Chapter 667: Everything is going well like a dream
With Rivera's outstanding performance at the beginning of the season, Guti also complied with the will of the people to recruit the young man born in late 2010 into the new Matador team, and let Real Madrid No. 20 make a substitute appearance in the friendly match against Australia on the evening of September 7, making Riverola the youngest Spanish men's football international in history at the age of 17 years and 268 days, surpassing the Athletic Bilbao legend Subita in the thirties of the last century by only two days. A dream that legends like Casillas, Ramos and Cesc Fabregas have failed to achieve.
The name of the youngest goalscorer in the history of the national team was refreshed when he came off the bench in the group stage of the Nations League four days later against the Netherlands and scored a brilliant long-range strike, and the name Riverola resounded throughout the world football in the shortest possible time, single-handedly covering up all the other rising stars.
For the crazy boasting of the outside world, Li Mudi hurriedly stood up to relieve the pressure on his disciple, trying to pull him back to the original calm state from the spotlight that can blind his eyes, so in the following month or so, people can always see the Real Madrid coach in interviews constantly saying "belittling" the new generation of golden boys, first thinking that there is still a big gap between his ability and an excellent player, and then emphasizing that his honor book is still in a blank stage. The comments that are on a par with those legendary superstars are so unrealistic.
In short, it was as if an old hen had defended her chicks from the dangers outside. And the team also imposed slightly strict requirements on the young man, once he appeared to be suspected of being touted by the outside world and had a fluttering mood, he was immediately punished by removing the game squad. In private, Li Muddy has expressed to friends such as Raul and Hierro more than once that he is very optimistic about the future development prospects of Riverola, so he has made up his mind this time and will never allow a potential stock that has the potential to grow into the first person in world football to hurt Zhongyong in his own hands.
However, to be honest, in terms of his character, it is really difficult to do this kind of "white face" behavior, because everyone can see that the Real Madrid manager will always be unable to control his facial expressions and smile very clearly after seeing the progress of young players. During this "high-pressure control", Riverola has seen the head coach respond positively to his performance many times, so the so-called "strict father" model has long lost its due effect.
Fortunately, this genius on the football field also has an extremely precocious psychology and thoughts, knowing that Li Mudi did this for his own good, so he did not have negative thoughts after receiving special treatment, but after a short period of self-expansion, he quickly found his normal heart, so that all those who really care about themselves put the heart back in place.
Later, with the gradual opening of the Champions League group stage and the Copa del Rey, the Galaxy Battleship, which had significantly increased the number of game tasks, soon returned to the system of increasing rotation, so that Riverola, who was once protected by Li Moody, returned to the team's appearance list, and the number of starts was significantly more than last season, and the tactical role played on the field was also much more important, as if he had become a key player in Real Madrid's current team.
And since joining the first-team rotation in the middle of last season and continuing to break records at the start of the new season, the young player who is not yet 18 years old has also embarked on a dream journey in his life that will last forever, and that process can be described as perfect.
In mid-September, with the power of breaking two records of the Spanish national team in succession, Riverola's name was prominently listed in the final 30-man list of the 2028 European Golden Boy Award announced by Torino Sports Newspaper, and was unanimously considered to be one of the biggest favorites in this selection.
On October 3, in the second round of the Champions League group stage, Real Madrid hosted Shakhtar Donetsk, and in the 68th minute of the second half, Riverola replaced Elias Zidane, surpassing Heqiu to become the youngest player in Real Madrid's history to make his Champions League debut.
Three weeks later, he scored a follow-up strike against Red Star Belgrade, relegating the club's current chairman Raul to second place in the Champions League's list of youngest goalscorers.
After completing all the records that he was able to break temporarily, Riverola's goal luck came to an abrupt end, and this is a more objective situation. After all, although at his current age, 147's current ability can already be called a freak at the level of Godzilla, and his technical characteristics are the same as his template Kaka, a modern striker with scoring ability far beyond the average level, but at this time, the gap between him and the son of God at his peak is obviously very huge, and it cannot match the super high goal rate of the Brazilian star.
And after all opponents began to impose heavy precautions on him, the youngster, who was still less physical and less experienced than adults, could no longer rely on his signature long-range shot to score goals, so it was not until mid-December that the youngster, known as the strongest post-10 (born after 2010), scored his fourth goal in all club competitions this season.
But genius is genius, and if anyone thinks that stopping his attempt to score will limit this golden boy who has become popular in world football, then it can only be said that his understanding of football is too lo, maybe not as good as a primary school student.
Because in addition to scoring, Riverola can also use his abilities in other areas to help the team win.
Under the rapid transformation of Li Mudi's plug-in version of the training package for more than a year, the superstar's overall view has reached a very good rating of 16 in the FM system, combined with his imagination of no less than 15, passing and teamwork that has been strengthened to 14, although he is not a very good passer, but with the blessing of super speed ability, he can often use his dribbling ability to create good space and deliver the ball to the feet of his teammates at the most reasonable time.
For example, in the thirteenth round of the league on November 26, facing Valencia, which has a very tight defensive formation, Riverola, who was ordered in danger, first completed a long-distance dribble from 40 meters away in the process of a counterattack, and then used an oblique stride to change direction after attracting the premise of the opponent's central defender, and then used a small space to pass a wonderful and accurate diagonal pass, which directly penetrated the home team's defense and helped Pellegri get a golden opportunity for a single knife.
The Italian striker did not fail to live up to his little brother's efforts, and after entering the penalty area, he shook off the attacking goalkeeper and sent the ball into the huge empty goal, breaking the evenly matched state that lasted for more than 70 minutes on the field, so that Real Madrid could take advantage of the opportunity of the Bats to invest more troops in the front field to play a more threatening counterattack, and thus won a difficult victory at the New Mestalla Stadium.
