Chapter 235: The First Four Crises
For Villarreal, the most important task at the moment is to retain their place in the top four of the league.
It is naturally a good thing that the Champions League can make a historic breakthrough, but it is like a French meal in a hotel, which can be used once in a while, but it cannot become a main course for Chinese. And the league is such an indispensable main meal.
The Champions League was eliminated, and it was eliminated, and it stopped in the semi-finals, although it is very regrettable, but the results of the Champions League semi-finals are not bad for a small club like Villarreal, and it can even be said that it is very good, and it has exceeded the task.
But the league can't afford to lose.
In La Liga this season, Villarreal have maintained an excellent record for a long time, almost never falling out of the top four, and even occupied the top spot in the table for a while.
But now, Villarreal's situation is a bit delicate, during this period, when the team's focus has completely shifted to the Champions League, the submarine's performance in the league has not been satisfactory, and successive draws and defeats have allowed their points to rise only very slowly.
Although they are still ranked fourth in the league, Atletico Madrid, who are closely behind them, have a tight gap of five points, and with four rounds left in the league, it is difficult to guarantee that there will be no accidents.
If the team's overall form is good and the heart of the team is Van Bizhuang in good form, Pellegrini won't be too worried, but for now...... Van Bizhuang is sluggish, and the Chilean engineer is not sure what the rest of the game will be played when the team loses its core and soul.
Although there is a good chance that Pellegrini will not stay in the town next season, after so many years of coaching in the town and a deep affection for the city, Pellegrini feels that even if he is leaving, he must leave a good stall so that his successor can still lead the yellow submarine to appear in the Champions League.
So the top four positions in the league must be kept.
But back in the league, Villarreal suffered a merciless blow.
In the 35th round of the league, Villarreal challenged the leader Barcelona away.
In the past two seasons, Villarreal have maintained a high win rate against Barcelona and psychologically, they have a big advantage.
But in this game, Villarreal was suppressed throughout the game, not to mention, and conceded a goal in each half.
The only thing to be thankful for is that the Uruguayan scorer in the team, last season's La Liga Golden Boot Diego. Forlan was exceptionally good as he took advantage of a spelled chance to head the ball into the home side and pull one back when he was two goals down.
After trailing by just one goal, Manuel Pellegrini brought on two attacking prowess in the hope that his side would be able to equalise the score in the final moments.
In stoppage time, Villarreal finally snatched a great chance to equalize with active pressing.
Riquelme and Senna's combined scramble forced a mistake in the Barcelona backline, and Cazorla got ahead of the defender, cut the ball away, and then quickly slotted into the box to face the attacking goalkeeper and knock the ball across the middle.
Appearing in the middle is Fan Bizhuang, who was replaced in the 87th minute, facing the empty goal, in the case of no one marking, Fan Bizhuang's shot was a kick in the air, the football drilled under his crotch, Fan Bizhuang fell to the ground because of the garlic under his feet.
A brilliant chance to score was conceded and Villarreal could only accept the result of their away.
No one blamed Fan Bizhuang, nor did he lose his temper with him, what his teammates had was just heartache and sighs.
Manuel Pellegrini also sighed on the sidelines, originally he thought that Van Bizhuang's situation had improved, but now it seems that ...... That strong young man seems to be going further and further down the road of malaise.
He had already seen that Fan Bizhuang was in a trance for a moment the moment he raised his foot, and when he reacted that he should sweep his leg out next, the football had already passed through his crotch. And he fell because he was not in good physical condition.
It can be said that Fan Bizhuang's consciousness is still there, and his keen sense of smell for the game is still there, but from time to time, it has become the biggest problem, and his physical condition is also a problem that cannot be ignored.
After the game, Fan Bizhuang indifferently said "I'm sorry" to his teammates, and then hung his head and walked back to the players' tunnel quickly.
The coaches and teammates who left behind them shook their heads helplessly and were silent.
The silent people are not only the players and coaches of Villarreal, on the turf of the Camp Nou, Messi stared blankly at the figure that disappeared at the end of the passage, silent.
In this match his team won the final victory, and he also scored a goal. This was the first time in the history of his confrontation with Fan Bizhuang that he defeated the opponent in the presence of Fan Bizhuang, but he did not feel the slightest joy.
What if Barcelona wins, what if he scores?
