Chapter 592: Making a Classic
Remember [800♂ little ÷ say ◎ net in one second], wonderful free reading without pop-ups!
Over the past 100 years, the passionate collision between the two world's top giants, Real Madrid and Barcelona, known as the Spanish War of the Century or the National Derby, has been staged countless classic scenes at the Bernabeu (officially renamed in 1955, formerly known as Castellana Stadium, also known as the new Chamartín), and it is still a beautiful memory that both sides, especially the Meilingues, cherish in their hearts and will take out from time to time to reminisce.
In the world's most modern and luxurious top football stadium, the Galacticos once beat their arch-rivals 6-1 in La Liga in 1949-50, and then won 5-0, 5-1 and 4-0 on several occasions, which brought endless joy to Real Madrid fans.
(PS: Many book lovers should know that the largest score difference in the previous national derbies is 11 to 1, which is a super revenge completed by Real Madrid after losing 0-3 in the first leg of the Copa del Rey semi-finals in 1943.) However, at that time, the venue was the Old Chamartín Stadium, with a maximum capacity of only 15,000 people, and it was not the Bernabeu that is used today. )
Of course, glory always comes with pain, and in La Liga in 1973-74, Real Madrid were beaten 5-0 by Barcelona on their home turf. The eighth finishing result in the league that year was also the third-worst ranking of Galaxy Battleship since the establishment of La Liga, and it also set a record for the most losses in history, which was an extremely dark era.
The most impressive defeat for modern fans is probably the 2-6 2-6 in the 2008-09 season, where Guardiola announced the official establishment of the Dream Three team with such a wild victory, and to a certain extent, indirectly contributed to Mourinho's entry into the Bernabeu.
In addition, the Meilinger should still remember the 2015-16 season Real Madrid's four-goal home defeat at the feet of the sworn enemy, Benitez was fired because of this painful defeat (the book is directly dismissed, in reality it was another month and a half, but with his subsequent results of 7 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss, it is not difficult to analyze why he was kicked out of the Bernabeu), the team ushered in Zidane in a blessing in disguise, creating a golden age comparable to a dream. It's just that this dream woke up a little early, and the process and the consequences were so cruel that people felt helpless.
So many of the above examples are cited in one breath, just to show that although Real Madrid has repeatedly pressed Barcelona to the ground and rubbed it hard at its home stadium, it has been beaten a lot of times, and the 3-1 score is really not very safe when there are about 20 minutes left in the game. You don't see that the king of the ball once ran all the way from the midfield to the penalty area at the last moment of injury time, and scored the equalizing goal, successfully preventing Real Madrid's plan to announce the championship in advance at home, and now the gap between the two goals should not be too confident.
However, Li Mudi is very confident that this game has been won, and naturally there is a reason for him.
First, the ability of this Real Madrid team in counterattack tactics can almost be called the highest level in team history, whether the comprehensive ability of Mbappe and Rodrygo has caught up with the "200 million take-off" of Ronaldo and Bale remains to be discussed, but only in terms of speed, they are almost the same as the old-timers. In addition, several midfielders such as Ceballos, Febas and Marcos Llorente in the current team have an excellent and accurate long passing skill, so that the two fast horses in the front field can run wildly, which is definitely a nightmare for the opposing defenders.
Second, the defensive ability of the new Galaxy Battleship is also in the best stage in the past ten years, compared with the balance of other positions, at least the two fullbacks do not have as strong a sense of assist as Marcelo and Carvajal before, and the skills of tackling and marking are also stronger, and it will not be easy to be completely blown up by the opponent.
Finally, and most crucially, Barcelona's overall strength has declined to a certain extent from when the older generation of superstars such as the king of the plum ball were still there. Although Xavi's team still has the level of the world's top giants, the control ability of the midfield is not comparable to that of its predecessors, which leads to the weakness of insufficient interception ability in this area is further amplified, allowing Mbappe to directly impact the team's defense, which poses a great threat.
Therefore, when the score came to 3-1, the Real Madrid coach was completely relieved to win this crucial battle, and the rest depends on whether his disciples can seize the flaws that the opponent is eager to press to further expand the difference.
As long as he can maintain a stable mentality, he believes that his side will have a chance to score a fourth or even fifth goal, then the pre-game sentence that made Barcelona cry and leave the Bernabeu has really come true, and I feel so excited to think about it.
However, the script can be casual YY, but the reality always happens something surprising, no, when Li Mudi has begun to look forward to how to mock a wave of sworn enemies in style at the post-match press conference, there are major changes on the field.
In the 76th minute, a Barcelona attack ended in a shot that went wide, and the home team did not rush to attack after the goal kick, but patiently reversed the foot near the midfield to recover the energy that had been consumed by the siege in the previous few minutes.
When the ball was shifted to the right side, Mbappe, who retreated to receive the ball, ushered in the pressing of Barcelona's left full-back Marc Cucurella, who had been with him for the whole game, and the Frenchman easily avoided the opponent with a "croquette", but because of Coutinho's interception, he did not take advantage of the situation to dribble forward, but continued to control the ball and prepare his teammates to run to the open space and pass through.
But just as Febas pulled sideways to find a good receiving position, Cucurella, who had just been passed, reflexively tried to steal the Real Madrid star again. As a result, Mbappe, who seemed to be possessed by a demon, unexpectedly used the "croquette" stunt again, and connected to a crotch-piercing person, which completely humiliated the opponent at the same time, but also attracted cheers and applause from the home team fans at the scene.
