With the original hole in the goalkeeper position completely filled by Früchtel, Real Madrid, who had lost the momentum of last season's invincible division in the past four months, finally joined the title race in all competitions with a domineering announcement of the return of the king.

Like a large puzzle, the filling of the last part not only makes the whole figure more complete, but also plays a role in reinforcing it, so that the other parts that seemed to be shaky when encountering a little wind and rain before can finally be broken up without worrying about being scattered, and players in each position can devote all their energy to their due duties.

As of the final league game in January, Barcelona are top of the La Liga table with 16 wins, three draws and one defeat with 51 points, their best performance in the same period in the last four seasons. Behind them is still Atletico Madrid, although the difference has been slightly widened, but the current record of 14 wins, 4 draws and 2 losses with 46 points is also an excellent performance that they can tie for third place in the same period in team history.

Real Madrid, which has one less game because of its participation in the Club World Cup, has 12 wins, 5 draws and 2 losses with 41 points, beating Valencia and Sevilla, who also have 36 points, and is temporarily third in the standings, but the point difference from the top rival is indeed very large, even if it wins in the supplementary round, there are still seven points.

Theoretically speaking, there is still a certain possibility of chasing seven points in 18 rounds of the league. It's just that Barcelona's form this season is very good, if you extrapolate according to the situation in the first half, Real Madrid must at least achieve an almost perfect record of 18 wins and 1 draw (including supplementary matches), and accumulate a total of 96 points, otherwise it should not be able to catch up with the current league leader.

Needless to say, people who know a little bit about the laws of football know very well that this is basically one of the impossible tasks in football, because so far, there has never been a team with such a high winning rate in the five major leagues, and no matter which super team has ruled the whole of Europe, it has not been able to do this miracle, so many people are not optimistic that the Galaxy Battleship can complete the second consecutive title defense.

Before the start of the 24th round of the league against Real Madrid at home against Villarreal on the evening of the 31st, many reporters who came to the pre-match press conference shifted the topic of their questions to the direction of the La Liga title race after the regular questions, wanting to find out Li Mudi's opinion on the current conclusion that it is difficult for them to achieve a third consecutive championship.

In this regard, the Real Madrid coach's face did not show a trace of embarrassment or dissatisfaction, but responded with a zombie face like some traffic star actors in the Celestial Empire: "To be honest, the situation we are facing now is not very good, and we have made a lot of low-level mistakes due to various problems before, resulting in a lot of lag in the standings." That doesn't mean we've said goodbye to the La Liga champions once and for all, and if the gap hasn't narrowed further by mid-April, you may have heard some of my discouragement. But it's only the end of January, and there's still a great deal of unknown, including the Great Reversal. ”

"I know that a lot of you don't think Real Madrid can do it back, and that's just right, because Xavi and his team have really put in a convincing performance over the last few months and have shown us the great possibility of Barcelona regaining the league title. But that doesn't mean the other teams don't have a chance, at least Aspas and I wouldn't agree that you should only focus on the top of the table and ignore both of our teams from Madrid. ”

"Atletico are now five points behind Barcelona, and they can still chase it compared to the nearly halfway point of the game; And we are only five points away from the same city team, maybe six or seven rounds, maybe eleven or two rounds or so, maybe it will be wiped out, you can't say that this possibility will not appear at all. At that point, we caught up with Atletico Madrid, and Atletico caught up with Barcelona, so naturally, we went back to the title race, and the math is not difficult to calculate, is it? ”

After hearing Li Mudi seriously recite a set of fallacies that only need to narrow the gap of five points, the reporters at the scene were a little confused, and at the same time complained fiercely in their hearts: "Even if we admit that Europeans are not as good at mathematics as Asians, and at first glance, this statement seems to be quite reasonable, but people with a little brain only need to deduce a little to react." The five-point difference is really not very large, and theoretically there is indeed a possibility of catching up, and it is not very small. However, during the period when Atletico Madrid catches up with Barcelona, you Real Madrid can catch up with Atletico Madrid again, which is a bit too nonsense, really when the two giants are playing the stalk of the tortoise and rabbit race, stop on the road and wait for you to overtake all the way! ”

So soon, a reporter from Catalonia stood up and used sharp words to retort at the Real Madrid coach who he saw as holding on to the death and not admitting defeat, believing that what the latter said was nonsense and a pipe dream.

In this regard, Li Mudi not only did not get angry, but showed a smile, and responded very indifferently: "This is the real difference between the two professions of head coach and journalist in football, the vast majority of you are always questioning everything, and we are more willing to believe them." ”

"Given the possible difference in consciousness or brain structure between you and me, I won't waste time here analysing why you can't find the true meaning of football, but rather the facts. As for the great cases in football that have achieved more than 10 points of reversal in the second half of the game, I think that as a journalist who collects all kinds of data and records and makes unreliable statements based on them, he should be able to do a few. Although looking at your eyes at this time, I feel a trace of your heart, but it is good when you are really clear. With so many references, why can't Real Madrid be one of them? ”

"And it's interesting that I've never been in a situation like this in my coaching career. Because when I got everything right, I was always at the top of the table and I never gave any other rival a chance to beat us in the middle of the season, so it was my first time playing a chasing role, which was quite new. ”