And the classic case that can best show Rivera's far beyond ordinary passing awareness and ability is the first Madrid derby on December 9, because there is also the Champions League group stage finale against AC Milan next week, and it will be a key game to win the group, so Li Mudi, who has a large lead in the domestic league, chose to hide the core of Mbappe and Ndidi, so that this season is in good shape. The Sheets, who have been in the top three of the table since the start of the season, see a great opportunity to beat their city rivals for the first time in four seasons.
At the Metropolitano Stadium, Aspas put a strong emphasis on midfield confrontation and control, and the assault tactics on both flanks were also their killer tactics, whether it was positional battles or counter-attacks, they were able to play an excellent role.
On the other hand, Real Madrid, Moussa Dembele, who played as a lone striker, went off early due to a leg injury in the 27th minute of the game. Zidane still maintains the two roles of forward and central midfielder at any time.
However, Vinicius, who stayed in a dramatic manner this summer, has hardly been in satisfactory form of late, suffering a thigh muscle strain while playing for the Samba Army in the Nations League in mid-September, and only returned more than a dozen days ago thanks to the influence of the medal halo, although the entire coaching staff has been doing their best to help him adjust, but due to the short time available, the Brazilian on the pitch still seemed to be a little out of pace, until the second half of the game came to an improvement.
In the 54th minute, Real Madrid launched a quick counterattack at the back, Elias Zidane took the ball in the middle and rushed into the home half, and found an open space under the influence of Riverola's running and sent the ball behind the Atletico defence. The home centre-back, Javier Montero, slipped on the turf when he turned to chase the ball, giving Vinicius a golden opportunity to face the goalkeeper in front of him.
However, in the face of Diogo Costa, who chose to attack, the Real Madrid winger seemed to be frightened by the opponent's very fierce and fierce momentum, and did not choose to shoot directly at the best time, but after rushing into the penalty area, he wanted to shake the opponent by changing direction and smashing the ball, creating the possibility of hitting an empty goal.
As a result, just when the Atletico goalkeeper made a desperate save, Vinicius's leg went weak and he couldn't kick in time, allowing the opponent to touch the ball at his feet half a second early, and then fell to the ground because he was hung by Costa's arm. Not only did he lose a good chance to score, but he was also considered by the referee to be suspected of faking a fall and received a yellow card.
The home side then took advantage of a cross from the wing to rewrite the scoreline, and Jose Martinez was suspected of a handball foul on his arm when he was fighting for the first spot with Borja Garcés. The referee immediately suspended the game, ignoring the Real Madrid centre-back's argument that the ball only touched his ribs, and chose to come to the sidelines to distinguish by watching the VAR return in person, and finally awarded a penalty to the Sheets.
Mexican winger Diego Linez clearly knew Real Madrid's preparation for the penalty kick and did not follow his habit of sending the ball towards the bottom left corner of the net, and used a half-time run-off to trick Bruchtel into making the first move before comfortably pushing the ball to the right to give Atletico a 1-0 lead.
For this kind of alleged violation, the players and coaching staff of the visiting team complained to the referee and the fourth official respectively on and off the field, but they could not get the support of the reversal of the decision, and they could only accept the unfavorable situation of falling behind by one goal away in desperation.
Immediately after taking the lead, Aspas instructed his players to move the three lines back and played a tactic of passing and counter-attacking, forcing Real Madrid to attack. It's just that in front of the home team's equally excellent defensive line, the Galaxy Battleship, which needs to be on guard against the opponent's two wing impact capabilities, has never been able to find an opportunity to deliver the ball to the dangerous area in the positional battle, because there is no high striker who can stand in the opponent's penalty area and involve the Atletico Madrid central defender, so that their attack has been blocked outside the penalty area, and it is difficult to receive good results in this situation, which was still a reliable peripheral long-range shot.
Just when Li Mudi brought in the warm-up Manuel Pellegri and Sergio Arribas to help the team turn the tide of the current situation, Riverola used his inspiration to get his manager to change his plans and get the Madrid derby back on track.
In the 73rd minute, Riverola, who was pulled to the left to receive the ball, after completing a wall collision with Elias Zidane to get past one of the home team's central midfielders, almost instantly increased his speed to the limit, and then shook off the Atletico Madrid right-back and Dutch international Giovanni Trupi through an extremely gorgeous bicycle action, and then cut inside with the ball into the penalty area.
The veteran Jimenez, who had come over to make up for it, used his incomparable experience to get stuck in the path of the Real Madrid supernova and was always ready to block in case the young man on the opposite side suddenly got up and tried to score. But the Uruguayan, who is about to turn 34, could no longer keep up with Riverola, who was almost half his age, and saw the latter make an unreasonable and drastic change of direction, passing through the side of the Atletico captain and smashing directly into the home team's goal.
At the crucial moments, Diogo Costa, who opted for a semi-attack, and Javier Montero, who was rushing forward, blocked almost all of Riverola's paths, but they both underestimated the Spanish talent's ability. Riverola tricked the Atletico centre-back into taking a right-footed interception with a small feint, and then stabbed the ball with his left toe into the middle of the goal, piercing Montero's crotch in the process. Vinicius, who followed up in time, sent the ball into the empty net before the home defender's Jonathan Gonzalez tackle arrived, bringing the two teams back on the same page.
In the end, with a perfect assist from Riverola, Real Madrid drew 1-1 away from their city rivals and continued to lead the La Liga table with six points.
Two days later, the football prodigy, who had risen to prominence in the second half of the year, won the first individual accolade of his playing career, this year's European Golden Boy Award, becoming the youngest winner in history.
The whole year 2028 will be a fantastic 12 months for Real Madrid's new star Riverola, and everything will go smoothly as if in a dream, which will make many people both envious and jealous.