Chapter 636: Before the Decisive Battle

On the evening of April 26, the city of Valencia welcomed the final of the 125th Spanish Copa del Rey at the Mestalla Stadium, which had just been renovated last season, against Real Madrid, winner of the tournament 21 times, and Sevilla, winner of the trophy six times.

Both teams have postponed the league round to next Wednesday for this match, while the other eight games have all been completed in batches on Saturday and by the afternoon of the day, allowing fans across the country to focus on the night's big game.

Judging from the historical head-to-head record between the two sides in the domestic cup, Real Madrid has an absolute advantage with a record of 7 wins, 3 draws and 2 losses, and maintains a large lead of 5 to 1 in the number of knockouts against the other side. It's just that in the final, the two teams have not faced the precedent of meeting each other, and this time it can be regarded as making up for the missing link.

However, since Li Mudi took over the Bernabeu, Sevilla, which has always been known as the real killer, seems to have lost the buff brought by this title, and has not been able to bargain for anything at the feet of the galaxy, and the draw in the first leg of the Copa del Rey semi-finals last season is the only reason for this Andalusian powerhouse to save some face.

At the beginning of last month, they suffered a four-goal defeat away to their opponents in the league, which not only accumulated more psychological shadows, but also was overtaken by Valencia in the table, falling to fifth place in the Champions League, and has not yet managed to regain it.

So on the stage of the final today, Sevilla actually still has some emotions that want to complete revenge, but more importantly, it is still a fear of Real Madrid. Even if for the sake of protecting the players, Li Mudi excluded the injured Mbappe from the 18-man lineup at the last moment of submitting the squad, but judging from the momentum and state of the Galaxy Battleship that just slaughtered Juventus, more thoughts are still on how to win all the last four rounds of the league to grab the last Champions League qualification Sevilla, and it is estimated that there is no confidence to break the upset.

So after the opening, everyone could easily see that the team that was not favored by the outside world obviously still arranged a set of defensive counterattack tactics, and under the premise of piling up heavy troops in the backfield, the offensive end could only use their only sharp weapon, that is, the rapid advancement of the wings. However, the Real Madrid coach was already prepared today, and he changed the formation again, using a set of 4-1-4-1 positions, which is to focus on the opponent's killer defense.

In addition to the two full-backs, the two wingers who started today, Herabert and Marcos Asensio, were also called upon to drop back when necessary to help their team-mates disrupt the opposition's flanks of rapid advances. Of the two strikers up front, Kuchi's defensive task is not heavy, but Ceballos is a little harder, the team needs him to increase the distance he runs, and he can change his role as soon as possible after the ball is converted, and one person has to play two roles.

The introduction of Vinicius and Valverde early in the second half could also give the physically exhausted Asensio and Ceballos a rest, while ensuring that the manager's tactics could be effectively continued.

In the end, with Sevilla's attacking strengths basically blocked, Real Madrid took advantage of the strong attacking ability that they had honed to score a goal in the second half of the free Pellegri and Kuci, and won a 2-0 victory, relatively easily won the second title of the season (or the third if you count the Spanish Super Cup), and took another solid step towards the great goal set by the club.

And after two important matchups in a row, Li Moody did not create any surprises for everyone, and unsurprisingly hid all the core in the La Liga replay next week. However, the starting lineup pressed by Mele and Marcos Llorente, Spain's fringe internationals, is not something that the relegation team Huesca can easily withstand, and the result is a 3-1 victory that makes Real Madrid's league goal total this season break through the 100 mark, although it is still a long way from the highest record in La Liga, but it can barely be regarded as a small milestone.

However, the goal conceded in this game made it certain that they could not equal the record for the lowest goals conceded in a single season held by Laco in 1993-94 and Atletico Madrid in 2015-16 (18, only counting the period when there were more than 20 teams), which was somewhat regrettable for the coaching staff, especially Rui Jorge and Pavon (who became the slogan of the Galaxy with Zizou).

Fortunately, this sentiment did not cause even the slightest negative impact on the team, because soon, the first league game of May started on the 3rd. It will be another exciting day for Real Madrid, as they will host Osasuna with a simple trophy ceremony to symbolise that the trophy of the Spanish football king has arrived in Madrid in the morning under the arrangement of Football Association officials, and Jesus Casas, who succeeded Rubiales as president of the Spanish Football Club three years ago, will be present at the Bernabeu to present the award to the new La Liga champion.

Last season, because there were no home games after the championship was confirmed, according to the strange regulations of the Western Football Association, the first home game of the season could only be awarded, which made the club feel very unhappy. This time, there was no longer a long wait, and the more than 80,000 Meilinger on the scene were able to enjoy the joy and joy after winning the championship, and even the Osasuna fans who accompanied the team to the away game also experienced the atmosphere of celebrating the league championship.

It's a pity that after 90 minutes, these guests from afar can only return to the hotel or airport with a depressed face, because the Real Madrid players who have just had the most intimate contact with the championship trophy have obviously received additional buff bonuses, and one by one they are in a state of excitement that seems to have been beaten with chicken blood.

So Osasuna, who were still playing for the home team before the game, was tragic, how could they withstand a group of world-class stars who fully released their own energy, and finally swallowed six bullets in a row and reaped a big defeat at the Bernabeu Stadium.

This is still the result of Li Mudi instructing the players to restrain themselves after finding out that the situation is not good, otherwise I really don't know if the goalkeeper of the visiting team will have any mental illness because he has suffered too much blow.