"But when my team was being chased by very strong opponents such as Juventus, Manchester City, Liverpool and Barcelona behind me, I was very sure that the title would not escape from the palm of my hand, but I did feel a lot of pressure at the time, and at some moments I was so nervous that I couldn't eat or sleep. So it's rare to be able to switch identities and experience the feeling of being a hunter for a while, to see if the fox in front of me is cunning enough to escape my scope. ”

"I can tell you with certainty that no matter which team is marked as my prey, then it will inevitably be pursued by Real Madrid. And in the process of trying to get rid of us, they will definitely make mistakes, and as the score difference gradually narrows, their emotions will become more and more nervous, and mistakes will appear one after another, and that is where our chances to complete the counterattack lie. ”

This psychological offensive, which was perceived by the outside world as a forced launch by the Real Madrid coach in the absence of a better response, was naturally scoffed at by experts who always like to think they can see the overall situation, and even the most inclined to the Galaxy Battleship media have only been quite conservative in refutating Li Mudi's views, not to mention those Catalan football insiders who maintain a neutral attitude and represent the standard-bearers of the will of the Spanish ZF.

It's just that they didn't see Barcelona be able to play so strongly in the first half of the season, in fact, thanks to a schedule that is not too tight, allowing their main players to appear on the pitch as much as possible. And once the game becomes more and more onerous, the La Liga giants will have some big problems in terms of squad rotation.

It's as if after the winter break, a week of double-game games in a row has made Xavi look a little less relaxed in his line-up than it was a few months ago. Although Barcelona is still able to win every game as much as possible, without the plug-in of the FM system, just from the specific performance, it can be found that the absolute core state such as Gueri and Havertz is going downhill. When it comes time for them to rest, Xavi can only send Ruiz and other players who have seriously lacked practical training, even if these people are very strong, but at least it will still bring some hidden worries to the team, and maybe it will cause some crises at some time.

What Real Madrid has to do is to continue to put pressure on the sworn enemies in front of them, so that they can't get any respite, so that when there is a crack in the seemingly invincible Great Wall, their fear will be infinitely amplified, until they fall into panic. Even if there is only one moment, it is enough for the Galactic Battleship to find a chance to catch up.

Because from the perspective of squad depth, no giant club will be the opponent of the team led by Li Mudi, and unlike the previous Arsenal, the Bernabeu has Mbappe and Pellegri who can be among the best superstars in world football in their respective positions, whether it is staying power or explosiveness, they are the top in the world.

On the evening of the 31st, Real Madrid, which kicked off two hours earlier than the main opponents, sat on their home ground and welcomed Villarreal, who temporarily finished ninth in the standings. The Yellow Submarine once became the first team on the European continent to break the myth of the five crowns in the first half of the season, and knocked down the galaxy battleship that could barely hold on to it at that time, exposing a lot of problems, allowing other teams to clearly see their already very weak bodies, and starting a period of continuous bad situation.

Therefore, after returning to his own door this time, Li Mudi and his disciples naturally will not let go of this great opportunity to retaliate against the other party, even if there is the first leg of the Copa del Rey semifinals three days later, they will also send the main force to play, with a momentum that is about to completely scuttle the yellow submarine.

As a result, Pellegrini, who repeatedly claimed in an interview before the game that he would not be distracted by the competition for the top scorer in La Liga, turned on the killing mode in this game, becoming the first Real Madrid player in nearly 11 years to complete a hat-trick in 45 minutes. And the last one, presumably many people can still guess, is Ronaldo. On September 12, 2015, in the away league match against Espanyol, the president only needed 20 minutes to hit three goals in a row, setting a record that is difficult for future generations to achieve.

This revenge battle also lost suspense early because of the Italian striker's great power, allowing Li Mudi to calmly make personnel adjustments in the second half to ensure that the physical fitness of the core can play continuously, which can be said to have achieved the most ideal result.

And Rodrygo, who came off the bench, also proved to the manager with a wonderful volley that his form was also excellent, and did not let Pellegri focus on the front. In the end, Real Madrid beat visiting Villarreal 4-0 at home, continuing the good momentum after returning from the winter break.

However, this big score did not create enough pressure for Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, who played a little as Li Mudi wanted, and the two strong teams in the first and second places in the standings also easily got three points in this round and continued to maintain the five-point difference.

This situation was also picked up by the "Anti-Capital Front", led by the Catalan regional media, and the Real Madrid coach was ridiculed in the newspaper on Monday, arguing that the latter's dead duck-billed posture has been seen by the whole world, and it really does not have the demeanor of the first coach in football today.

In the face of countless ridicule, Li Mudi still put on an attitude that there is no need to make any response for the time being, and everything still depends on the actual trend, which has attracted more criticism.

It was only soon that his face-slapping operation appeared. In the first leg of the Copa del Rey semi-final on 3 February, Real Madrid played what may have been the most exciting and efficient counter-attacking performance at the Metropolitano Stadium on their opponent's turf without being strongly favored by the outside world, using their super speed and finishing ability to tear Atletico's defence to shreds.

Although they couldn't finish because of the opponent's excellent play on the offensive end and some mistakes of their own, the score of 1-3 still made them almost lock up a ticket to the final.

In this way of confronting and crushing his main rival, Li Mudi gave all those who doubted him a powerful riposte.