On the evening of January 9, at the Bernabeu Stadium.

In the second leg of the knockout round of 16 of the Copa del Rey, Real Madrid faced Celta Vigo.

100 seconds into the game, Azpilicueta threw a throw-in from the left, Yang Yang stopped the ball and turned around, volleyed from a small angle, kicked a world wave, broke through the opponent's goal, and opened the scoring for Real Madrid.

Yang Yang, who has just won his sixth FIFA Ballon d'Or in Zurich, has been in surprising form at the Bernabeu.

In the 24th minute, Modric sent a direct pass, Yang Yang successfully countered offside, formed a single push, and scored again.

Then in the second half, the side was easy to fight again, Real Madrid launched a counterattack after the midfielder broke the ball, Hazard forced the ball to pass the ball, Yang Yang burst into the left side of the penalty area, and hit a volley from a small angle, three to zero!

Hat-trick!

Just two minutes later, it was another wall-hitting combination from Yang Yang that helped Xavi Alonso score a low shot.

Four to zero!

Real Madrid relied on Yang Yang's hat trick and assists to defeat Vigo Celta 4-0 at home and successfully advanced to the quarterfinals.

As Real Madrid advanced to the quarterfinals of the Copa del Rey, the originally scheduled league matches had to be postponed again.

The draw for the quarter-finals was soon announced, with Real Madrid drawing Valencia.

This is another difficult opponent.

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On the evening of January 12, at the Estadio del Rey de Navarra.

In the nineteenth round of La Liga, Real Madrid challenged Osasuna away.

The match was played in heavy rain and the pitch was muddy.

Due to the continuous battles and the fact that he went to Zurich to receive the award, Yang Yang was rotated in a protective way and sat on the bench in this game, and the teenager Morata started in his place and appeared on the front line.

But without Yang Yang, Real Madrid's frontcourt attack suddenly became weak and lacked threat, Morata was closely watched by the opponent, and he was never able to run out of position, and there were few threatening shots on goal, which made Ancelotti on the sidelines very helpless.

Everyone knows the importance of Yang Yang to Real Madrid, but like tonight, after losing Yang Yang, the attack power plummeted, and not all managers want to see it, but Ancelotti has no good solution.

In the 65th minute, Ancelotti really had no choice but to replace Morata with Yang Yang.

As soon as Yang Yang came on the field, Real Madrid's attack in the front court immediately came to life, and all the players on the field seemed to have found the backbone, and the whole team began to unify their thoughts and organize an offensive around Yang Yang.

In the 78th minute, Di Maria crossed from the left, and Yang Yang inserted a follow-up shot in the middle to score the only goal of the game for Real Madrid.

It was also this goal that gave Real Madrid a narrow 1-0 away win over Osasuna.

……

With 30 consecutive wins on all fronts and 16 in La Liga, Real Madrid are just one step away from Roberto Mancini's record in the top five leagues, and a win over Valencia in the next round would see them equal.

However, it will not be easy to beat Valencia, as Real Madrid will play the Bats three games in a row, including two Copa del Rey quarter-finals and one La Liga 20th round match.

While Real Madrid narrowly beat Osasuna by one goal, Barcelona beat Malaga 3-1 away, with Lionel Messi, Cesc Fabregas and Thiago scoring successively.

…………

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On the evening of January 15, at the Bernabeu Stadium.

In the first leg of the quarterfinals of the Copa del Rey, Real Madrid faced Valencia.

Real Madrid, who have been on a winning streak and are under pressure to win streak in recent times, have had to rotate, which has led to an overall decline in midfield organization and efficiency, and this time against Valencia, Real Madrid was even at a disadvantage on the field.

The Bat Army is not a fuel-efficient lamp, even at the Bernabeu Stadium, it is still on par with Real Madrid.

However, Real Madrid's counter-attacking counter-attack was significantly sharper and more efficient than Valencia's.

In the 37th minute, Carvajal sent a diagonal pass in the counterattack, Yang Yang's header was returned to the midfielder, Herrera followed up with a long pass over the top, allowing Yang Yang to quickly insert a single knife in the back row, and easily pushed the goal, 1-0.

After the rematch in the second half, it was Yang Yang's active counter-attack at the front of the small penalty area, which caused a mistake by Valencia defender Guardado and formed an own goal.

In the end, Real Madrid beat Valencia 2-0 at home, and the game was dull but not dangerous.

……

Unlike Real Madrid, which is not in good shape, but still relies on defensive counterattacks, it won Valencia 2-0.

Barcelona hosted Málaga and were similarly sluggish, but were held to a draw at Camp Nou.

In the space of five minutes of the first half, there were three goals in quick succession, first by Málaga, then by Messi and Puyol, but in the final moments of the second half, Camacho scored the finale to help Málaga walk away to a draw.

This put Barcelona in a crisis, and Vilanova's team was obviously weak and began to fall behind.

