Chapter 414: Champions League knockout round
Ricardo really doesn't believe that Beckham can save Real Madrid when he plays, he can't save it himself, why should Beckham save it.
Beckham can indeed add a touch of dynamism to Real Madrid's midfield, but Beckham is not Zidane and his role is still limited.
Replacing him on the field is not necessarily better than using Guti.
But Ricardo went to Capello anyway.
Why? Because he feels Beckham is a key player.
Not on the pitch, but on the Real Madrid dressing room problem.
When Beckham was banned, many players cried out for him.
Neither let him play, nor renew his contract, his contract is about to expire, what happened to contacting the next family? It's human nature.
But Capello announced the ban on Beckham because of this.
And everyone knows that Capello alone would never dare to make this decision, and there must be the support of the club's top management behind it.
It's chilling.
As a result, morale in the dressing room was very low during this time, and the players were not working hard enough on the pitch.
If the ban on Beckham is lifted, at least the morale of the team will be greatly improved.
On February 10, at a pre-match press conference, Capello announced that David Beckham would be in the squad for the tournament.
The reporters rejoiced, believing it to be the work of the media, whose rhetoric finally swayed Capello.
As everyone knows, in fact, there is a fire in the backyard of Real Madrid's dressing room, and players from several factions have made an appointment to go to Capello to force the palace, which made Beckham see the light of day again.
Another very key reason is that after being banned, Beckham has also been seriously participating in training, using 100% investment in exchange for an unknown result. Perhaps, Capello was also moved.
So on February 11, in the 22nd round of La Liga, David Beckham made his debut, and Real Madrid challenged Real Sociedad away.
Just 11 minutes into the game, Real Madrid were behind. The fans at the scene were so angry that they calmed down, and a storm was brewing.
Real Sociedad began to shrink their formation and looked like Real Madrid were about to swallow the bitter pill, but in the 33rd minute of the game, Real Madrid won a free-kick in front.
Beckham stood far away and did not step forward. In this time, Real Madrid's chief free-kick taker has become Ricardo, and Beckham does not want to be bored.
After Ricardo set the ball, he waved his hand at Beckham, "David, come here." ”
Beckham stepped forward in surprise.
"I'll cover for you, and you'll take the punishment." Ricardo said in English.
Beckham nodded gratefully. He really needs a goal to prove himself and prove that his return to the starting line-up makes sense for the team.
After the referee's whistle blew, Ricardo ran past the ball and Beckham calmly helped to get up and down.
The ball made a perfect bass arc and plunged headlong into the net.
"David Beckham Goal!!!! The commentator shouted passionately, "Beckham equalized Real Madrid with a wonderful free kick in the first game of returning to the starting lineup!" Capello, did you see that? Your stubbornness has cost you. If Beckham had been brought on earlier, he would never have been in the current situation. But it's not too late to wake up, Real Madrid are only two points behind, and there is still a chance to catch it up! ”
Beckham's goal forced Real Sociedad to give up recycling and continue to strengthen the attack. This gives Real Madrid more opportunities to counter-attack.
In the 47th minute of the second half, Real Madrid broke the ball at the back, played to the front after a quick pass, and handed it to the right side. Kaka made a low cross, and Licardo outflanked and pushed the net to rewrite the score to 2:1.
In the 69th minute, Kaka quickly passed through the midfield with the ball, bent his bow 30 meters from the goal, and scored from a distance to lock the score at 3:1.
Capello was expressionless, not knowing what he was thinking.
Just starting Beckham and ushering in a hearty victory, doesn't this mean that he really did something wrong before?
But it was harder to get this stubborn old man to admit that he was wrong than to ascend to the sky.
In his post-match press conference, Capello completely ignored David Beckham's free-kick and his playmaking role in midfield, only to keep praising Licardo and Kaka.
'The two of them are the best signings for the season and as long as they maintain their form, I believe Real Madrid can win the league this season and we can do a lot in the Champions League.'
"With 19 games and 21 goals, Ricardo has proven that he is an efficient striker who is not inferior to Ronaldo, and I think he has every hope of scoring more than 40 goals this season and surpassing Hugo. Sanchez holds the La Liga scoring record. ”
The previous La Liga goal record holder was Hugo, one of the five eagles of Real Madrid. Sanchez scored 38 goals in the 89-90 season.
La Liga has always been a league that focuses on offense and defense, and scoring more than 30 goals in the Golden Boot is commonplace, which is completely different from Serie A.
The Serie A Golden Boot tends to score just over 20 goals.
The victory was a cause for joy, but Barcelona also won and Real Madrid did not come back to the top.
On February 16, in the 23rd round of the league, Real Madrid faced Real Betis's iron bucket formation at the Bernabeu, but did not come up with a good solution, and the two sides finally handed over a blank sheet 0:0.
The only good news was that Barcelona lost again, away to Valencia, allowing Real Madrid to close the gap to one point.
The players will also be able to focus on preparing for the knockout stages of the Champions League.
Unfortunately, Real Madrid didn't get a good draw, they drew almost one of the strongest teams - the giants from the Bundesliga, Bayern Munich.
However, Bayern Munich have not been in good form this season, currently sitting third in the Bundesliga table, and the possibility of competing for the title is not very high. And they had just undergone a change of coach, Magath was ousted, and Heathfield, the head of the meritorious coach, was invited back to be a firefighter, and the hearts of the people must have fluctuated.
Rarely, before the game, there was no big war of words between the two sides.
Maybe it's because there are too many sore spots on both sides. I don't want to be targeted by my opponent, so it's inconvenient to shoot myself.
The first leg between the two sides will be played at the Bernabeu.
The morale of Real Madrid is very high, whether it is the Brazilian gang, the local gang, or other foreign players, they are willing to put aside the controversy and do their best for the Champions League.
And in general, the atmosphere in the dressing room of Real Madrid is now improving. David Beckham was reactivated and relented to the player on behalf of Fabio Capello. And the players have no idea of getting an inch, after all, the team's biggest big name, Ronaldo, is still recovering from injury, and the rest of the people, including Ricardo, are not prestige enough to affect the whole team.
Raul was not very treacherous, and under his leadership, the Spanish gang was uncontested.
Since Ricardo took the helm of the Brazilian Gang, he has only maintained the status of the Brazilians, and has not had the idea of making the Brazilian Gang the boss of the locker room.
The rest of the foreign players are also scattered and don't have much right to speak.
So the various factions are getting along fairly well at the moment.