After finally getting out of the crowd, Santhiago learned from his teammates that these media were not groundless, and it turned out that the opponent of himself and others in the next game was really Atletico Madrid, but not the league, but the Spanish Copa del Rey.

It was only then that Santhiago patted his head in realization, and after spending some time in Argentina, he had forgotten that Spain still had a domestic cup competition.

The Spanish Copa del Rey, the full name of the Spanish champion Copa King's Cup, is an annual knockout football tournament held in Spain. The original format of the Copa del Rey was judged by the media to be a cup to assist small clubs because it was a knockout tournament for the four divisions of Spanish clubs, regardless of whether they were highly or lowly.

The second-division, third-division and D-division clubs that have passed the qualifying round have the opportunity to compete with the first-division clubs, which stimulates and promotes the development of local football and the operation of small clubs, and many third-division teams can earn enough "rations" for a year with a single game against a La Liga team.

However, the Copa del Rey format in the 05-06 season has been reformed in the new century, and the lower divisions have to go through several knockout rounds before meeting the first division teams, which reduces the number of games played by La Liga teams and reduces the likelihood of upsets. For La Liga clubs, especially those with European-wide competitions, it undoubtedly relieves a lot of unnecessary burdens, and also increases the intensity of the Copa del Rey competition to a certain extent.

After all, before that, for the more frivolous Copa del Rey, many of the top La Liga clubs adhered to the attitude of training or simply giving up.

Now Villarreal will meet Atletico Madrid in the sixth round of the Copa del Rey, commonly known as the quarter-finals, and the meeting between the two La Liga clubs has added a lot of attention to this quarter-final. You must know that Atletico Madrid has just come out of the dormant period and embarked on the road to revival, and for them, every battle must be fought hard.

The same applies to Villarreal, whose record over the past few seasons has been a testament to the quality of the submarine, but if they really want to be seen as one of the best teams in La Liga, they will have to win the title to be convincing! In the short term, compared with the Champions League and La Liga, the Copa del Rey on the third front has become the best place for the yellow submarine to transform.

Within the club, the senior management of the board of directors and coach Manuel Pellegrini have the same ambitions for the Copa del Rey, which also makes the Villarreal generals realize that the club is interested in this season's Copa del Rey, and they have put away the nature of playing tickets in previous years and began to prepare for the game seriously.

This time, Santiago also really experienced Pellegrini's high standards and strict requirements, and the heavy physical training and tactical classes were almost twice as much as Santiago's time in Boca Juniors, and this is still the Copa del Rey! It's hard to imagine the standard and intensity of Villarreal's pre-match training when they face tough opponents in the Champions League or in important league games.

Fortunately, Saint-Tiago is very strict with himself on weekdays, and extra training is also a common thing, which makes it easier for him to carry it. However, this scene surprised many local Spanish players who had a good show-watching mentality, even when they encountered such a high-intensity training for the first time, they were very unbearable, let alone the lazy South Americans in their eyes.

What surprised them even more was that for several days in a row, Santhiago almost did not change his face when he participated in training, and did not have any intention of saving face, until then these Spanish players in the Villarreal team came to their senses, it turned out that Santilago was not the same as those South American players in the usual sense.

Thinking of Santi's very good performance in his debut, they gradually put away their contempt and began to talk to Santi from time to time, and even those South American fellows became more enthusiastic when they treated Santiago.

For the changes that are quietly happening around him, Saintie can naturally clearly perceive it, but he has not pierced all this. He knows very well that it is normal for Villarreal's players to have such emotions or opinions, after all, his reputation is too far behind the real top players, and in this situation, he is regarded as the heart of the midfield by the manager as soon as he joins the team, even with the hand-picked appointment of Pellegrini himself.

Therefore, in addition to inadvertently revealing his physical confrontation ability when training with the team, Santiago also often shows his foot skills and passing skills in the team competition, so that the new teammates can further understand their own strength, and at the same time, Santiago also has a deeper control of the characteristics and general strength of his new teammates.

In addition to the defenders who have been relatively clear, in terms of goalkeepers, Saint-Tiago has a rough score in mind through careful observation during this time.

In the goalkeeper position, Spaniard Diego López and Uruguayan Malvieira both have the strength to compete for the main force, and Pellegrini has also stated that they all have the opportunity to play, and the competition will be fair, but judging from the results of the first half of the season, Diego López seems to be more favored by Peshuai.

In fact, there is nothing wrong with it, Diego López came from Real Madrid's youth system and was Real Madrid's second goalkeeper from 2005 to 2007, as a side-by-choice for Casillas. Unfortunately, Casillas's strength is well known, and López, as a substitute, can hardly play under the light of San Cassi, so in July 07 López transferred to Villarreal.

After arriving at Villarreal, López, who was determined to prove himself, agreed to the idea of coach Manuel Pellegrini competing for the post, during which he performed well and gradually developed into Villarreal's chief goalkeeper.

But what puzzled San Tiago was that in the face of his overtures, Diego López did not have a good face, just nodded lightly, as if he did not agree with him. This couldn't help but make Santi confused, and he asked himself if he didn't offend the Spanish goalkeeper from Real Madrid! Later, after several twists and turns, Santi learned that López admired another midfielder, Pire, and thought that Pire was a well-deserved top midfielder, the helmsman needed by the Yellow Submarine at the moment.