It is worth mentioning that Mbappe was also able to come on as a substitute in the last 20 minutes of this game, and it seems that he is still in good shape, which completely relieves the few fans who are worried about the second leg of the Champions League semi-final. Everyone firmly believes that as long as Real Madrid can send the strongest team, Juve will have no chance of turning the tables.

However, judging from the eighteen-man squad announced by Li Mudi on Tuesday, the French king did not become one of them, and although the Real Madrid coach said that it was just out of the protection of the players who had just recovered from injury, everyone believed that he had no worries about the promotion situation, so he dared to arrange the troops so boldly. But even so, the outside world does not think that Juventus have much chance of completing a comeback, because no one can imagine that there is still a team in world football today that can beat the Galaxy by four goals in a single game.

Even if their midfielder Bentancur were to return to the firing line, even if his form could return to his best level immediately and unreasonably, the chances were slim to nonetheless.

However, Conte and his disciples did not give up, and in the second leg of the Champions League semi-final on Wednesday night, Juve were very bold to press out after the opening, looking completely unafraid of being taken advantage of by Real Madrid's super counter-attacking ability to achieve a sieve.

Of course, the reasons for being able to put on such a desperate attacking strategy so unburdenedly are also very easy to understand, one is that they really have no other way to go, and the second is that the visitors are missing Mbappe, who has the fastest ability, and it doesn't look like a big threat.

However, Li Mudi had long anticipated the pressure that the team might encounter, so he did not send a high striker at all, and the nominal lone striker Rodrygo would actually pull more to the left in the actual battle, ready to take advantage of the gap left behind the Juventus full-back to press forward and assist. Standing in the same position on the other side of the pitch was another Brazilian, Vinicius, who had the advantage of his pace, and Asensio was a somewhat unexpected appearance in central midfield, with the boss hoping he could be the key man to deliver the final pass on his counter-attack.

The idea of this tactical arrangement is correct, because the home team's defense will definitely press very high, and the large space behind it can be used by Real Madrid, so the efficiency of the counterattack will definitely be very high. Once an away goal is scored, it can completely kill the remaining suspense of the game. Even if it can't be achieved, it can greatly contain the opponent's offensive determination and reduce the defensive pressure on the own side, as long as it can not let the old woman attack without pressure, the result of the promotion is unlikely to be shaken.

It's just that in the real playing field, Li Mudi didn't expect that the opponent would really put the death in the afterlife, and he didn't care about whether his side would concede another goal, but was extremely determined to carry out the attack to the end. Even in the eighteenth minute, Rodrygo almost took advantage of a counter-attack opportunity to get Juventus to kneel and sing conquest, but after the catastrophe, the opponent immediately stood up, picked up the weapon he had just dropped and launched a righteous attack towards the Real Madrid goal.

As a result, Andre Lunin's city gradually began to develop a series of dangers, and in the 26th minute of the game, he was hit by a post, and it seemed that the goal was not too far away.

In order to achieve the goal of creating a miracle, Conte also fought hard today, sending all four of the most capable strikers on the field, especially the arrangement of using German international Arp and Keane together as a double center forward, which can greatly make up for the latter's weak ability to fight and act as a passing bridgehead for teammates in positional battles, which makes the two central defenders of the visiting team very headaches.

Born in January 2000 and made a name for himself in Hamburg, the striker who didn't perform very well at Manchester City due to personnel deployment reasons, has a height of 1.88 meters, and combined with the bounce ability of 15 by the FM system, it can really put a lot of pressure on the combination of Skriniar and Vallejo. Even if you don't have full control of the ball when you are competing for the ball in the air, it will give your teammates a greater advantage in the fight for the second spot.

Therefore, it is difficult for Real Madrid to stop the opponent's continuous attack, which is rarely seen in their previous games, and the change of direction also shows that Juve's strength is really strong, the 4-0 game played at the Bernabeu two weeks ago was just an unexpected case, and it cannot be judged that the difference in strength between the two sides is really as big as the score shows.

However, to be able to become an invincible superforce in European football this season, the defensive ability of the Galaxy is naturally not to be underestimated, especially when the trio of Marcos Llorente, Ndidi and Fabas come on together to form their midfield barrier, both in terms of sweeping coverage and tenacious spirit, it is impeccable. After Li Mudi instructed Asensio and Vinicius to be involved in the tackle as much as possible, regardless of the effect of the retreat of these two men, at least it will be extremely difficult for the Juventus players to get penetration or long-range shots in the middle.

With just two crosses from the flanks and the occasional in-cut inside, the Real Madrid boss is confident that he will be able to keep the net clean for a long time.

The final result also proved that his self-confidence did not appear out of thin air for no reason, although the opponent was suppressed throughout the game, and he was far behind in various statistics, but before Vallejo was sent off in the 84th minute for accumulating two yellow cards, the scoreboard above the Allianz Stadium remained 0-0, which quieted the home fans who had been in a state of frenzied cheering before.

However, the score of this exchange of blank rolls did not last until the final whistle sounded, due to the long period of passive defensive posture, and then one less player, so that the physical consumption of Real Madrid in the away game is too great, it is inevitable that there will be a lack of concentration when the overall situation has been decided, or can no longer mentally force themselves to break through the limit.

Juve took the opportunity to score two goals in a row in the final moments, and although they could not turn the game around, they could also wave goodbye to this season's Champions League with some dignity.