January 12, Camp Nou.

Although it lost its main scorer Samuel Eto'o, Barcelona still relied on the excellent performance of youngsters Bojan and Gudjohnsson to successfully beat the visiting Murcia 4:0 at their home stadium and won two consecutive wins after the winter break.

At the post-match press conference, as the head coach, Rijkaard was interviewed by reporters on behalf of the team, and was asked about Yang Cheng, Cruyff, Laporta and others, especially the recent hype in the entire Spanish media, about whether Barcelona will line up to greet Real Madrid if it wins the championship in advance, Rijkaard replied for the first time.

"If they can win the title three rounds earlier, we will keep the tradition, but I am sure that all our Barcelona players will not allow this to happen, it is too early to talk about winning the title, let alone winning the title early!"

The implication is that we at Barcelona haven't even admitted that you have booked the league title, so why do you think you can win the league three rounds early, isn't that tantamount to humiliating us?

Real Madrid's recent form is indeed not very good, and Yang Cheng has not shied away from this, but his team still defeated Levante 4:1 away from Barcelona a day later and continued to maintain a 12-point lead over Barcelona.

After learning about Rijkaard's remarks, Yang Cheng laughed and did not directly retaliate.

"I suddenly wondered, whether to make an agreement, I have to say it, all the main players have to play, but when we win the championship three rounds in advance and have to line up to greet us, someone deliberately uses some means to avoid appearing at the Bernabeu stadium!"

When the reporter asked what means there would be, Yang Cheng reminded with a smile, "You can take the initiative to apply for a yellow card or a red card in the previous round, or ask the head coach not to put himself in the lineup, so that you don't have to queue up to greet you?" ”

A group of reporters suddenly exclaimed in their hearts, didn't Yang Cheng block the other party's last retreat?

It's really on the point, the original killer features have been found out by Yang Cheng, who else will be embarrassed to use it again at that time?

Many people have extended Yang Cheng's remarks, thinking that there are indeed many players in the Barcelona team who are unwilling to greet Real Madrid, such as Eto'o When he won the championship in Barcelona, he scolded, bastard Real Madrid, rolled over to salute the champion, which made him extremely reluctant to appear on that occasion.

However, some people reminded Yang Cheng that it is good to say these words at such a time to express self-confidence, but it can also backfire, which in turn boosts the morale of Barca, after all, no Barcelona player wants to accept the humiliation of a sworn enemy at the Bernabeu.

"Rijkaard should use this way to urge his players, don't give up easily, last season Real Madrid trailed Barcelona by 14 points, and in the end they were able to reverse successfully, and Barcelona in the 04 season also completed the same big reversal, the head coach is still Rijkaard, this time for the Black Swan, it is a rare best time to reunite the team."

In midweek, Real Madrid defeated visiting Mallorca at the Bernabeu Stadium 20 to knock Mallorca out of the Copa del Rey with an aggregate score of 32 and make it to the last eight.

In this game, Yang Cheng was pushed into a double striker, partnered with Negredo, and performed well in one pass and one shot, and said in an interview with reporters after the game, "In my career, we have won all the championships, but we have never won the Copa del Rey, I hope to have the opportunity to lift this trophy for Real Madrid!" ”

However, after the draw was announced, Real Madrid's opponent in the Copa del Rey quarterfinals was Villarreal, which was not a good draw for Real Madrid, and at least the strength of the Yellow Submarine should not be underestimated. ..., on the 20th, Real Madrid ushered in the same city derby and challenged Atletico Madrid away.

As a sworn enemy in the same city, Atletico Madrid has also invested heavily in the transfer market this season, which has some effect, after all, the introduction of powerful stars has greatly improved the overall strength of Atletico Madrid, but this improvement is directly proportional to the quality of the players, resulting in Atletico Madrid's limited strength improvement, unable to introduce a Kaka like Real Madrid, and the team's offensive system will be turned upside down.

Seeing the performance of their rivals in the same city getting better and better, Atletico Madrid, who are hovering between 5th and 9th in the league, are somewhat unbalanced in their hearts, especially when the league points are getting bigger and bigger, they are even more unbearable, and they want to take advantage of Real Madrid's recent poor situation and fall into the ground.