As for Saintie, in his eyes, he is just a kid who took advantage of the danger to squeeze out Pire's position, and his performance against the promoted horses was far from convincing.

In the face of this preconceived subjective intention, Sainti didn't know what to say for a while, his hot face and cold ass were secondary, and he also respected Pire, who made a name for himself at Arsenal. But there is no doubt that López thinks that he is taking advantage of the danger to steal Pire's place is very disgusting, and he is angry when he hears these words from his compatriot Rodriguez in a private meeting!!

Which one of your López muscles is wrong! Is it because the brain is not good? You have just been in the position of the main goalkeeper, and you have started to spread some rumors to destroy the internal harmony of the team, aren't you looking for death? Take a step back and say that even if you worship or appreciate it, it's all between you and Pire, why do you count me in! If you really think that I took advantage of Pire's injury to take the heart of his midfield, then why don't you go to Pei Shuai and talk about it?

Don't think about it for long, in the 05-06 season, Pire and Arsenal quarreled over a new contract, and finally chose to join Villarreal as a free agent, ending the six-year host-host relationship with Arsenal. How many chances did Pellegrini give him after that! If he really satisfies the Chileans, how can he have his own business?

Thinking of this, San Tiago was angry, not only did he become cold to López, who was the main goalkeeper, but even Pire, who was not yet masked and was still in the stage of recuperation, had no good impression of him in an instant.

Don't look at Pire's weekly salary is four times that of Santiago, but in the eyes of Santi, it is all brought to Pire by fame and status. That's right, it's so confident, you don't need to be so confident!

"Santi!! Hi, this way!! I have a chance here!! ”

"Stop him!! Stop him and he'll pass the ball!! ”

On the sweaty training ground, the Villarreal generals were once again skillfully divided into two teams to start confrontation training, when Santo Tiago ran with the ball, the Villarreal players who already knew its strength immediately shouted in unison, ready to intercept Santiago's passing route, only the Tomasson man at the forefront desperately stepped forward, and after many cooperation, he had established great trust in Santi's pass.

He was confident that the ball would be safely delivered to his feet.

Unfortunately, this time Tomasson was destined to be disappointed, and in the face of a flashing pass opportunity, Santi shook a shot and slammed forward, pulling out the distance and suddenly pushing the ball towards the goal.

This was Santi's first shot on goal in today's match!

The surprised players were a little stunned for a while, and the elusive Saintie chose to hit the goal directly! What's going on?

But soon, after seeing the devil's face on López's face in front of the goal, and immediately scooping the ball out of the net in embarrassment, they all showed a vague smile and shook their heads and walked slowly towards the half-time kick-off.

As is customary, this confrontation should have ended after two goals were scored, but it was as if the confrontation between Santilago and López began

Glimpse of López hanging at the end, with an embarrassed look on his face, many players showed intriguing expressions, they knew what was happening between the two, but they had no intention of interfering, and they didn't want to know right or wrong, they just hoped that both of them could restrain themselves and suppress the contradictions to a minimum.

Only Tommasson approached Santiago with a playful face, pushed Santiago with his elbow, and laughed in a low voice: "How is it, cool!" ”

"Hey!"

Saintie blinked, unabashedly proud, and then the Danish national team captain laughed along.

Don't look at the long-famous Thomasson is now over 32 years old, which is an out-and-out veteran, but through the gradual contact in ordinary training, Saintie slowly found that this classmate also seems to be a very interesting master.

From entering the Danish second division at the age of 16 and joining Heerenveen in the Eredivisie at the age of 18, Tomasson began his exotic football career after showing his extraordinary talent and strength. From Newcastle, Feyenoord, AC Milan, Stuttgart, Birmingham to now Villarreal, Tomasson's career has had highs and lows, but the bumpy and varied career journey has brought Tomasson more than honors and a sincere heart.

From a striker in hot form, to Milan's super substitute, to a bench player who never turns over, Tomasson, who has seen too many warm and cold people, is now becoming more and more rejuvenated as he gets older, giving birth to a childlike heart.

Facing López, who came from Real Madrid but refuted that he was a mercenary, he laughed and refuted the other party with some words. Seeing that Saint-Tiago made the opponent taste the pain with a hanging shot, Tomathan laughed and no longer blamed Saint-Thiago for not passing on the opportunity to him, but danced with Saint-Thiago to compare the embarrassing scene of López just now.

Both understand that as goalkeepers, López is very good, but it has to be said that his big mouth often causes problems for him. As teammates, it is impossible for the two to openly tear up their faces with López, but it is undoubtedly very refreshing to make him deflated like this.

After laughing and dissolving, Santiago said goodbye to Thomas and walked alone towards the shower, where he once again recounted his current situation as the smoke rose.

Showing his quality in the game and training is of course only the first step, as midfielder Saint-Tiago has too many ways to quickly integrate into the team, among which feeding the cake is the best choice, he believes that no player can resist the temptation to break the opponent's door in the game, and he is the one who delivers the key assist, and the change in Tomasson's attitude towards himself at the moment certainly speaks for itself.

What made the two speculate was not López's big mouth, but the strength that Santi possessed and showed.

For the next game, Santi is already hot-blooded! The injured Pire will not give him much chance to sit in the main position, and the picky Villarreal fans are far from being conquered by themselves, and they still have a critical and demanding eye, and everything still has a long way to go!