"After the change of manager, Barcelona are now on two consecutive wins in the league and the Copa del Rey, with 4-0 Espanyol and 6-0 Córdoba."

"Vilanova has been in charge of the training of the Barcelona first team almost single-handedly, he is Guardiola's most trusted assistant coach, and he is also the assistant who is most familiar with Guardiola's style of play, and his ability to play cup games remains to be proven, but he is definitely no stranger to opponents in La Liga."

"With Barcelona's current squad, if there are no major problems in the team, Vilanova will definitely have no problem leading the team to La Liga, so our advice"

In the conference room, before Karanka could say the final result, Mourinho rubbed his temples and opened his eyes.

"Okay, I see, let's go with our final decision, we've defended the Copa del Rey and the fans will understand."

Karanka and the other coaches in the conference room were also relieved when they heard this.

The most difficult part of this matter is to reach a consensus within the coaching staff during the negotiation process.

Now that Mu Shuai, as the leader, has made a decision, the rest of the things will be easy to do.

The first is to explain the situation to the players and unify their thinking, and the second is to try to win the understanding and recognition of the fans in terms of public opinion.

The former Karanka and Jose Mourinho will communicate with all the players in the first team as soon as possible.

The latter, then you can only bother Sanchez and Galeries Lafayette to operate more.

The day before the league game against Osasuna, Mourinho gathered all the first-team players and made his decision to forgo the Copa del Rey after training.

The Real Madrid players were a little surprised at first, but when they thought about it, they could understand the decision of the coaching staff.

You want to say that Real Madrid gritted their teeth in the second half of the league last year, but who would have thought that Real Madrid would really win the treble in the end?

Confidence is self-confidence, but on the road of third-line struggle, Real Madrid's players have actually been tightening their heartstrings.

It's all with the strength in my chest, thinking about doing my best in the end, and trying my best to win a championship if I can, and finally I have no regrets if I fail.

And Real Madrid's lead in the league last year was too great.

It would have been possible to sacrifice a league game or two to play the Copa del Rey, but this year, it will obviously not be.

This will Barcelona still maintain an unbeaten league record, overpowering Real Madrid, who have one round less, and the pressure of league competition is too great.

Therefore, sacrificing this season's Copa del Rey to reduce the burden and compete with Barcelona in the league to the end, Real Madrid's players can understand.

As Mourinho said earlier in the internal meeting of the coaching staff.

Real Madrid have already defended their Copa del Rey title and have successfully defended their title by beating Barcelona in the final for the second season in a row.

They don't have to prove anything in the Copa del Rey anymore.

The most important thing now is to defend the league and more importantly the Champions League.

Therefore, when the players also expressed their understanding and recognition, the ideas of the Real Madrid team were quickly unified.

However, Lafayette, after learning Mourinho's true thoughts, quickly called Mourinho to confirm.

"Jose, you know, it's not that I value the Copa del Rey, it's that this championship is forgiving.

It's going to be hard for you to play on one more frontline, but if you plan for the worst and lose an important title in the Champions League or league this year, then at least there's a Copa del Rey to fight for.

At that time, Real Madrid will also have the opportunity to fight for the double of the season, which is a completely different effect in terms of public opinion.

When the time comes, no matter how discerning the media is, they can't deny the success of the season with Real Madrid, do you know what I mean? ”

Galeries Lafayette's inquiries were ultimately assured by Mourinho's exact confidence.

"We will successfully defend the league and the Champions League, and after the burden is reduced, Real Madrid will play at a dominant level and go on two fronts, Mr. President."

As soon as he heard Mourinho's words, Lafayette didn't say anything more, and said very happily that he would say hello and fight for public opinion.

Anyway, he got the most desired guarantee of winning the title from Mourinho.

If Real Madrid do defend their league and Champions League titles at the end of the season, that's all right.

Mourinho stabbed a big basket at the end of public opinion, and Lafayette could personally wipe his ass.

But what if the two-line title defense is not successful?

Hey

Regardless of what everyone thinks within Real Madrid, they have reached a consensus on the surface quickly.

However, Real Madrid's public relations and publicity department has not yet moved, and has only made preparations for the plan.

On the evening of January 12, Real Madrid fielded a semi-main squad to travel to the El Sardar Stadium to play Osasuna.

Alonso was rested again today, so Leon dragged his feet and formed a midfield three with Essien and Luka Modric.

Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Callejon started in attack.

At the back, Marcelo, Pepe, Albiol and Carvajal lined up.

Adan also started again today in place of Casillas.

This starting lineup is quite normal, not much different from the predictions of major Western media before the game, after all, it is Osasuna, a relegation team, and it is reasonable for Real Madrid to use rotation.

However, in the course of the game, Real Madrid's choice to take the initiative to attack and besiege tactical play surprised the media and neutral fans.

You know, the previous week, Real Madrid's main players have played two games.

Even Leon, who is in the best physical condition in the Real Madrid team, can't stand this rhythm of the game.

Three games in ten days, and I went all out, I really want to recuperate in winter?

Most people couldn't guess what the Real Madrid coaching staff was thinking, and a few began to question Mourinho's rotation policy in advance, thinking that he was floating.

