After Christmas, Atletico Madrid organized the whole team and hurried to Dubai.

As long as the schedule can be arranged, going to Dubai for winter training has become a routine for Atletico Madrid.

In Carlos Leao's words, the Middle East is the land of Atletico's dragons.

At that time, he had just changed careers to enter the football industry, and when he first came to Atletico Madrid, Yang Hao asked him to go to the Middle East to attract sponsorship and investment, which attracted Emirates, and the two sides have been cooperating until now.

Today, Atletico Madrid has more than a dozen sponsors in Dubai, taking more than 100 million euros a year from the Middle East.

For this market, Atletico still attaches great importance to it.

In order to take care of the emotions of the players and their families, Atletico Madrid now also has a package that invites all the players' families to Dubai for a vacation, at the club's expense.

Due to the support of Dubai, Atletico Madrid's expenses are actually not large, but the players and their families are relatively satisfied.

After all, no one wants to be separated from their family just after Christmas.

The annual Hill Cup will still be held in Abu Dhabi, and this time the opponent is Valencia.

This made Real Madrid feel a little depressed.

They were the first to play the Hill Cup with Atletico Madrid, but after Valencia was bought by the Abu Dhabi consortium, they directly kicked Real Madrid, and now the Hill Cup has become a showdown between Atletico Madrid and Valencia.

But Florentino couldn't do anything about it.

Valencia is a team invested by a serious Middle Eastern consortium, how can Real Madrid fight?

Besides, the Abu Dhabi consortium spends so much money every year to invest in the broadcast rights of La Liga, so it should have more benefits, right?

This kind of warm-up match in winter training actually has a very strong exhibition game nature, and the fans present also know this, but they still watch it very happily, because there are so many superstars.

Needless to say, Atletico Madrid's side is also star-studded.

Just buy tickets for this group of superstars, is it worth it?

When he went to the Middle East for training, Yang Hao basically grasped the team's physical training to prepare for the next half of the trip.

All business matters are left to Cerezo, Hill Jr., and Carlos Leo.

After being held continuously in the past few years, the Hill Cup has gradually become famous in the Middle East and has been warmly welcomed by many fans, including some Middle Eastern aristocrats who are keen on football.

For example, the famous Qatari fan prince Jassim, who is famous all over the world.

He is the elder brother of the current Qatari Crown Prince Tamim, but because Qatar has rules, members of the royal family are not allowed to work.

Jassim chose to give up the right to inherit the throne for the sake of football, and began to serve as the president of Al Sadd Club, founding the Qatar Golden League.

Almost every time Atletico Madrid comes to the Middle East to play, Jassim will be there to watch the game, and he is also familiar with Yang Hao and Atletico Madrid players.

However, he is not the same person as Yang Hao in his previous life and the Jassim who later planned to buy Manchester United.

The latter is the son of the Prime Minister of Qatar.

The names of Middle Eastern people are very long, and they all look similar, Yang Hao can't recognize who is who anyway.

But this year's Hill Cup is very different from previous years.

One of the most obvious changes is that security conditions have been significantly upgraded and taken into greater importance.

Yang Hao inquired, and it is said that the Emirate of Abu Dhabi is entertaining many important foreign dignitaries.

This kind of thing is not something he can ask about casually, so he just concentrates on leading the team to play a good game.

……

The game in the stadium is in full swing, and the stories in the stands are equally exciting.

Cerezo, Hill Jr., Carlos Leao, and others, were busy socializing with celebrities and sponsors.

In the stand, Valencia President Hosmanda Mubarak was accompanying UAE Deputy Prime Minister Mansour and his entourage to entertain dignitaries from the Emirate of Dubai, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia and other surrounding countries.

Among them, Mansour pays the most attention to Qatar's Crown Prince Tamim, who sits next to him.

As La Liga has developed better and better in recent years, its influence in the world has also increased, and Valencia's influence has also risen.

Especially in the last two years.

After the subprime mortgage crisis, the world's economy entered a depression, and the consortiums in the Middle East are trying to find ways to land in Europe to buy the bottom, and at the same time are doing everything they can to expand their influence.

The UAE is undoubtedly ahead of the curve.

Not only have they created new airlines such as Emirates and Etihad Airways, but Dubai has become the most recognizable international city in the Middle East.

