real Madrid's form was still affected.

On January 4, at the Bernabeu Stadium, in the first leg of the knockout round of 16 of the Spanish Copa del Rey, Real Madrid hosted Málaga, and Malaga scored the first goal with a corner kick just ten minutes into the opening game.

Vermaelen replaced Sergio Ramos in this game to partner Pepe, but Real Madrid leaked when defending corners.

Not only did the defense fail, but the offensive end was also in poor shape.

Carlo Ancelotti's second half was aimed at fighting on the third front, and the first game against Malaga in 2012 was undoubtedly a good start, and he took it very seriously, but he didn't expect everyone in the team to be seriously out of shape in the first half.

Even Yang Yang, who has always been in stable form, frequently missed opportunities in the first half and failed to seize opportunities.

However, Real Madrid's defense was well organised and did not give Malaga any more chances, and the partnership of Vermaelen and Pepe played a powerful role to ensure the quality of Real Madrid's defensive defence.

After the run-in and adjustment in the first half, Real Madrid gradually found their feeling in the second half.

In the 68th minute, Ibrahimovic received a pass from Robben on the right side, crossed into the penalty area, and was cleared by the header of Malaga central defender Demichelis, but on the outside of the penalty area, Javi Martinez followed up and fired a direct long-range shot through the Malaga goal to successfully equalize the score.

Just two minutes later, Malaga made a passing error under the pressure of Real Madrid's front court, Yang Yang received the ball on the left side of the penalty area, and the pendulum shook past Malaga goalkeeper Caballero and scored an empty goal from a small angle to overtake Real Madrid.

In the 78th minute, it was Yang Yang who forcibly burst into the penalty area after taking the ball on the left side and passed directly, Ibrahimovic was on the right side of the penalty spot in the penalty area, and pushed the goal before Demichelis, three to one.

In the end, Real Madrid relied on the outbreak of the second half at home, Yang Yang's pass and shot, and reversed Malaga 3-1.

Manuel Pellegrini's side had a brilliant first half at the Bernabeu, with the number two in the squad impressing, with the former making a number of breakthroughs with the ball in the game and making Real Madrid's backline suffer, while Cazorla assisted from corners.

……

While Real Madrid beat Malaga 3-1 at the Bernabeu, Barcelona beat Osasuna 4-0 at home.

Pep Guardiola's side faced their opponents with a three, four, or three line-up, and won a hearty victory, with Lionel Messi scoring twice and Xavi providing three assists, and the whole team performed remarkably.

This victory not only rekindled Barcelona's fighting spirit, but also caused the outside world to reflect on whether Guardiola had a chance to win if he had adopted a back three against Real Madrid in the derby of the century.

…………

…………

On the evening of January 7, at the Bernabeu Stadium.

La Liga is back in flames, with Real Madrid hosting promoted Granada in the 18th round.

Granada, who have been aiming for relegation this season, are also doing well, finishing 14th in La Liga, even higher in the table than the likes of Real Sociedad, Villarreal, Zaragoza and Racing Santander.

In the first dozen rounds of the league, they even drew with Atletico Madrid, beat Sevilla and Athletic Bilbao in an upset, and only lost one goal against Barcelona, almost causing an upset.

It is precisely because of the previous excellent performance that Granada is a guest at the Bernabeu Stadium, and naturally hopes to try to score points from Real Madrid like they did against strong teams such as Valencia and Athletic Bilbao before.

With two matches a week, Carlo Ancelotti rotated his squad, but that didn't affect the team's overall performance in the slightest.

Just 38 seconds into the game, Luka Modric threatened the Granada goal with a long-range shot.

Real Madrid then launched a series of attacks, but they were always on the scoresheet.

Until the 19th minute, Yang Yang picked up a pass from the left, David Silva answered, a wonderful pass with his heel, and Ibrahimovic swept the goal from the edge of the small penalty area to open the scoring for Real Madrid.

