Chapter 367: The Dynasty Collapses
Barcelona were beaten 2-1 by Valencia at their home stadium, which was indeed unexpected by most people.
Barcelona coach Luis Enrique, who attended the post-match press conference, was tired and said he would not accept questions and would leave after saying what he wanted to say.
'I don't know why this happened, I thought it would be a good thing to lose the Champions League and focus on the league. But I'm wrong again...... It was clear from the game that someone's mind was still on the Calderón Stadium on Wednesday night. I tried everything I could at halftime to wake them up, but I failed. With that, he shrugged. That's football, you can either lose the first leg by three goals and lose the second leg 4-0, or you can be beaten 2-1 at home by an opponent who is 10 places behind us. I want to congratulate Valencia, they played a great game, just like I congratulate Atletico Madrid...... In the past four days, I feel like I've congratulated people too many times, but I still want to congratulate them, they deserve to win, and we don't. ”
After saying this, he got up and left the table to end the press conference under the gaze of stunned Catalan journalists.
Inside sources soon emerged after the game that Enrique had lost control of the dressing room, and his comments in the post-match press conference also caused displeasure among some Barcelona players, who felt that the manager was using them as scapegoats for the loss, but the manager should be the biggest responsible for the defeat at all times.
Enrique's words made them feel betrayed, and some players had psychological problems and needed to seek help from a psychiatrist......
There are also rumours that Enrique said this because after losing the Champions League game against Atletico Madrid, he had a long conversation with the Barcelona hierarchy, in which he proposed to clean up the existing squad and replace some players who had lost their motivation to keep going, and anyone but a few whose core was unshakable could go.
But his proposal was not agreed to by the club's hierarchy, instead telling him that the club would end his contract at the end of the season.
In other words, Enrique knew that he would not be able to do it for long before this game, so he was indifferent to the fate of Barcelona next, and broke the jar and said those words that obviously shook the morale of the army.
There is also speculation that Enrique may have known that he would not be able to coach anymore, so he simply put forward a condition that the club's hierarchy would certainly not accept, and retreated. In this way, it is possible to create the image of a decorated manager who has been kicked out by the club, rather than an incompetent deserter......
These rumors are hard to distinguish between true and false, and they have gone viral on the Internet, and some of them have even come from the mouths of well-informed professional journalists.
The rumours of truth and falsity have made an already dire situation even worse.
They could never have imagined that the Barcelona dynasty, which had been very powerful, would show signs of collapse in an instant.
Underneath that glamorous appearance, there was such a mess!
Many people immediately thought of the sentence that Gao Zheng said when he quarreled with Manuel Blanco last season: "Dynasty? I am the dynastic gravedigger! ”
He really got it right...... He, the gravedigger, really dug a tomb for the Barcelona dynasty to bury them!
Although the team lost the league title last season, they still won the Champions League, which gave many Barcelona fans hope.
They generally believe that the new season under Enrique will give them a more mature squad and that they will surely regain their place in the domestic league with the Champions League title in place. So for the new season, they are full of confidence and hope.
Who would have thought that the peak was the end, and the Champions League championship turned out to be Barcelona's last glory......
Enrique also had high hopes when he took office, and they all regarded him as the best heir to Guardiola, he and Guardiola have similar experiences, both have played in Barcelona, both coached in Barcelona's youth system, and both have a deep understanding of Barcelona's football philosophy.
He led the team to the Copa del Rey and Champions League in his first year in charge, and seemed to prove that everyone's bullishness for him was justified.
Who would have thought that in the end, he and the team would come to this point.
Tear it up directly at the press conference......
The day after the game, much of the media focused on Barcelona's defeat and Enrique's remarks in his post-match press conference.
Some analysts believe that no matter whether Enrique can continue to coach the team before, he will definitely not be able to coach if he says these words. As a result, Enrique's actions in the post-match press conference were called "suicidal speeches", essentially cutting off the possibility of him continuing to coach Barcelona.
So what do Barcelona's players think of the manager's rhetoric?
The vast majority of Barcelona players remained silent, with only Pique, the big mouth, answering the reporters' questions: "I don't know why he said that, it's all our responsibility to lose. I think it may have been a bit too painful for him to suffer two defeats in a week, but I'm sure the manager will be with us anyway......"
I don't know if he was playing for Enrique, or if he was sarcastic that Enrique was blatantly not standing with them......
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The chaos in Barcelona is certainly in favor of Atletico Madrid.
Atletico Madrid are now five points ahead of Barcelona in the standings and nine points ahead of third-placed Real Madrid.
With five rounds left in the league, the suspense of the league title is running out.
It's hard to imagine Barcelona losing two of those five league games......
If Atletico Madrid could lose like that, they deserved not to win the league title – it was all their own death.
Barcelona have basically said goodbye to the league title race after losing this game, but they have not been in a state of exhaustion this season.
They still have one more honour to fight for – the Spanish Copa del Rey.
Barcelona can have a strong advantage in this competition, having won the Copa del Rey 27 times in their history.
It is ironic to say that FC Barcelona is the club that implements and practices the Catalan independence movement, and its sworn enemies should be the Spanish royal family, which represents the central power of Spain. However, they have overcome the odds in the cup competition, which has been dubbed the "King of Spain", and they are the team in Spain that has been awarded the most trophies by the king......
Some fans even jokingly call the "Spanish Copa del Rey" the "Barcelona Cup".
From this point of view, FC Barcelona can be regarded as completing the "subversion" of the Spanish royal regime......
Real Madrid, the other of the top three in the Spanish Super League, has a chance to compete for the Champions League, although the league title is definitely out of play.
After their 10-time Champions League tribulation, they will not stop and will certainly want to extend their Champions League winning campaign.
They have reached the last four of the Champions League, and the draw for the last four of the Champions League is about to begin, so it is not known who they will draw with.
If we meet Atletico Madrid in the semi-finals, it will be lively......
Atletico Madrid are now in the best situation of the three, with the exception of the Copa del Rey already lost, they have chances in both the league and the Champions League.
The league title is the best hope, and the Champions League is also hopeful, but it depends on the final draw.
If they do draw Real Madrid, they really don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing.
After all, while they have an overwhelming advantage over Real Madrid in the league, the opposite is true in the Champions League, where Real Madrid have an overwhelming advantage over them.