It can be said that the UAE is becoming an object of learning for other countries and regions in the Middle East.

Football is a very important part of that.

Now it is good to land in Europe to buy the bottom, and the Abu Dhabi consortium is also in full swing, especially Valencia is now in the top four in La Liga, and its momentum has skyrocketed, which has also caused a question for many politicians and consortiums in other countries.

Is it worth it to put in football like that?

"I'll settle the score for you."

Valencia President Hosni Mubarak smiled and introduced the Abu Dhabi consortium's investment in La Liga and Valencia.

It took a lot of money to buy, and then a lot of money was spent on successive investments, plus a new stadium, and then a new five-star training base was planned.

The plan is that by 2012, when the training base is fully completed, the total investment will be about 1.5 billion euros.

"Although we are only halfway through the season, according to our preliminary estimates, this year's revenue can exceed 200 million euros, ranking in the top 10 in Europe, which should be 9th or 10th."

"Because we are now continuously investing in hardware facilities, including stadiums, including training bases, including reinforcements, as well as the salaries of players and employees, etc., we are still in a loss-making state, and we expect to lose 100 million euros this year."

Everyone is the elite of the Middle East, and they are also the best, and naturally they are also good at calculations.

They could easily hear a signal from Mubarak's words.

Valencia is still losing money, and a loss of 100 million euros.

However, they were not in a hurry, because looking at Mubarak's expression, they knew that there must be [but].

Sure enough, Mubarak quickly changed his tune.

"In the past few years, Valencia's biggest problem has been that the infrastructure is too bad, and when our new stadium is put into operation, it is expected to increase matchday revenue by around 50 million euros per year, and our losses will be further reduced."

"Moreover, our commercial revenue is still increasing rapidly, and we are currently building commercial teams around the world, and we are confident that we will exceed 300 million euros by 2012 and 400 million euros within five years."

"Based on our financial model, we expect revenues to be around 350 million euros, and we are able to balance our income and expenditure, and we will initially achieve self-financing."

It is clear to everyone what Mubarak means by being self-financed.

That is to say, in the future, Valencia will no longer need to rely on the blood transfusion of the Abu Dhabi consortium.

The Abu Dhabi consortium's investment in Valencia will begin to see a return.

"Is it possible to make money in football?"

Mubarak followed the prestige and found that it was an unfamiliar face next to Tamim asking questions.

"This is our president of the Qatar Tennis Association and vice president of the Asian Tennis Federation, Nasser Al-Khrafi, who used to be the best tennis player in the Middle East, but also has a great interest in football." Tamim casually introduced.

Everyone immediately understood.

Nasser was Tamim's staff advisor.

'It's basically unrealistic to want to make money from football, I can say that, so far there is only one team that I have seen them make money on football.

"Who?" Nasser asked.

Mubarak pointed to the match below the pitch, "Atletico Madrid." ”

Everyone immediately looked into the stadium.

The game was actually quite exciting, the fans were constantly shouting, but the people in their area basically didn't care about the football itself.

Because they're talking about a very, very serious issue that almost all the Middle Eastern oil-producing countries are thinking about.

Investment.

An investment in the future!

"According to a statistic made by the Spanish media, Atletico Madrid has invested 2 billion euros in training bases, stadiums, skyscrapers, office buildings, commercial residences and other aspects in the past few years."

"In 2000, they were just a garbage team on the verge of bankruptcy, and everyone fell apart, but now, in less than 10 years, they have become the top giants in world football today, and they are also one of the two highest-paid teams in world football today."

"One is Atletico Madrid, the other is Real Madrid, and their income has exceeded 500 million euros."

"And now, how much does it cost to buy Atletico?" Nasser asked casually.

This should also be the doubt of all those present.

For them, a few hundred million is nothing at all.

But Mubarak smiled, shook his head and said, "Immeasurable." ”

"What do you mean?"

"Atletico now have Kaka, Torres, Adriano three Ballon d'Or, with Messi as a quasi-Ballon d'Or, this team is full of superstars, has the best training base in the world, the best stadium, the best youth system."

"What's more, the club earns more than 500 million euros a year, pays less than 45% of its salaries, and spends a lot of money each year on other projects, such as two skyscrapers in the heart of Madrid."

