Chapter 37: A Nice Birthday Present

The harvest of using scouting tools this time was really unexpected, in addition to the regular query information, it even helped Real Madrid solve a big problem in advance. As for Qi Zu's respect value, Li Mudi really didn't think there was anything, after all, judging from the relationship between the two people, sooner or later there would be such a day. At this time, Li Mudi was not clear, Qi Zu told Lafayette about this after the game, so that Lafayette remembered him in his heart, and then when a team invited him to coach, he made a great concession in liquidated damages, so that Li Mudi got a further opportunity relatively smoothly.

In the Copa del Rey away to Cadiz, Zizou used a number of rotation players, but of course Cheryshev was left out. As a result, facing the teams of the La B League, these substitutes, who usually have rare opportunities to play, did not perform as well as they wanted, and the score of 3-1 could only be said to be decent. However, the good thing is that it has laid a good foundation for advancing to the next round, so that Real Madrid has the qualifications to continue to fight on three fronts.

Real Madrid will host Getafe in the league at the weekend, and because Benzema has just returned from injury and will be the final round of the Champions League group stage in the middle of next week, Zizou has promoted Mbappe to the first team after discussing with his friends, and promised to give him no less than 20 minutes of playing time. In this regard, Li Mudi readily agreed, after all, the opponents in La Liga can provide better experience for young people, even if it is only 20 minutes, it is better than playing the whole game in the third division.

On Saturday, December 5th, at 20:00, Castilla travels to the Nuevo Silvestre Carrillo Stadium to challenge C.D. Mensagero, 11th place in the league. Mensajero)。

Mensagero is arguably one of the most frustrating opponents in this group, not because of his strength but also because of his location. The team is based in Santa Cruz de La Palma, the capital of the Canarias island. Located in the Atlantic Ocean southwest of Morocco, the Canary Islands are one of Spain's seventeen autonomous regions, an enclave and one of the EU's most extended special areas, located 1,100 kilometers from the Spanish mainland and only 130 kilometers from the west coast of Africa. There are also several professional teams in the autonomous region, the most famous of which are Tenerife and Las Palmas, and every time a Spanish team comes here to play an away game, it takes one and a half to two and a half hours to fly, which is about the same time as going to the rest of Europe.

In terms of flight time, it may be shorter than the bus ride for some races, but the large islands in the Canary Islands are almost all volcanic islands, and even if the sea breeze is not small, there is still a lot of fog every year, and the safety factor of aircraft taking off and landing is very small. The deadliest air crash in human history occurred on March 27, 1977, at Teneriferos Rodeo Airport, when two Boeing 747s collided, killing 583 people. This makes many people feel nervous when they fly to the Canary Islands.

Of course, the luck of ordinary people is not so bad, and the possibility of catching up with the plane crash is still not too great, at least Castile and Li Mudi arrived at the competition venue very smoothly.

Castilla's starting line-up for this game: goalkeeper Yáñez, right wing-back Forlan, central defenders Hector and Leon, left-back Abnell, central midfielders Odegaard and Toro, forward Enzo, right winger Alvaro, left winger La Zuo, center Mariano. Except for Mbappe, all the main players played.

Mensagero is a 4-4-1-1 team, with left wing-back Juanda at the heart of the team, with striker Yere, who has an imagination of 17 and is often a flash of inspiration in the game, and the latter is tied with Mariano and Mbappe for second place in the league scorer with 10 goals.

After the opening, Mensagero took advantage of the home interest rate to organize the offensive first, and also had an advantage in the midfield, while Castilla's interception and tackling ability in the midfield was indeed very average, and several small group sieges did not have a good effect, allowing the opponent to create two shooting opportunities. In addition, the home side's counter-attack was impressive, and whenever the Castilla players played the kind of deflected pass that they intercepted, they pushed forward quickly to try to take advantage of the visitors' weak defence. After being hit on the back a few times in a row, Castilla also reduced the handling of through balls and other things that can easily lead to mistakes, and the normal tactical cooperation faced the home team's more solid defensive system, and there were few good opportunities for a while. A stalemate ensued, with both sides evenly tied in possession and shots on goal at half-time, with neither side able to take advantage.

After the start of the second half, there were also attacks and defenses against each other, but the shots formed were not too good chances, at least in defense, both teams did a good job.

In the end, the outcome of the game was decided by the individual ability of the players, Mariano, who had improved rapidly in the active intra-team competition during this period, received a pass from Enzo in the box in the 66th minute, shook off the defenders with a hidden feint, and scored with a powerful shot, giving Castilla a 1-0 score to all three points in this round of the league and maintain a nine-point lead in the standings.