Only a small number of industry insiders have guessed the true intentions of Mourinho and Real Madrid.

However, they did not speak either, and after Real Madrid's 3-1 win at Osasuna, they simply looked at the fixtures.

On January 15, the first leg of the Copa del Rey quarterfinals, Real Madrid will face Valencia at the Bernabeu!

It was also in the midst of the doubts of media public opinion that Real Madrid, who had won another league game, returned to Valdebebas in silence to start their journey to prepare for the Copa del Rey.

On January 14, at the pre-match press conference, Real Madrid released an eighteen-man squad.

Well, it still looks very normal, and the whole main force is in the eighteen-man squad.

But on the evening of January 15, an hour before the start of the game, when Mourinho released the starting eleven list, the media and fans exclaimed that Mourinho had fallen for it again!

Real Madrid is all in the 18-man squad today, yes, but only half of the main players in the starting line-up!

These main players who started the game do not coincide with the main players who played in the league at all!

Leon, Ronaldo, Benzema, Essien, and Pepe are all on the bench.

Valencia's players were surprised and delighted, and Valverde, the manager who took over the Bats after the Christmas holidays, was also stunned.

Is Mourinho playing some new tactical trap with him?

Valverde, who was initially uncertain, also opted for a conservative and cautious opening style of play.

But when he confirmed that Real Madrid did start normally and did not make any new tactical attempts, Valverde slapped his head.

The late command began to press forward, but Valverde soon found out that Real Madrid were playing quite conservatively today.

Even if there are a lot of main players in rotation, Real Madrid's main players who start in the midfield and back are not a lot at all.

Casillas, Ramos, Coentrão, Arbeloa, Alonso.

With these main players, Valencia will have to spend a lot of energy to break through Real Madrid's defense.

Again, Real Madrid also have Higuain and Di Maria in front of Real Madrid today.

With Alonso's long balls and Di Maria's pace, playing counter-attacks can still threaten Valencia's backline.

The two teams fought at the Bernabeu like this, anyway, the confrontation and scramble at both ends of the attack and defense were fierce, but there was no flashy scene and no goals.

When the expected home boos rang out, Mourinho was also prepared to sit on the coach's bench and shake his head lightly.

The first half was a 0-0 draw.

Valencia started the second half with Parejo cutting in and making a big arc to assist Soldado to score a deadlock-breaking goal.

The coach's bench on Real Madrid's side remained unmoved.

Seeing this, Valverde also signaled his players to continue to maintain their attacking momentum.

It wasn't until the 73rd minute of the second half that Mourinho opted for the first substitution of the game.

Leon and Cristiano Ronaldo came on, Matuidi and Vazquez came on.

After this substitution, just six minutes later, Real Madrid scored the equalizer!

It was still from Leon's steal and Brother Long's long pass counterattack.

It's just that this time at the end of the term, Real Madrid has Ronaldo, so the choice of the direction of attack is very simple.

Gonzalo Higuain's play gave Cristiano Ronaldo a shot inside the Valencia box.

With his first shot on goal, Ronaldo let Guaita, who had been holding on to the goal for almost 80 minutes, break it!

In the end, Real Madrid also drew 1-1 with Valencia at home at the Bernabeu.

At the post-match press conference, there were too many questions for Mourinho to answer.

But Mu Shuai smiled slightly, and shirked one by one like playing Tai Chi.

After an away goal at home to the Bernabeu and a draw against a mighty Real Madrid, Valencia's players were simply bursting with confidence.

Valverde also said that in the upcoming league game, he will continue to play with Real Madrid with his players with excellent performances.

However, on January 20, when Valverde saw the starting lineup of Real Madrid's main team, a trace of bad feelings flashed in his heart.

In the end, Valencia, who opted for a slightly more aggressive style of play, died quite ugly in the hedging with Real Madrid's main force that night.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored another hat-trick and Leon scored a header in the lead.

In the end, Real Madrid gave Valencia a big defeat at the Mestalla Stadium!

7-3！

It was also the first game in La Liga to score a double-double this season.

After seeing the state of Real Madrid with full firepower, the Western media once again reversed the direction of public opinion.

Completely forgetting that just the day before, they were questioning Mourinho's use of the Real Madrid players in the game.

However, when the momentum of this touting was still rising, Mourinho announced the 18-man squad for the next round of the Copa del Rey in advance.

Pure rotation, which even has a few academy players brought up from Castile again!

None of Real Madrid's main players were selected, and they were all resting at home!

Now even the most sluggish media and fans have reacted.

This is because Real Madrid had a problem with the state of the game before, purely because Mourinho decided to give up the Copa del Rey!

If it weren't for the unbeaten record at the Bernabeu, maybe in the first Copa del Rey match with Valencia, Mourinho would have used pure rotation and academy players to deal with the Copa del Rey!

If other coaches had given up the domestic cup competition so decisively in the hands of Real Madrid, it would have been bombarded by public opinion.

But when the coach is Jose Mourinho, it makes sense for him to dare to do that.

Real Madrid's wave is a road in Huashan, so he went to defend the title on both lines!

(End of chapter)