Speaking of this, Mubarak smiled and asked rhetorically, "You say, how much is Atletico worth?" ”

Everyone present was speechless.

This is truly immeasurable.

"That's what I want to say, play football, don't think about making money from football."

Mubarak gave everyone the example of what Valencia is now.

By 2012, the total investment will reach 1.5 billion euros, and if you look at it purely from a financial point of view, will it be possible to recover this investment in the Year of the Monkey? It's not even possible, okay?

But after investing so much money, Valencia's value has changed dramatically.

Although there is a large investment, the assets of the year have also increased significantly.

"Especially in the past few years, La Liga's global influence has continued to grow, and the valuation of La Liga clubs has also risen significantly, which makes La Liga clubs have an unparalleled influence in the world."

Mubarak's remarks once again aroused the thoughts of everyone at the scene.

I have to say, it's quite attractive indeed.

Football really can't make money, but what football can bring is something that other industries can't give.

Especially after the globalization of La Liga, the overall valuation is rising.

'I've heard that the Premier League is also very valued right now. Nasser said.

He was clearly prepared.

Mubarak nodded, "Yes, that's right, the Premier League's current income is indeed very high, but it mainly comes from the domestic market, globally, the Premier League's broadcast rights in the next three years are expected to be only 1 billion euros, and the contract we are currently executing in La Liga has exceeded 2 billion euros, and the next one will definitely be higher." ”

As the president of Valencia and a key member of the La Liga league, Mubarak was full of confidence when he said this.

Not only that, but he also dissected the biggest differences between La Liga and the Premier League, especially the huge advantages of La Liga.

In terms of talent pool and player salaries alone, La Liga has far more advantages than the Premier League.

"What about the other leagues?"

"Serie A is generally very depressed now, the stadium is not its own, and the Bundesliga is restricted by regulations, and it is basically impossible for foreign capital to enter."

"What about Ligue 1? By 2012, you have invested more than 1 billion euros, so wouldn't it be more cost-effective if I took that money and went to Ligue 1 to buy a team, and the rest of the money was smashed into the transfer market every year, and it could cause a sensation every year? ”

Nasser further said some of his thoughts.

But Mubarak shook his head with a smile and said no.

"You know, when I didn't really enter the industry and understand the football industry, I would think, your idea is feasible, anyway, it's all about burning money, how can it be burned or not?"

"But when I got into football, I realized that that's not how the rules of the game are played."

Nasser and everyone around him listened.

"Football is a team sport, it's not just about the game, to win, you have to have 11 players as a team."

"What's more, for a club to be successful, it has to be united, twisted into a rope from top to bottom, and work together to be successful."

"In European football, I have seen many teams that are obviously very strong, but because of all kinds of internal friction, the team falls apart, and even performs worse and worse."

"In the same way, for a country's league, you have to work together from top to bottom."

"In Spain, from La Liga to ordinary youth training, the whole system is running, so every club attaches great importance to youth training and is willing to invest in youth training."

"If, as you said, you go to Ligue 1 to buy a team, you may spend less money than La Liga, and then invest a lot of money every year to bring in reinforcements, but have you ever thought about a problem, the influence of Ligue 1 itself is not as good as La Liga, if you want to poach people, you have to give a higher transfer fee, a better annual salary, these need to be invested."

"But you have to think about it, in La Liga, you have a lot of investment to improve your competitiveness in the league, and you have to play against the world's top giants like Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid and Barcelona, and the ceiling is very high."

"But what about in Ligue 1? Your ceiling may not be at the bottom of La Liga, although the crazy burning of money can bring advertising effect, but it is not sustainable, once the burning is over, the influence will also decline immediately. ”

"This point is to do business with us, hoping to drill into the popular downtown area is a reason, the more popular the more popular, a person alone to run to a corner to set up a stall, shouting louder, who can hear?"

Mubarak said this, and lightly summarized his words.

"You can't make money in professional football, you have to go to the top league, especially La Liga or the Premier League, to play valuation, to play influence."

"And we have absolute reason to expect that in the next few years, La Liga will gradually get rid of the Premier League, continue to grow at a high rate on a global scale, attract more and more talented stars from all over the world, and then become the world's number one league worthy of the name!"

