Chapter 646: Blowing the Horn of Counterattack
However, this killer weapon is not omnipotent, Rodrigo does not have Asensio's organizational ability, he is a killer who seals his throat when he sees blood. Although the passing ability of the FM system 15 is not low, when the ball is at his feet, his first thought is always how to complete the goal, rather than connecting with his teammates.
So having put the Brazilian star in the starting line-up and putting him on the left wing, Real Madrid will have to accept that their organisation on the left side will face a lack of variety. This requires other players in the middle to step up and assist, and without a full-time midfielder, Martin Calderón and Febas will have to step up their movement and be in the right position in time to play that role as the team.
Of course, the combination of these three top stars, both in counter-attacking tactics and against opponents, can play a more explosive attack than last season, which can be used to deal with the excellent defensive line of opponents who adopted a counter-attacking strategy today.
Eintracht Frankfurt were able to finish fourth in the Bundesliga last season, beating Schalke 04 and Borussia Mönchengladbach to finish fourth in the Bundesliga last season because their manager, former Germany international Christian Schulz, built a steel defence that could finish in the top 10 in Europe last summer.
In this year's summer window, although the core of the defense of France international Ivan Ndicka and the main left-back Deki Bayreuth were poached by other giants, but the performance of the new signings is also good, as of last weekend, the league average of 0.67 goals conceded per game can still be called very impressive.
Facing the defending champions who had been in terrible form tonight, Schultz and his side did not dare to be careless, continuing to cling to their best counter-attacking tactics in the hope of fighting for at least one draw to see if they could find a chance to fish in troubled waters in the race for the right to qualify from the group.
However, when the game was less than half an hour into the game, the visiting team had to wake up from their sweet dreams and admit that they might have overthought it, because the electronic display above the Bernabeu stadium had already played 3-0, and Eintracht Frankfurt, who had beaten Dortmund in the Bundesliga, had been blinded by Real Madrid's powerful attacking line.
Although Mbappe's shooting boots that he didn't know where he had lost since the World Cup were still not recovered, and the competitive state of many players in the team was not very ideal, but in the case of the opponent's retreat across the line, the Galaxy Battleship can invest a lot of troops in the front court to besiege, and the mentality is still relatively relaxed, so that they can find the feeling of the game through the back and forth passing back and forth on the field.
In addition, Li Mudi also made a very targeted arrangement for the characteristics of the opponent's defense before the game, allowing Pellegri to play the role of a pillar center forward in the opening stages, using the advantage of physical and experience to suppress the visiting team's central defender Hellziger, and create several good opportunities for his teammates in the back row.
As a result, Rodrygo and Febas took two of them, and then Benoit Bediachal scored from a corner kick to score his first competitive goal since joining Real Madrid, and put the victory firmly in his own team's pocket.
After the rematch, Schulz brought on former Bundesliga top scorer and Serbian striker Luka Jovic in the hope of scoring a goal away from home and saving some face, but soon instructed the Eintracht Frankfurt players to return to all-out defensive tactics under the pressure of the home team's continued attacking pressure.
However, in the face of Real Madrid's players, who had been suppressed for more than a month and finally ushered in an outburst, their previously proud defence suffered two more huge blows before the final whistle blew. Solzano, who came on as a substitute, scored his first goal of the new season through a high-altitude bombardment, and then Ferran Torres, who also came on in the second half, showed his superb footwork, scored a wonderful direct free-kick, and finally heard the applause of the Real Madrid fans to give him a person.
In the end, the Galacticos, which suffered a lot of difficulties in the early part of the season, finally waited for a chance to vent, and defeated the second opponent in the Champions League, Frankfurt, by five goals at home.
It was only four days later that Real Madrid suffered another setback at the Estadio Pizjuán, when left-back Aaron lost their lead with a 37th-minute red card and a penalty in the 37th minute of the first half, leaving them to lose their lead and lose one player for nearly an hour remaining. Li Mudi reluctantly withdrew Torres, who had finally found some feelings, and started a resolute anti-counterattack tactic.
Fortunately, the defence consisting of David Carmona, José Martinez, Zori and Álvaro Fernandez, under the cover of Ndidi, still played at a very high level, successfully maintaining the score of 1-1 to the end, holding on to a hard-won draw.
Back in Madrid, the Galacticos had just taken a breath to calm down the palpitations of a thrilling point in the previous round of the league, and on Wednesday night they welcomed the challenge of Villarreal, the opponent of the seventh round of La Liga. The Yellow Submarine had an impressive start to the season, and at one point even climbed to the top of the table, which surprised the outside world.
Therefore, in the face of this former defeated player who has failed to win a single victory in the past 11 visits to the Bernabeu, Real Madrid's players are mentally and physically prepared. It's just that because he will play Valencia at the Mestalla Stadium next Sunday, Li Mudi did not choose to play all his hole cards in this game, so the rotation of Ndidi and Pellegri still made the Meilinger feel a little worried.
However, Rodrygo's goalmouth finish just before half-time put the home supporters back in place, and although the visitors were fierce today, using ferocious pressing to engage Real Madrid in the midline area, the midfield of Marcos Llorente, Valverde and Martin Calderón withstood the test, not only did not fall to the ground in terms of toughness, but also played to their strengths in attack.
