Chapter 484: Bell Savior
On December 14, local time in Spain, La Liga, which had been suspended for a week due to FIFA match days, rekindled the flames of war again.
Real Madrid, who had just won by four goals in the last round of the league, wanted to continue their winning streak in the away game against the underdog Osasuna, but they were almost killed by their opponents.
Although Real Madrid quickly took the initiative on the field with a huge advantage in overall strength, they were never able to convert the advantage of the situation into goals in the face of the opponent's iron bucket formation.
Not only that, but Real Madrid's two full-backs, Marcelo, and Carvajal were left with an important breakthrough when the opponent launched a counterattack.
In the 26th minute of the first half, Carvajal broke through to the edge of the penalty area with the ball and then sent a cross in front of the opposition goal.
Benzema, who was lying in front of the goal, was about to grab the goal, but was knocked out of the box by goalkeeper Andrés Ferrnández (Andrés Fernández) with a preemptive punch.
Francesco Silva, who was the first to settle second, then sent a long ball over the top to Carvajal in the huge space left by the assist.
Roberto Torres, who was running at high speed along the left touchline, first headed the ball forward and evaded Xavi Alonso, who was coming from the middle.
Then, Robert Torres, who dribbled to the edge of the penalty area, first pretended to have a long-range shot to deceive Pepe with his outstretched foot, but then flicked the ball sideways with his right foot, dodged the angle, and then aimed at the top right corner of the goal to make a beautiful curling ball.
Although goalkeeper Diego López pounced on the right side of the goal in the first place, the extremely spinning ball went around his left hand and grazed the post on the right side of the goal and drilled into the net.
It is worth mentioning that this is the first time that the Osasuna team, playing at home, has shot the ball within the range of the goal, and they have successfully knocked on the door of Real Madrid.
Real Madrid, who had the advantage but conceded a goal first, immediately launched a more fierce attack on the opposition, but in the face of Osasuna's dense iron bucket formation around the penalty area, they could only rely on crosses from the flanks and long-range shots from the middle to threaten the opposition goal.
Just when the Real Madrid players were starting to get impatient because they couldn't equalize, Osasuna once again took advantage of the huge gap left by the opposition full-backs to press the assist, and launched a classic quick counter-attack.
In the 41st minute of the first half, Robert Torres, who scored a goal before the last time he hit the penalty area from the left side of the field, began to dribble forward along the touchline after receiving a long pass from a teammate on the right side of the field.
After Robert Torres took the ball to the corner of the box, he first cut inside in the direction of the box, and then took advantage of Sergio Ramos's center of gravity to deflect some distance to the inside line, and then calmly sent a fast cross towards the front of the goal.
Immediately afterwards, high school striker Oriol Riera preempted Pepe and completed the header first.
Goalkeeper Diego López barely managed to block Lila's header, but he was unexpectedly out of his hands in a hurry.
And just as Pepe was about to clear the ball out of the penalty area, Osasuna midfielder Emiliano Armenenteros, who had been ambushed near the penalty spot, rushed to make up the ball into the goal first, 2-0.
When the vast majority of Real Madrid fans thought that the team would face their third defeat of the season in this game, Bale, who had saved the team many times in the previous game, stepped forward again.
Just three minutes after Osasuna scored the second goal, Bale, who used his speed advantage to force a breakthrough to the edge of the penalty area, completed a wall-to-wall connection with Isco and came to the edge of the penalty area.
In the face of the onrushing Alejandro Arribas, Bale first pretended to break through to the penalty area, and then moved his center of gravity in the opposite direction, but suddenly completed a heavy bombardment from 25 meters from the goal.
Until the moment the ball flew into the goal against the junction of the crossbar and the post, the goalkeeper Andres, who had played well in the previous game, failed to make any save.
After the rematch, in order to maintain the victory at their home stadium, the Osasuna team even replaced the team's only striker Liela with a central defender. As a result, their on-field formation has finally become a real bucket formation.
In the face of the iron-clad Osasuna team, Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti finally replaced the defender Xavi Alonso with striker Morata. At the same time, Marcelo and Carvajal were completely pushed into the midfield, leaving only Pepe and Sergio Ramos as two central defenders at the back.
Although Alvaro Morata has rarely played due to the team's many big-name strikers, the Real Madrid academy gem has always been able to show his value in his limited playing time.
Due to the Osasuna team's two dense defensive lines inside and outside the penalty area, Real Madrid, who had previously relied on long-range shots to threaten the opponent's goal, even struggled to get a chance to calmly get a long-range shot in the opponent's 30-meter area.
In desperation, the Real Madrid team, which had been unable to equalize for a long time, could only continue to threaten the opponent's goal by starting the ball from the side.
However, in front of the central defender Jordan Lotiès, who is more than 1.90 meters tall and has strong frontal defensive ability, even Ronaldo, who has outstanding bounce power, is difficult to calmly grab the first landing point.
Just as Real Madrid were getting closer to their third defeat of the season, Bale, who had just scored his first hat-trick in La Liga in the last round, stepped up again.
In the 39th minute of the second half, Ronaldo, who was about to cut inside to the edge of the penalty area and shoot with his feet, had to barely break through along the left sideline to the bottom line under the bag of two players on the opposing side.
When Ronaldo brought the ball to less than two meters from the baseline, he forced a shot to sweep the ball into the box.
Just when the central defender Arribas, who was in a good position, was about to kick the ball forward, the ball he kicked out hit Morata in the face and bounced back in front of the goal.
The next moment, just as goalkeeper Andrés was about to confiscate the ball, Bale, who had been ambushed in the small penalty area, stretched out his left foot to pick the ball behind him, and then turned around, and before Lottier stretched out his foot to clear the ball, he used his right foot to pump the ball into the unguarded goal.
After seeing Bale's goal, CCTV sports commentator He Wei immediately shouted excitedly: "It's unbelievable that Bale, who has always left a strong impression on people, can replicate Xiao Luo's classic goal at such a critical moment." 2k reading network