From the perspective of club operators, Mubarak actually hopes that more competitors will pour into La Liga to further enhance the influence and overall competitiveness of La Liga, which is a good thing for Valencia.

He's already reported to Mansour.

Once his model in Valencia is ready, he hopes to replicate it around the world.

By acquiring clubs around the world, a large football group is formed, which in turn allows players to move within the group and maximizes the use of resources.

Otherwise, wouldn't it be a waste for Valencia to produce so many young players every year?

But all this is premised on the Valencia model being able to work.

The main reason why Mubarak said so much is that behind these dignitaries are big conglomerates, and many of them are conglomerates that have been watching football for many years, such as the investment bureaus of Bahrain and Kuwait.

Qatar is actively preparing to bid for the 2022 World Cup and is also said to be interested in buying a club.

If you can really attract these local tyrants to La Liga, the overall strength of the entire La Liga will definitely go to a higher level.

It's just that at that point, the competitive pressure will also rise exponentially.

But it's also a good thing for the club operators.

……

Atletico narrowly beat Valencia 4-3 in the Hill Cup.

In fact, the performance of both teams was not very good, but the game was played unrestrained and there were enough goals, so the fans enjoyed watching it.

But whether it was Yang Hao or Ancelotti, when communicating after the game, they both mentioned the team's poor performance.

Every year in January and February, Atletico's form fluctuates a little, which is related to Yang Hao's coaching staff's physical training of players.

The short-term volatility can lead to a great form in March and April, and it was worth it.

After the Hill Cup, Atletico set off for Madrid.

On the return flight, Yang Hao heard Serezo talking about things in the stands.

"The princes of the Middle East have come to watch the game?"

Yang Hao was quite surprised.

He knew that the Hill Cup had a certain influence in the Middle East, but he didn't expect it to be so big.

"I heard that they received an invitation from Abu Dhabi, and it is said that they will organize an expedition to Europe, especially Spain."

"They want to invest in La Liga?" Yang Hao's eyelids jumped.

"Mubarak said that there is this possibility, after all, the market in La Liga is optimistic now, and it is not too late to enter the game at this time."

The best time to invest in La Liga has passed.

But from now on, the best time to invest is always now.

Because La Liga is getting better and better.

Yang Hao could only smile bitterly at this.

He really found that things were getting more and more chaotic, and more and more beyond his expectations and control.

It's as if he couldn't believe that Antonio Ponte could run La Liga like this.

Now not only the princes of the Middle East, but also those investors around the world, especially some private equity funds, are very interested in investing in La Liga, but La Liga has a hard requirement, and the background of the investor will be investigated.

To some extent, this restricts the covetousness of some "losers" in La Liga.

For example, some conglomerates like the Glazer family and the United States want to buy La Liga by borrowing, which simply does not work.

How to operate, Yang Hao is not an expert.

But he vaguely has a feeling that the logic of Antonio Ponte and others is: now that La Liga business cards have been played and their influence is great, all investors have to come in, yes, and abide by the rules of La Liga.

These rules are to ensure that investors can come in and throw money, and they can sell it in the future, play empty gloves white wolf, and even want to make a profit through La Liga clubs, don't think about it!

To some extent, this has deterred many European and American speculators who covet La Liga.

But if it were these princes from the Middle East, the situation would be different.

"Is the Qatari consortium really considering coming to La Liga?" Yang Hao felt that his skull hurt a lot.

Now that the competition in La Liga is fierce enough, what about entering the market?

"I'm very interested."

Cerezo couldn't help but laugh when he said this, "I heard that they are preparing to bid for the World Cup. ”

Speaking of this, Cerezo and Little Hill both looked at each other and smiled, "Everyone knows that this is basically impossible, the United States is also going to bid for the World Cup, what will Qatar use to compete with the Americans?" ”

The Yankees shouted early on that they would also bid for the World Cup, and use the World Cup to drive the economic development of the United States and carry out a round of investment in sports facilities and infrastructure.

Who in the world can compete with the Americans?

And Great Britain, who are also bidding for the World Cup.

There is news that both the United States and Britain have already divided the cake.

After the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, it was given to Great Britain in 2018 and to the United States in 2022.

