921 The dream of the Triple Crown
The next day, Real Madrid narrowly defeated Barcelona 2-1 at home, which quickly became the focus of major media reports around the world.
What's more, the second goal was a crucial finale that meant more than just three points.
Marca newspaper published a front-page headline of Yang Yang scoring the second goal, stuffing the football into his jersey and pretending to be pregnant, and the whole stadium running to celebrate, with the background of the camera is the stands of the Bernabeu, which looks extremely grandiose.
The commentary said that this was a victory for Yang Yang.
"Judging from the course of the game, Benitez has undoubtedly given up the idea of winning, and he is more preparing for the upcoming Copa del Rey final, which is exactly the same as the pre-match speculation, Real Madrid is more focused on the Copa del Rey final."
"And in the final stages of the game, after Barcelona couldn't attack for a long time, Pep Guardiola also gave up on the determination to win, because his team never found an effective way to break down the Real Madrid defence for 90 minutes, even though they had one more man than their opponents throughout the second half."
"It can be said that at the last minute of the game, including the players in the stadium, the fans in the stands on the sidelines, and the audience in front of the TV all over the world, almost everyone decided that this game would be a draw, but only Yang Yang was still struggling to find an opportunity."
"The goddess of victory finally favored the hard-working superstar, and at the last moment of the game, sent him a crucial opportunity, and Yang Yang also reflected the strength and value of his world football No. 1 person, calmly seized the opportunity at the critical moment, and earned a direct free kick opportunity from Pique."
"After playing for more than 90 minutes, Yang Yang is undoubtedly exhausted, but he still chooses to take the penalty by himself, which reflects his strong self-confidence, and he did not disappoint, in one fell swoop, with a wonderful defoliation ball, penetrated the Barcelona goal, Valdés didn't even have time to react."
"It's not so much a victory for Real Madrid as it is a victory for Yang Yang."
"The two goals, especially the second one, completely reflect the importance of Yang Yang to this Real Madrid team."
Marca also analyzed that after winning Barcelona in this game, the points gap between the two teams was successfully shortened to two points, which is undoubtedly crucial for Real Madrid, and it is also of great significance to La Liga and fans.
"With six rounds of the league remaining, Real Madrid managed to reduce the gap to two points, which means that if Barcelona makes a mistake, Real Madrid will take its place and come back to the top, which requires Pep Guardiola's team to maintain a winning record in the remaining six rounds to be sure of winning the title."
"That's a lot of demand."
According to the analysis of Marca, the biggest weakness of Guardiola's team is that their bench thickness is not strong, the first-team team is less than Real Madrid, and Guardiola does not have many cards available in his hand, especially in the second half.
Barcelona's MVP combination is the guarantee of the team's attack this season, and the trident once played an offensive storm, making the entire La Liga and European football fearful, but after entering the second half of the season, Villa and Pedro's form has obviously declined rapidly, and only Messi is still struggling to maintain.
A very important reason is that Guardiola does not trust Bojan, especially after Bojan's injury, Barcelona's forward line is basically unavailable, and the MVP trident can only be played in every game.
Not only the forwards, but also the midfielders and the backline, there are very few players available to Guardiola, whether it is Seydoux Keita, Afele, or Batra, none of them can reassure Guardiola that they are entrusted with a heavy responsibility.
"Before the game, everyone knew that Real Madrid and Barcelona would leave for Valencia to play in the Copa del Rey final after playing the derby of the century, and Benitez hid Robben and Kaka in this game, and also replaced Ibrahimovic and Xavi Alonso early, but Pep Guardiola let Messi, Xavi and Iniesta and other main players all play the whole game."
"It's a very obvious signal, Guardiola has very few players at his disposal, and it's doubtful how much Barca's players can play at the Mestania Stadium when they play the whole game and play on multiple fronts."
"Guardiola's calculation should be to win Real Madrid away and win La Liga in advance, so that Real Madrid will inevitably lose morale, and in the final of the Copa del Rey, Real Madrid has to take the initiative, which gives Barcelona a chance."
"But Yang Yang's second goal completely disrupted Guardiola's layout and intentions, and now, Barcelona lost 1-2 away, the original five-point lead was shortened to two points, and each of the next six games was a decisive battle, and the morale of the Barcelona players was seriously damaged, coupled with the disadvantage in physical ......"
"It should be said that before the Copa del Rey final, Pep Guardiola's team was even more worried, but Real Madrid's morale was booming."