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Three days later, in the 20th round of La Liga, Barcelona challenged Real Sociedad away.

With Lionel Messi and Pedro scoring in the first half to take a 2-0 lead, Castro pulled a goal back for Real Sociedad with an assist from Carlos Vela, and then equalised in the 62nd minute with an assist from Ilia Ramendi.

And in the final stage of the game, in the second minute of stoppage time, Real Sociedad beat Barcelona with a corner kick opportunity.

3-2, home team in front, away team in the back.

Barcelona suffered their first defeat in recent months, and if Real Madrid win Valencia in this game, Real Madrid will catch up with Barcelona in the standings and rise to the top.

But you know, Real Madrid still has one less game than Barcelona so far.

……

When the news came, Real Madrid were in their hotel preparing to leave tomorrow for Valencia to take on the Bats away.

When they got the news of Barcelona's loss, everyone couldn't help but cheer, even the head coach Carlo Ancelotti and Zinedine Zidane were overjoyed, obviously excited about Barcelona's loss at this time.

"As I said earlier, Real Sociedad are very tenacious and Barcelona will definitely suffer away."

"Haha, we played Real Sociedad three times to lead, three times to equalize, and finally narrowly won, while Barcelona is two goals ahead and finally was killed in the finale, this team is not tenacious."

"I heard that Ilya Ramendi, this kid is doing well, and over time, he will become a big thing."

"Barcelona should have a headache now, the initiative has changed hands, we only need to win Valencia now, it is a three-point advantage."

Teammates, you talk happily, as if the team has a three-point lead over Barcelona.

But you must know that those three points are still hanging on the Spaniards, as a Catalan team, although the Spaniards and Barcelona are sworn enemies in the same city, they will definitely do their best to snipe Real Madrid.

Therefore, Yang Yang still vigilantly reminded his teammates, "You still can't be careless, not to mention that the three points against Valencia have not been obtained, and even the three points of the Spaniards may not be a sure victory, even if it is at our home stadium." ”

As soon as Yang Yang spoke, everyone became cautious.

Don't look at Real Madrid and Barcelona are known as the twin giants of the Western Super League, but in fact, when it comes to the field, every team encounters these two giants is playing with their lives, as long as they slack off, it will immediately end in a fiasco.

How fierce is the competition in La Liga?

Atletico Madrid, currently third in La Liga, won the Europa League last season and are also on a winning record in the Europa League this season. Malaga, who are currently fifth in La Liga, beat Chelsea and AC Milan to top their group and advance to the last 16 of the Champions League, while Valencia, who are seventh, also advanced to the last 16 of the Champions League.

It can be said that these teams in La Liga are also full of competitiveness when they go to European football.

So why does the La Liga landscape look so far apart?

The reason is simple, Real Madrid and Barcelona are too strong!

It is precisely because Real Madrid and Barcelona are too strong that everyone has the illusion that La Liga is too weak.

As everyone knows, these La Liga teams are very competitive in Europe.

Therefore, Real Madrid and Barcelona are strong, but once there is a slight difference, they will lose immediately.

Real Sociedad, who beat Barcelona at home, also came close to killing Real Madrid not long ago, and the team is currently ninth in La Liga.

Both Carlo Ancelotti and Zinedine Zidane were very sympathetic to Yang's analysis.

'Barcelona's defeat is a really good opportunity for us, if we can maintain the current winning streak, we will definitely be able to open the gap, but it is also a test for us. Ancelotti admonished with a solemn face.

In recent times, not only has Barcelona not been in good shape, but Real Madrid has not been much better.

Especially considering the pressure that comes with a winning streak.

Sometimes, the more consecutive wins there are, the heavier the psychological pressure and burden on the players, and Ancelotti and Zidane are aware of this well, so they have been trying to create a relaxed atmosphere lately.

Everyone knows that the winning streak will stop sooner or later, but no one wants to be in front of this one.

"Valencia obviously fought at the Bernabeu, and if I'm not mistaken, the Bats should be able to stay in the league at the weekend, because for them, there is still a lot of pressure to break into the top four of the league, so they want to play in the cup even more."

The cup is a knockout game, focusing on the current lineup and state, and the league is a long-term competition, it is okay to give up one or two games once in a while, for a team like Valencia, the goal of the league is the Champions League or European zone, but the current pressure is too great.

Needless to say, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, Real Betis, Malaga and Real Sociedad are also very competitive this season, and traditional powerhouses such as Sevilla and Athletic Bilbao have even been squeezed out of the bottom half of the league, which shows how fierce the competition in La Liga this season is.

In this case, playing the cup first is undoubtedly an option.

Valencia, on the other hand, are not as good as Real Madrid, and they do not have the ability and financial resources to maintain two sets of lineups to play on two fronts, so they can only specialize in one line, which allows them to defeat Real Madrid at the Bernabeu.

I believe the second leg will be even tougher next week.

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