There's nothing Qatari going on here.

Yang Hao smiled bitterly in his heart.

Not surprising.

In the eyes of Europeans, Qatar is a small country in the Middle East that is rich but has no ability to protect itself, and can only rely on big countries.

But who would have thought that it was precisely Qatar that would really dare to take food from the mouth of the big tiger of the United States.

The key is success!

However, the price to be paid for this is also significant.

Blatter, Platini and others were all planted.

At the end of the day, they are all too self-righteous, they all feel that they are the masters of the football world, no matter how they play, no matter how they wave, no one can restrain them.

And as it turned out, they were wrong!

World football doesn't make it clean, because football associations and confederations are pretty much the same all over the world.

In contrast, the so-and-so Football Association that caused Yang Hao to cross can be regarded as incorruptible.

FIFA has always been regarded as an independent kingdom and the highest authority in football.

It can be said that there is hardly any institution that can regulate FIFA.

If there is one, it is UEFA.

UEFA has always been at odds with FIFA, and even often shouts that it wants to withdraw from FIFA as a threat.

But UEFA itself is not clean.

The world is as black as a crow.

Before the 2015 storm, no one could have imagined that this would be the case.

But after that, a lot of the rules of the game changed.

Yang Hao has little interest in FIFA things, but he is very interested in UEFA.

It was a great opportunity!

As long as the teams in Europe's top leagues, plus the Ligue 1, Portuguese Super League, Eredivisie and other leagues, speak out and unite to exert pressure, it will definitely be able to force UEFA to back down, and then limit UEFA's power and force them to increase the transparency of their operations.

'Enrique, our plan is to be a little bit more urgent, to get in touch with the teams in other leagues, especially the big teams, as soon as possible, but at the same time to keep it secret.

Yang Hao looked at Cerezo and admonished.

Either you don't do it, or if you do it, you will be killed with one blow!

Cerezo is really a good communicator.

Now, La Liga is responsible for communicating with the big teams in other leagues, Cerezo and Florentino.

"I have a strong hunch that the rules of the game will change soon!"

Many things, as a traverser, Yang Hao has no way to tell others.

For example, it was January 2010 and he couldn't tell Cerezo that the World Cup bid at the end of the year would change the world of football forever.

Many people will wonder, no, didn't it just happen in 2015?

No.

When it comes to power struggles, there is never an overnight thing.

At the end of 2010, Russia and Qatar both won the right to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, while both the United Kingdom and the United States were defeated.

Everyone knows that there is a lot of insider and even dark side involved.

The reason why Blatter was in a hurry to announce the right to host the 2022 World Cup in 2010 was to fulfill some promises in advance, because he had an agreement with you Platini to abdicate in 2014.

As early as 2009 in Kuala Lumpur, during the FIFA West Asia Executive Committee election, Blatter fell out with his hardcore ally, Ben Hamann from Qatar, who is the vice president of FIFA and the president of the AFC.

This has already happened.

This means that Blatter has been divided within FIFA and is no longer monolithic.

At the end of 2010, after Britain lost the right to host the World Cup, BBC reporter Andrew Jenning exposed some insider information on the show, which is known as the ISL corruption case.

ISL is a Swiss sports marketing company that went bankrupt back in 2001 and they own the television rights to the 2002 and 2006 World Cups.

The founder of this company is called Horst Dassler, the son of Adidas founder Adolf Dassler, who is closely related to IOC President Samaranch and then FIFA President Havelange.

Following the bankruptcy of ISL, the Swiss side liquidated the company's assets, and the auditors found that ISL had repeatedly offered bribes to senior FIFA officials over a period of eight years, from 1992 to 2000.

Don't think that the BBC is revealing this secret out of justice, to put it bluntly, because they lost the bid for the World Cup, so they are flipping the table.

In it, no one is cleaner than the other!

Didn't Britain and the United States pay bribes when they bid for the World Cup?

What makes Britain and the United States angry is that they can't even play with Qatar and Russia for bribery, which makes them ashamed.

After the BBC revealed, it caused quite a stir in football.

But at that time, there were not many reports in China, and everyone didn't pay attention to it.

FIFA has always had a so-called heritage, that is, later generations wipe the butts of predecessors.