In addition to the hard work of the coaching staff and the players, luck is also a factor that cannot be ignored. Castilla's injuries are arguably the fewest of any team at the third of the league level. But in today's game, luck played a joke with Li Mudi. The visitors' three substitutions were all due to injuries and were reactive. Forlan suffered a break in his right hand, Toro's eyebrow bone was broken, and Enzo's right leg ligament showed signs of strain, and the injury trifecta almost made Li Moody's blood pressure rise to 180 on the sidelines, but fortunately, the post-game examination gave not too bad news: Forlan only needed to be injured for about ten days; Toro showed no signs of a concussion, had seven stitches on his brow bone, and was ready to compete in a week; Enzo's injury is the worst, and it only takes two weeks to recuperate, and the number of games he misses is very limited.

After getting the results of the test at the local hospital in Santa Cruz, Li Mudi did not go back to the hotel to rest, but took an overnight flight back to Mallorca. His 32nd birthday was next week, and he had to take the team to train with him, so he had to take advantage of the rest day after the game to go back to his parents and celebrate in advance. In fact, it's not a birthday, and there is no custom of celebrating birthdays at this age in the hometown of the Celestial Empire, but Li Mudi's parents returned to China to visit relatives before, and the family of three has not seen each other for more than a month, so take this opportunity to have a good meal. - Well, that's the main reason, he's really hungry.

Just when Li Mudi's family was preparing to feast at night, the person in charge of the PBTV football department who had left his contact information before sent a link, which was the film shot for Lin Liangming before, which contained a lot of shots of Li Mudi. As soon as the old couple heard that their son was on a TV show, although they were explained that it was on the Internet and had nothing to do with TV, they still couldn't even take care of eating, so they threw down their chopsticks and asked Li Mudi to open the video on the computer. Although the football of the Celestial Empire is very stinky, it has to be said that its football column has done a very good job, CCTV's "World Football" and the old version of "Football Night" are classics among the classics, and now most of the football topics on various online media are well received by the audience. The film sent this time shows Lin Liangming's daily state in Castile very realistically, without adding excessive sensationalism and unreliable expectations, just like a documentary, from getting up in the morning, eating breakfast, training, and playing with teammates, until before resting at night, it is recorded very straightforwardly. The commentator is Wang Tao, who jumped out of CCTV before, and the Chinese version of the football game played by Lin Liangming and Li Mudi is him, and his voice is very distinctive.

The whole film is thirty-three and a half minutes long, and the protagonist Lin Liangming who leaves the country the most is naturally the protagonist, and only the compatriot boss Li Mudi, whose nationality is not the Celestial Empire, is the undisputed male number two. In the morning, he joked with the players in the restaurant, in the morning he laid out tactics for everyone in the training ground, and in the evening in the apartment, Xiao Linzi occasionally asked him to play a few football games. Especially in the last few minutes of the film, the live broadcast of the Federation Cup game that Xiao Linzi started, Li Mudi stood on the sidelines in a suit and pointed out the domineering of the country - this is his own interpretation, which has greatly deepened his impression in the hearts of the Chinese people. Because Lin Liangming's level of competition overseas is still very low, his popularity was not too strong before, and PBTV's feature film not only brought him a higher recognition, but also indirectly made Li Mudi familiar in the fan circle. Although I can't talk about idols, future hopes or anything, but at least I know that there is such a person as him, which has laid a good foundation for his future fans, which can undoubtedly be called a good birthday gift for Li Mudi, who will turn 32 years old in a few days.

Of course, what makes him happier than this gift is the food. Pot-wrapped meat, boiled pork slices, ground three fresh ...... Li Mudi's stomach is about to burst, and it is conservatively estimated that after this meal, his weight will increase by at least 1 kilogram.

In the evening La Liga, Real Madrid won 4-1 at home to Getafe, and Mbappe replaced Benzema who had scored twice in the 67th minute of the second half.

Castile's next fixture is the second leg of the first round of the Federation Cup on Thursday, at home to Pontevedra, after a 2-0 win away from home almost secured them a ticket to qualification. So in this game, Li Mudi still plans to use substitute players to play, and even had the idea of playing the football manager game before: as long as the substitute players perform well, they will always be used in the cup competition, not only to let them get some actual opportunities, but also to use the honor of the championship to motivate these young men who rarely play time in the league, the rookie coach does not want Castilla to be as complaining and dissatisfied as the current first team.