The initiator of that goal was Marcos Llorente, who took over as first-choice captain after the departures of Asensio and Thibaut Courtois, and his pinpoint long ball helped Mbappe find the breakthrough on the right flank, before Calderón latched on to a team-mate's cross and fired a powerful long-range shot from outside the box that caused the Villarreal goalkeeper to get out of his hands and Rodrygo to take advantage of the opportunity.
When the Yellow Submarine pressed forward for an equaliser in the 70th minute of the second half, Real Madrid had enough space to play what they do best, and finally the French king completed the fatal blow to end the suspense of the game. Mbappe also broke his four-game goal drought, and since then he has overcome his demons and gradually regained the style of the world's top three superstars.
After the end of the schedule in September, the five-time champion Real Madrid temporarily ranked eighth in the La Liga standings with 3 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses, scoring eight goals and conceding five goals, six points away from Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, which are tied for the top spot.
In the Champions League, a 1-1 record puts them second in the group, three points behind Manchester United, behind Eintracht Frankfurt and Sint-Truiden with one point each. Judging from the two rounds of matches that have been played so far, Real Madrid should not have any major problems qualifying, but if they want to win the group and avoid the other favourites in the first round of the knockout round, they will have to get revenge against the Red Devils in the final round of home in addition to maintaining a clean win against the other two weaker teams.
However, many media believe that from the past three games, it has been clearly felt that the state of the Galaxy Battleship is gradually improving, and as long as they can return to the theoretical normal level in time, it will definitely be difficult to replicate last season's all-European dominance, but there is still a certain chance to hold on to the end on three fronts and even win one or two championships. But then a negative news about Real Madrid broke out on the Internet, and some people claimed that the veteran Odriosola who had not been able to get a minute of playing time since the loss to Manchester United was suspected of being abandoned by Li Moody, which attracted the attention of the entire European football world.
Although Best of You Sports, the agency behind the homegrown right-back and second only to Ginez in Spain, issued an urgent statement, claiming that it was an assistant agent next to the player who said in an interview that the outside world had misunderstood the remarks, the abandonment was completely unfounded. But no one has gone back to find out whether the truth is true, and the media are cherishing this opportunity to boost newspaper sales and online clicks, because Real Madrid have been almost insulated from similar negative news for the past two seasons or so, and it is difficult to find any decent hot spots in them.
However, Li Mudi did not clearly give his attitude when he was frantically questioned by reporters, and his demeanor also showed obvious impatience, which was written into the news by media people with no professional ethics and played it well.
However, the reality is that the Real Madrid coach was only woken up by his newborn son several times during the night, and his temper became a little irritable due to severe sleep deprivation, which had nothing to do with the wild speculation that he had developed an extreme dislike for Odriosola.
As for why the veteran, who has been with the team since the 2018-19 season, suddenly fell out of the rotation, the reason is extremely simple, because the other two players in the position, David Carmona and Alvaro Herrera, are both in better form than the former, and Li Mudi can't force something to reduce the team's chances of winning in order to take care of the emotions of individual people, that's all.
Sure enough, in the focus of this round of Europa League between Real Madrid and Valencia, Odriosola failed to enter the 18-man squad again. However, his absence did not affect the continued excellent performance of the Galacticos, who were suppressed early in the opening game and soon had a wonderful world wave scored by Manuel Pellegri who returned to the starting line-up to take the lead.
It was a long-range shot from 28 yards out that slammed into the top left corner of the home goal at an astonishing speed, leaving their Brazilian goalkeeper Gabriel Brazo with no temper.
However, the strength of the Bat Army is not to be underestimated, although their performance in the first two league games was poor, but after adjustment, they quickly regained the style of a La Liga powerhouse, playing a wave of four consecutive wins, ranking four places higher than Real Madrid. In particular, the current midfield of the home team is very delicate, and even if the original core Ferran Torres is sold, the team still has excellent players such as Fran Villarva, Uros Racic and Lee Kang-in who are all above 150 or even 160 in the FM system.
Especially the last Kimchi country striker, it can be said that he has been the top figure in Asian football in the last three or four years, and it is worth a brief introduction.
Born in 2001, Lee Kang-in is a native of Incheon who was spotted by scouts in Valencia at the age of 10 and brought to Spain to join the team's academy. Two years later, in the Under-12 Championship at that time, Lee Kang-in played a series of amazing performances, including a free-kick from almost zero angle against Dortmund Juniors, and eliminated the powerful Barcelona youth team with a world wave, which attracted the attention of the entire European football world, and even Real Madrid asked the Bat Army for an offer, but Valencia refused.
In 2018, at the age of 17, Lee Kang-in was called up to the first team, and completed his senior debut and debut goals in succession, and officially established himself in La Liga a year later, gradually becoming one of the indispensable cores of the team.
Barcelona and Manchester City have successively expressed the idea of buying the talent, but they have not succeeded due to transfer fees and commitments, but with the Asian superstar in the last two seasons, especially in the just-concluded World Cup, it is believed that his future will not be to stay at the Mestalla Stadium. The general view is that he will surpass the predecessor of the national team, Son Heung-min, and become the main force of a giant team - due to the lack of results, influence and heritage, Tottenham has never been able to break through the ceiling of a first-class team, and naturally has no chance of the status of the giants.
And it was the Asian star, who was considered by many in football to have a promising future, who equalized the score for Valencia with an equally brilliant long-range shot in the 34th minute of the first half.
Looking at the East Asian face who gathered with his teammates to celebrate on the field, Li Mudi couldn't help but sigh that Celestial Empire football is indeed inferior to others!