For example, when Brattini asked Platini to succeed in 2014, Platini promised to help Blatter deal with the aftermath, including ensuring that Blatter would not face retroactive problems when he retired.

Blatter did the same for things that preceded the term.

As a result, Blatter has always refused to disclose details on the grounds of Swiss domestic law.

The so-called Swiss law means that the Swiss judiciary does not have the right to track the solicitation of bribes by non-citizens.

Since the FIFA officials suspected of corruption are not Swiss citizens, and corporate bribery is not a crime under Swiss law, the Swiss courts cannot hold these people legally responsible and can only demand that they return the stolen money.

After FIFA paid a fine of 2.5 million Swiss francs to the Swiss government, the Swiss government pledged not to disclose the details of the case and the names of the officials involved.

In May 2011, a number of scandals broke out again, including the scandal of AFC president Ben Hamann and other continental football federation presidents reselling World Cup tickets, which put FIFA under pressure.

After a long delay, it was finally not hidden, especially the Swiss government, which had to release more details of the ISL corruption case, which caused everyone to be shocked.

It turned out that among those involved were former FIFA president Havelange and his son-in-law, Ricardo Teixeira.

Ricardo Teixeira was the president of the Brazilian Football Federation at the time and the executive committee of FIFA.

The father-in-law is the president of FIFA, and the son-in-law is the president of the Brazilian Football Federation and the FIFA executive committee.

After the ISL corruption case was announced, it immediately caused an uproar.

Even the president of FIFA took bribes, what else is there to say about this?

As said in a certain TV series: Some things are not weighed by four or two, and they can't be beaten by weighing a thousand catties.

Blatter began to come under overwhelming pressure and had to come forward and advocate for an investigation into corruption within FIFA.

But in the past, such investigations were all done with Blatter's cronies, and there was no convincing effect.

So, in order to win the trust of the public, Blatter announced the creation of a new institution, the establishment of an independent ethics court.

The 15-member tribunal invited Michael Garcia, an American with Interpol and F.B.I. backgrounds, to serve as the chief prosecutor and investigate the case.

At the same time, the Chief Judge of the District Court of Munich, Germany, Hans-Josim Eckert, was appointed Chief Justice to hear the case.

Under the mandate, the Independent Ethics Tribunal will be able to investigate not only corruption cases that have come to light, but also any matter or person they deem necessary to investigate, including bids to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

The Independent Ethics Tribunal was established in July 2012.

After more than 2 years of investigation, Michael Garcia produced a 430-page report, which is the [Garcia Report] that Yang Hao has discussed in China in his previous life.

The most eye-catching thing in this report is undoubtedly the various incidents of bribery and corruption that occurred during the bidding process of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

What's more, Blatter is not ready to vacate his spot to Platini, as he had promised.

I don't know for what reason, maybe he was worried that he wouldn't be able to hold it down after retreating, or maybe it was something else, he finally broke his promise.

As a result, Platini turned the gun and took the lead in demanding that Blatter publish the findings of the [Garcia Report] in order to retaliate and put pressure on Blatter.

Of course, as it turned out later, Platini himself was not clean.

The whole thing, from beginning to end, is full of thrilling and countless intrigues.

Even, Yang Hao thinks that this can be written into a book and made into a movie, which will definitely be very exciting.

Yang Hao's appeal is clear, that is, to force UEFA to be more transparent, and the club must put enough pressure on UEFA to limit UEFA's power.

Then, the next five years will be a very critical five years.

The club must accurately grasp the changes in the current situation, especially the changes between Blatter, Platini and others, and use the situation to create a situation in the club's favor, and then seize the initiative.

When it comes to Blatter and Platini, Yang Hao thinks of Bilal, president of the Spanish Football Federation.

After Platini's ouster, Bilal was the interim president of UEFA and was once the favourite for UEFA president, but was later arrested by the Spanish police for corruption, embezzlement and abuse of power.

A little earlier, Bilal was also revealed to be involved in the corruption case of Qatar's bid to host the World Cup.

In addition to him, there were others such as Beckenbauer.

Yang Hao was thinking about it, should he come forward to remind him and pull him along?

……

After returning to Madrid from Abu Dhabi, it ushered in the 16th round of La Liga.