However, he underestimated or completely ignored the resentment that the Barcelona defender had accumulated for a long time, only to see that Cucurella, after feeling the infinite humiliation, could no longer control his emotions, and pushed the Real Madrid winger hard behind him, putting him to the ground.
If the incident had stayed here, the result would not have been too serious, but Mbappe, who was about to be 26 years old but still did not seem to be fully mentally mature, jumped up from the ground with a look of anger and turned around to scuffle with Cucurella, who had inflicted a foul on him.
Of course, the scuffle is only a subjective description, because both Febas and Coutinho, who were very close to the position of the two, quickly rushed to the scene to stop and dissuade, in fact, the two sides of the conflict pushed each other twice and exchanged words that were inappropriate for children, without causing worse consequences.
But the referee Manzano, who was then present, did not think so, and after explaining to each of the two parties about their mistakes with a straight face, he took out the red jewel card from his trouser pocket and raised it high above his head twice in a row, sending off Mbappe and Cucurella together.
This result was obviously difficult for the Imperial Horse to accept, Li Mudi rushed to the fourth official to "ask" the latter which football rules were used, but unfortunately he just took the opportunity to vent his emotions, because the other party would not give him a reasonable answer.
As for Xavi, who is also missing a major player, his mood can only be regarded as mixed. The good news is that the combination of these two players is very powerful for the Barcelona side, although Cucurella can be said to be indispensable in the left-back position, but after all, there are substitutes, although Concalo Costa's ability is slightly worse than the former, but he is also a Portuguese fringe international, and he can still make a lot of contributions to the team's left side defense.
What worries the Barcelona coach is that Cucurella had previously received a yellow card, which happened to accumulate the number of one-game suspensions in the league, but after being sent off with a red card, the additional punishment is likely to be more severe, which is really not good news for the team that will face Atletico Madrid after three rounds.
But at least from today's game, this penalty is still relatively favorable to the visiting team, at least it greatly weakens Real Madrid's strength in the counterattack, so that the team's next plan to seek an equalizer can get more investment.
However, Li Mudi obviously did not intend to give his opponent more respite, and he immediately used his hole cards to replace Kuchi and Peperu on the court. The former came on in the midfield position after replacing Ceballos, and played as a point of contact behind Rodrygo with Oyarzabal, keeping the front court with enough threat; The latter replaced goal-scorer Marcos Llorente in the opposite position, and after losing the speed advantage on the wing, the tactics of launching a counterattack with long passes at the back also lost most of its meaning, and at this time a new midfielder with better physical condition was sent in, apparently to strengthen the protection of the back line.
However, the Real Madrid manager's protective measures did not substantially achieve his goal, because just three minutes after the substitution, Raphael Varane was injured and could not continue to play, much to the frustration of Li Mudi.
Of course, it was Peperu who was even more helpless than him, because he said to his boss, "You asked me to play to protect the defenders, but I understand that they should avoid the impact of the Barcelona players directly, not to protect them from injury!" "And the most important thing is that the home team has no substitutions on their side, so they have to move the newly substituted midfielder to the position of central defender on a part-time basis. Fortunately, Peperu is tall enough and has trained as a defender for a few years when he was younger, which does not lead to bigger problems.
Thankfully, Real Madrid did not suffer from the disadvantage of playing more because of the captain's departure, because the reason why Varane withdrew from the game was due to a foul on the opposing striker Ruiz, who also received his second yellow card of the game for this uncool behavior, becoming the fifth player from both sides to fail to finish the game as normal (two injuries and three were sent off).
Since then, the much-anticipated national derby has evolved into a nine-on-nine situation, and it is estimated that few people would have predicted this situation before the game.
What's more interesting is that Barcelona, who also has no substitutions, has to rely on the existing players on the field to support it, although Malcolm's technical characteristics are not suitable for the front of the team, but there is no better option than him, Xavi can only break the jar.
It's just that judging from the actual effect on the field, the attacking threat of the visiting team has dropped very significantly, and almost everyone can analyze that they are no longer able to catch up with the point difference in the back.
As it turned out, after losing a striker who could be used as a support point in the box, the Barcelona players could only seek to use more individual breakthroughs and long-range shots from the perimeter to attack Real Madrid's goal, but they could hardly take advantage of the opposition's intact defence, and instead the home team found opportunities to play counter-attacks one after another.
When Kuchi won a penalty in the 86th minute with a personal breakaway, which he himself penalized, the entire Bernabeu stadium was in a frenzy, and the protest boos that erupted over Mbappe's dismissal and Varane's kick injury have long since been replaced by singing after the victory was confirmed.
Towards the end of the game, Antonio Pulitz, a commentator on Spanish national television, made a fitting end to the derby full of twists and turns, and the sixty-seven-year-old commented in his voice that is very familiar to all Spanish fans:
"Congratulations to Real Madrid, who have been on the back foot in the previous direct conversations, but today they have regained the face they lost. And Barcelona, who lost, should not be too discouraged, after all, the league has only started a third, and the four-point difference in the standings is not an insurmountable gap, and Xavi and his disciples still have time to catch up.
As for today's game, although it can hardly be called a high level from a technical point of view, it contains all the elements of a big game, such as world waves, red cards, and undesirable injuries, and there are still plenty of highlights to watch, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is an alternative classic. Like the 3-0 win at Camp Nou last year, we will remember the Bernabeu today, which makes us look forward to the second meeting between the two sides in April next year.
Of course, I'd love to hear what the two managers, especially Coach Lee, will say at the post-match press conference, which will be interesting. ”