Defeating a Villarreal team that lost Fanbizhuang and defeating a Fanbizhuang who lost his soul, he will not have the slightest sense of accomplishment at all.
"I hope he gets better soon and gets back on his feet!"
"Without a good opponent, how can I grow up quickly under pressure! Without Fan, this road is destined to be lonely! ”
Messi shook his head softly and sighed.
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Villarreal's league points remain unchanged from a defeat, while Atletico Madrid, who win this round, are on the verge of becoming more and more close, with the Bed Army just two points away from replacing Villarreal in fourth place in the league.
The situation is extremely unfavorable for Villarreal, and it also makes the people of the small town can't help but panic.
But no matter how the mood changes, the time to come is still coming.
In the penultimate round of the league, Villarreal once again faced a strong opponent at the Love Song Stadium - Real Madrid.
Real Madrid are also in a bad situation this season, as last season's league champions, Real Madrid have been given more expectations by fans, and as a result, the premature elimination of the Champions League has also led to a languish in the league, although they currently firmly occupy the third place in the league standings, but such a ranking is obviously very unhappy Real Madrid fans.
The century-old giants of the 20th century, a division that should be invincible in the Champions League in the league, not only the Champions League was out early, the league was also hopeless, and now it is pressed by a pseudo-strong team like Sevilla, I have to say that this is undoubtedly a shame for the proud Meilinger.
Angry Real Madrid fans have pointed the finger at the current coach Juander. Ramos, they believe that it is Ramos's incompetence that has brought a championship team to such an embarrassing and humiliating situation, and there are endless calls for him to be removed from class - as for Calderón, he has become history, and in this general election, Florentino sent what he called "idiot" back to his grandmother's house with an absolute vote advantage.
Of course, this may be a good thing for Calderón, because before he left office, the anger of Real Madrid fans was directed at him, and now his departure has made Ramos the best "man to blame......
Although Real Madrid's situation does not seem to be good, the emaciated camel is bigger than the horse, and for a top club like Real Madrid, Pellegrini naturally does not have the slightest contempt - the most important thing is that his team is not much better, and the situation is even worse than Villarreal.
At least Real Madrid is still star-studded, and his team, the core of the team is gone, and he is a little confused about how to play the game.
In this game, Pellegrini fielded the strongest squad he could come up with, and given Van Bizhuang's sluggish form, Pellegrini put his name in the 18-man squad, but only arranged for him to be a spectator on the bench.
In order to make up for Van Bizhuang's absence, Pellegrini gave more of the responsibility to Cazorla, who should have been Van Bizhuang's responsibility, and Cazorla's task was given to Fernandez.
Manuel Pellegrini also made this choice out of desperation, with Van Bizhuang and Cazorla being two very different types of players, with the former being strong in impact and goal-scoring ability, while Cazorla is good at organising and disrupting things on the flanks. But in the absence of no way, Pellegrini can only let Cazorla do such a thing, and Cazorla's absence is topped by Fernandez.
However, it has been proven that Van Bizhuang's role for the team is completely irreplaceable, even if Cazorla has worked extremely hard throughout the game, but the threat he creates for the opponent's backline, as well as the deterrent, cannot be said to be the same as Fan Bizhuang. On top of that, his unfamiliarity with the position led to problems with his reading of the game, and in the end, he even felt a little out of place.
Except for the opportunities that the strikers fought for with their individual ability, Villarreal's offensive line was messy throughout the game.
Losing pressure on their opponents in attack, Real Madrid were naturally unscrupulous, and they dominated the initiative almost most of the time, attacking around the home team's half.
The scene of football flying back and forth in the Villarreal penalty area made the home team fans tremble.
Thankfully, the Submarine backline played exceptionally well in this game, and with Lopez's bare form, he managed to keep the goal clean with the help of his defenders.
The game ended with a score of 0:0, and although the lucky ones did not lose, the atmosphere at the Love Song Stadium was very silent.
News came from another venue, in this round of the league, Atletico Madrid won again, their points have caught up, but because of goal difference, they are still temporarily fifth in the league.
There is a pessimism at the Love Song Stadium, and everyone knows that if their team continues to perform like this, they will slip from fourth place in the league in the next round, the next round.
It's a shame to be out of the Champions League, and if the league loses another top-four place, it will be a real pain and disaster for Villarreal......