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In addition to Marca, a number of Spanish media such as As, El Mundo, and El País, as well as mainstream European media, have summarized and analyzed the derby of the century, and also previewed the Copa del Rey final three days later.
Without exception, everyone agreed that Yang Yang's second goal was not only about bringing three points and a victory, but also turning the tide of the league and, more importantly, creating a better situation for the upcoming Copa del Rey final.
"If Pep Guardiola is not careful, there is a good chance that he will lose two games in a row this week." Catalonia's daily sports newspaper is not worrying about reminding the team.
Barcelona legend Cruyff criticized Real Madrid's tactics in a column, believing that Benitez's defensive strategy is anti-football.
"Judging from the lineup of this game, Benitez's tactics only give me one impression, that is, there is no thought, no pursuit, the only thing he wants is a draw, and by luck and Yang Yang, he got three points."
Cruyff rarely gave Yang Yang a good evaluation, but for Real Madrid, he still thinks it is far inferior to Barcelona.
But soon, Marca newspaper published a column on Real Madrid's honorary president, Di Stefano, which was an op-ed dictated by Di Stefano, written by the Marca newspaper reporters, and approved by Di Stefano.
The Real Madrid legend refuted Cruyff's remarks, arguing that Real Madrid played bloody and played out of the club's traditional Juanito spirit.
"It's hard for me to imagine that if Real Madrid pressed out to play against their opponents for a long time with one less person than their opponents, it would be a group of brave fighters? Or a stupid reckless? ”
Di Stefano believes that Real Madrid should admit the gap, Barcelona is still the best team in the world at this stage, playing the best football, but Real Madrid should not be presumptuous, because the team has beaten Barcelona in all four league games in the past two years, which is an unprecedented feat.
"I'm optimistic that the team will continue to win against Barcelona in the next Copa del Rey final, or even the Champions League."
In the end, Di Stefano believes that he has become a fan of Yang Yang.
'He's an incredible player and what's even more incredible is that he's only 24 years old and has a couple of years to go in his prime, so I'm glad I'm going through an era of football that I've never seen before.'
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Guardiola did not pay attention to all the rumors flying in the outside world.
After returning from the disastrous defeat at the Bernabeu, he trained behind closed doors at Gamble Stadium and declined all interviews.
Internally, he told all his players that the 2-1 defeat to Real Madrid at the Bernabeu was not an unacceptable result and that he was very happy with the course of the game as Barcelona were firmly in control of the situation and the tempo from start to finish.
"The most important thing is the next six league games, and we have to play each one as a final!"
Pep Guardiola also mentioned Barca's strength, which is the Champions League.
Real Madrid are going to meet Manchester United in the Champions League, it will definitely be a battle of dragons, Benitez's side are familiar with the Premier League, but Manchester United are very strong as a whole, Real Madrid have to give it their all, which is bound to be distracting.
But Barcelona is different, although Schalke 04 reached the semi-finals, but the overall strength is not outstanding, Barcelona will not have any suspense to win the opponent, so Barcelona can focus more on the league.
Even Pep Guardiola proposed to win Schalke 04 early in the first leg of the semi-finals.
The Champions League is in the final, the Copa del Rey is in the final, and as long as you don't make mistakes, the La Liga title is in the bag.
Pep Guardiola has drawn an exciting blueprint for the team, and that is the treble!
In the summer of '09, the dream they longed to achieve, but almost failed to achieve!
And back then, they lost to Yang Yang and Benitez's Liverpool!
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The players' morale has recovered to a certain extent after listening to Guardiola's analysis and motivation, but the data fed back by the coaching staff is not satisfactory.
The physical exertion caused by fatigue is the number one problem that Barcelona is facing now.
Many players in the team are facing a fitness crisis, but there is no replacement in Pep Guardiola's hands.
He tried and gave Seydou Keita, Bojan and others a chance, but none of them were as good as they could be.
Against other teams, they may still be competent, but in the face of Real Madrid and Yang Yang, they will become the weakness and instability of the Barcelona team.
In contrast to Barcelona, Real Madrid have a better bench thickness, which is especially important in successive tough battles.
While Barca's rotation space is getting smaller and smaller, Benitez has more and more options.
Even now, Pep Guardiola and his team can't figure out what kind of tactical play Benitez and his Real Madrid will play at the Mestania Stadium three days later.
Will it open the game?
Will Kaka and Robben be on at the same time?
Is that a double back or a triple back?
A whole bunch of problems came to Guardiola's mind, making him frown involuntarily.