In this round, all the teams did not perform well.

Valencia was the only team in the top four to win, beating Espanyol 1-0 at home thanks to Robin van Persie's goal.

Barcelona drew 1-1 at home to Villarreal.

Atletico drew 1-1 at home to Sevilla with Lionel Messi scoring a goal.

Deportivo La Coruna drew 0-0 away at Zaragoza.

Real Madrid drew 0-0 away at Osasuna.

In the first game after Christmas and the winter break, all the teams were adjusting and they weren't in great shape.

……

In midweek, the first leg of the Copa del Rey round of 16 knockout round.

Atletico once again played with a full bench and rotation against La Liga's Huelva.

After the relegation, Huelva's strength is obviously not as good as before, and this season in La Liga's performance is relatively average, and the ranking is even only on par with Atletico Madrid's second team.

Therefore, Yang Hao promoted a lot of young players from the second team this time, plus some players from the first team, directly defeated Huelva 3-0 away and basically won the right to advance.

However, at Camp Nou, Barcelona lost 2-1 at home to Sevilla.

Valencia also lost 2-1 at home to Deportivo La Coruna.

Coupled with the fact that Real Madrid had been eliminated from the competition before, this led to the fact that among the top four teams in the league, only Atletico Madrid won.

This doesn't look like a good sign.

……

At the weekend, the 17th round of La Liga.

Atletico Madrid face Valladolid away in this round.

The latter was relegated and put on a 451 defensive tactic at home, but it only lasted 17 minutes.

In the 17th minute, David Silva set up Kaka to open the scoring for Atletico.

In the 32nd minute, Fernando Torres' goal added another goal for Atletico.

Atletico then dominated but were slow to find the back of the net.

Especially Messi.

He was very positive in the game, but he was never able to threaten, let alone score.

Sometimes, the players behave like that, the more anxious they are, the worse they behave.

In the 59th minute, Torres assisted David Silva to score and expand the score to 3-0!

Subsequently, Yang Hao made a substitution, replacing Torres with Suarez.

Yang Hao's purpose is very clear, try to help Messi score.

The Argentine was also very positive, but always kept up with the goal.

Prior to that, he had scored in nine consecutive games, and as long as this one goes again, he will score in 10 consecutive games, which will follow in the footsteps of legends such as Ronaldo.

This will be a legendary start for Messi's 2010!

The Argentines themselves think so.

After missing out on the Ballon d'Or and World Footballer of the Year in 2009, he was desperate to put in a better performance.

But the more active you are, the more likely you are to go wrong.

Even Messi's proudest shooting accuracy, as well as his superb handling and dribbling breakthroughs in the game, were greatly discounted in this game.

But Yang Hao did not replace Messi from beginning to end, but waited all the time.

As time went by, seeing that the hope of scoring goals was getting slimmer and slimmer, Yang Hao still kept encouraging Messi on the sidelines.

He even asked Modric, who replaced Kaka, to give Messi a message to be patient, and this game will allow him to play the whole game, don't rush, and stabilize the rhythm.

But if time is not even on Messi's side, how can he not be in a hurry?

After missing a number of chances in a row, everyone basically felt that Messi had no hope of scoring goals.

In the 92nd minute, substitute David Silva came on for Di Maria, who burst into the left side of the box and passed the ball to Suarez.

The Uruguayan knocked back to Di Maria and completed a one-two hit the wall.

Di Maria was on the left side of the penalty spot in the penalty area, facing the defender's encirclement and interception, and sent a clever pass in the gap.

The ball passed right under the defender's crotch and landed in the right corner of the six-yard box.

The unguarded Messi rushed to the scene, and after catching up, he shot directly with his right foot.

The ball clung to the right post and drilled into Valladolid's goal.

At the moment of the goal, Messi turned around and yelled and rushed out of the pitch excitedly.

Di Maria, Suarez and others followed, all chasing after Messi.

Goals in 10 games in a row!

Messi has finally broken the all-time record for Ronaldo and Martin!

What's more, he has scored 13 goals in those 10 games, more than Ronaldo's 10 in the 96/97 season.

This made Messi even receive bursts of applause from Valladolid fans.

In the end, Atletico Madrid beat Valladolid 4-0 away!

(End of chapter)