Winning the national derby boosted the morale of the whole Real Madrid team.

In the 8th round of La Liga on December 28, they traveled to Tarragona, and the promoted team scored the first goal as the home team. Carlos, Elgra and Ricardo scored three goals in quick succession to keep Real Madrid at the top of the table.

With 24 points from all 8 wins, it is not the best start in Real Madrid's history, but it is also the best start in recent years.

Not only did the newspapers Ace and Marca boast about the Real Madrid team, but the big media in Europe almost praised the team, believing that they had a good chance of winning the league title this year and possibly defending the Champions League.

However, there is also some fatigue in the teams that have played in consecutive games, especially players like Ricardo, Kaka, and Ruud van Nistelrooy, who have participated in the World Cup.

Capello doesn't like to rotate, and when he has the right formation and the right players, he'll keep using it.

However, for the sake of the later league considerations, he still rotated a large number of players in the Champions League group stage at home against Bucharest Stars on November 2, and some players who had rarely been given opportunities before were able to play, such as Beckham, Salgado, Pavon, De La Red, Cassano, etc.

The Bucharest Stars, on the other hand, defended on all fronts, so Real Madrid did not take much advantage of the game and won only 1-0 in the end.

On November 6, Real Madrid hosted Celta Vigo, and everyone thought it would be an easy game, but Real Madrid unexpectedly lost 1-2, narrowing the gap with Barcelona to two points.

The loss in this game did not cause the fans to be alarmed, a long season is long, the team's form has been up and down, and no one dares to guarantee not to lose a single game.

So the fans were not disappointed with the loss.

But they weren't happy with the team either. Cause? The kick was too ugly.

Real Madrid's fans are some of the most discerning fans in the world, demanding both to win and to be beautiful, so Real Madrid's manager is arguably one of the most tormented positions in football, and few can sit in this position for long, comparable to Inter Milan's position in turbulent times.

Licardo and others don't care about losing, winning or losing is temporary, and the championship is going to run through the whole season.

But some of the media began to jump out and point fingers.

"Real Madrid's eight-game winning streak this season is based on the fact that the opponent is not familiar with them, and once everyone understands their style of play, it is easy to refrain from it. The lack of playmaking players in this Real Madrid midfield also means that they lack the ability to play positional battles and play tough battles. They always relied on defensive counter-attacks to win games. Once the opponent doesn't attack, they are out of line. That's what World Sport said.

It makes sense.

The loss to Celta was because Celta set up a bus away from home, Real Madrid was disorganized and lackluster in attack, but the opponent used set-pieces to score a goal and was stolen by counterattacks.

To ask Ricardo to say privately that this Real Madrid midfield organization is not as good as Inter Milan.

On November 13, in the 10th round of the league, Real Madrid challenged Osasuna away.

In the 81st minute, Ricardo took the lead in a scuffle in the penalty area and blasted past Osasuna's goal.

"Licardo Goalllllllllll!" The commentator was completely in a frenzy, "This is his fourth goal of the game!" Terrifying goal efficiency! A state of terror! Ricardo is simply invincible! This is the first time in his career that he has a senior blight, but I believe it won't be the last! ”

"Ricardo has made 14 appearances for Real Madrid so far, scoring 23 goals, and now Real Madrid fans probably don't miss Ronaldo anymore! The 20-year-old has completely replaced Ronaldo's role! ”

"This year he will be the favourite for the Golden Globes! At present, the three-person shortlist for the Golden Globe Award has come out, and Ricardo is among them. The other two are Cannavaro and Buffon. Buffon, as a goalkeeper, has a low chance of winning this award; And Cannavaro, although he performed well last season and in the World Cup, has a mediocre performance this season," the commentator analyzed, "and Ricardo not only won the top scorer and the World Cup Golden Ball Award with 5 goals in 5 games in the World Cup, but also continued the terrifying state this season, and he has a very high probability of winning the Golden Ball Award!" ”

"20-year-old Mr. Golden Globe! He may well be the first young man since Ronaldo to win this award! ”

With Ricardo's big four, Real Madrid defeated Osasuna 4-1 away and continued to lead the standings.

In the 11th round of the league, Real Madrid also won the game, and Ricardo continued his good form with a pass against Racing Santander.

However, in the Champions League group stage, they lost at home to Lyon, relinquishing the top spot in the group.

Even more unfortunate was that Licardo strained his groin in this game and was substituted in the 40th minute, requiring a three-week rest.

On 27 November, Real Madrid won 1-0 away at Valencia in the round of 12 of the league, with Raul scoring the only goal.

The injured Ricardo was not in the stands to watch the game, but he was already in Paris for the 51st Ballon d'Or ceremony.

The Ballon d'Or is an award given to the best European footballer every year organized by France Football, a magazine under the French newspaper "Le Football", which has been held since 1956 and is also one of the most prestigious and influential football awards in world football.

Before 1994, the selection of the Ballon d'Or was limited to players with European nationality, so Pele and Maradona were not eligible for the Ballon d'Or; Since 1995, the selection of the Ballon d'Or has been relaxed to players who play for football clubs belonging to member states of the European Football Federation; It was only in 2006 that the selection was expanded to cover all professional footballers in the world. Of course, this does not make much sense, because the influence of football leagues in Asia, Africa and Latin America is completely incomparable to that of the mainstream European leagues.

In fact, no player has ever been named Ballon d'Or ever who has played in the Asian, African and Latin American leagues.

The editorial board of France Football will vote for a 50-member shortlist, from which each judge will select five players and rank them on a score of 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1. The player with the most points won the Ballon d'Or that year.

As for the selection of judges, from 1956 to 2005, the Ballon d'Or judges were made up of media journalists from each of UEFA's member states. Since 2006, the scope of judges has been expanded to the whole world (Asia, Africa, Latin America, Central and North America and the Caribbean, Oceania), and the qualifications of judges outside Europe are: the judge's country (region) has participated in at least one World Cup finals competition, and the media to which the judge belongs should be a local authority.

The change means that the likelihood of Ricardo winning the Ballon d'Or has skyrocketed. Because he is much more rated in Asia and America than his opponents Cannavaro and Buffon!

Moreover, Cannavaro and Gianluigi Buffon, both from Italy, will split a large portion of the vote to the advantage of Ricardo.

What's more, Ricardo's performance this year has really been outstanding!