Just three minutes later, Real Madrid played a quick attack again, Modric split the ball to the right, Di Maria forced a breakthrough and crossed the back point from the right, Yang Yang followed up in front of the goal, and the header hit the inside of the post and bounced into the goal, 2-0.

In the 34th minute, Real Madrid launched another attack on the left to win a corner, David Silva drove a corner kick, and Ramos, who returned from injury, scored with a header to extend the score to 3-0 for Real Madrid.

Only 69 seconds in the second half, after Yang Yang cut inside with the ball on the left side, he shook a shot and passed straight to the bottom line, Marcelo inserted a cross to the back point, Di Maria followed up and pushed the goal, and scored another goal for Real Madrid, 4-0.

In the fiftieth minute, David Silva scored a hat trick of assists, after winning the ball in the front of the penalty area, Ibrahimovic blocked the defender with his body, and after stopping the ball on his chest, he turned and shot low to score, 5-0!

And when the game reached the 78th minute, Mascherano passed, substitute Kaka sent a direct pass, and Yang Yang hit the ball at the top of the arc of the penalty area, expanding the score to 6-0.

In the end, the score remained until the end of the half-time.

Real Madrid got off to a good start with a 6-0 win over Granada at the Bernabeu Stadium thanks to a brace from Yang Yang and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

……

At the same time, in Barcelona, Barcelona ushered in the same city derby.

Espanyol set up a tight defensive formation at the Stadio Cornea Eprath, while Pep Guardiola's side had a full house win in a 4-0 home win over Osasuna in the Copa del Rey, but this time with a back four.

At the beginning of the game, the Spaniards took advantage of the home field to launch a crazy rush on Barcelona and frequently got opportunities.

In the 16th minute, Daniel Alves assisted Cesc Fabregas's header from a cross from the right.

But for most of the time that followed, Barcelona dominated but were never able to break the deadlock on the pitch, failing to create a goal, and instead were threatened by the Spaniard's sharp counter-attacks again and again.

In the 85th minute of the second half, the Spaniards quickly counter-attacked, Rodriguez crossed from the right, Thievy headed the ball, and the unguarded Alvaro headed home from the edge of the small box to equalize for the Spaniards.

It was a goal that woke Barcelona up and launched a stormy attack, but they were never able to find the Spaniard's goal again, and they could only watch the game end.

In this way, Pep Guardiola's side picked up another 1-1 draw on the road.

And this draw also puts Barcelona as much as 13 points behind Real Madrid in La Liga.

Dropping points again, away again, Pep Guardiola's side caused an uproar throughout Catalonia and even in the Spanish media after the game, and everyone was wondering, what the hell is going on? Why have Pep Guardiola's side dropped points in a row this season?

People or those people, last season was as steady as Mount Tai and dominated European football, but this season has been so up and down?

Pep Guardiola's side have played eight away games so far this season, with two wins, four draws and two defeats.

This list of achievements is a world of difference compared to Real Madrid.

Daily Sport believes that Pep Guardiola's side will not be able to reverse Real Madrid in any case with such an away result.

"Pep Guardiola defended after the game that he was out of the back four because the team had a poor away result, but isn't it the other way around that it is precisely because he has a back four that the away result is not ideal?"

"You know, this team, almost the same lineup, just beat Osasuna 4-0 at home and played a beautiful attacking football, but they drew 1-1 away at Espanyol, which is hell aware!"

Before this game, Guardiola also vowed that as long as the team did its duty and played every game well, they could catch up with Real Madrid, but after 90 minutes, his team conceded three points on Espanyol that they should not have conceded.

After the game, Guardiola also changed his tune and said that with Barcelona's performance, it is very difficult to catch up with Real Madrid.

Although he still said stubbornly that La Liga is not over yet, everyone knows that the championship seems to be out of suspense.

Even some Catalan media have said that there is no suspense about this season's La Liga title just like the upcoming Ballon d'Or at the upcoming FIFA awards.

After playing the eighteenth round of La Liga, Yang Yang and Messi both flew to Zurich, Switzerland.