Real Madrid's recent situation is indeed not very ideal, Cannavaro has a recurrence of his knee injury, Xavi = Alonso has just returned to the training ground, Beckham is injured again, and Elgra has been absent from the battle formation, which makes Yang Cheng once again discharge the Brazilian combination of Pepe + Thiago = Silva in the central defender position, Ramos appeared on the right side, and Marcelo played on the left side.

The double back dispensed the combination of Granero and Mascherano, Xavi = Alonso did not, but sat on the bench, Kaka played the front midfield, Raul played the left side, David = Silva was arranged by Yang Cheng to go to the right side, and Villa served as a single striker.

Although it still looks like 4231, because of Raul's relationship with the ribs, it actually looks more like 442, but the position is already a floating cloud for the current Real Madrid, the key is to be able to cooperate smoothly and create a threat.

At the beginning of the game, less than 1 minute later, Marcelo drove straight on the left side, received Kaka's ball, went down to the bottom line, shook Pablo's cross, and Raul, who suddenly cut in from the ribs, successfully attacked in front of the penalty area and opened the scoring for Real Madrid, 0:1!

After the goal, Real Madrid continued to launch a round of onslaught, and Granero, who replaced Xavi = Alonso, appeared to be solid in terms of organization and passing, after all, he has been playing for the team for so long and knows his responsibilities.

As early as the winter break, Getafe had hoped to bring in the Real Madrid midfielder, Yang Cheng asked Granero for his opinion, and after some exchanges between the two, Granero knew Yang Cheng's position towards him, and also knew that it would be difficult for him to shake the position of Xavi = Alonso, or even Beckham for a while.

"No matter what, I want to stay at Real Madrid!" Granero made his boss clear.

Yang Cheng rejected Getafe and let Granero stay.

In this game, Beckham was injured, Xavi = Alonso was not thorough, De La Red has not been in good form recently, and Granero finally ushered in a rare opportunity, he naturally tried his best to show his best side, combing the midfield while constantly distributing the ball to the feet of every teammate.

Distributing the ball wisely, this is what a playmaker should do, who is more likely to pose a threat when and where the ball is more likely to be a threat, how to pass the ball to the feet of the most dangerous players, this is a big test of the playmaker's passing vision and ability to read the game.

In the 36th minute, after Granero got the ball, he picked up a pass on the right side, David = Silva cut inside with the ball, the Spanish midfielder hit the arc of the penalty area from the right side, and plugged it straight behind, Kaka followed up and hit the goal for Real Madrid, 0:2

In the second half, it was Granero who won the ball and gave it to Kaka's feet, the Brazilian forced a break through the middle and distributed it to the left side, Villa broke through to the bottom line with the ball, knocked back to Raul, and the Real Madrid captain followed up with a low shot and scored the third goal for the team.

After that, Yang Cheng replaced Mata and replaced Raul to further strengthen the offensive speed in the front court, Real Madrid's offensive became more and more fierce, but Atletico Madrid was not to be outdone, and gathered heavy troops to scramble, which effectively contained Real Madrid's attack. In the end, Real Madrid took a victory from the Calderón Stadium at 30 thanks to Raul's brace and Kaka's goal.

Real Madrid was very excited to beat Atletico Madrid twice in a season, but in another game at the same time, Barcelona was not to be outdone, and won three consecutive victories at home with Thierry Henry's goal and a narrow 1-0 victory over Racing Santander.

Although he was a little disappointed and could not further extend the lead with Barcelona, Yang Cheng praised the performance of his players after the game, believing that many players performed well and did not disappoint, especially for the backline.

It should be said that Thiago = Silva's performance has been getting better and better this season, and Cannavaro's knee injury has not been thorough in the past two years, after all, he is so old, so Yang Cheng also decided that the next focus is to let Thiago = Silva and Pepedo partner together.

As the head coach of the team, he has felt some crises within the team, such as the aging of Cannavaro, Thuram, Elgra and others, and the team's metabolism is imminent.

"Goalkeeper: Casillas; Left-back: Arbeloa; Right-back: Miguel = Torres; Left centre-back: Thiago = Silva; Right centre-back: Pepe; Double midfielders: Xavi = Garcia and De La Red; left winger Juan Mata; Forward: Guti; right winger Mesut Ozil; Striker: Sergio Aguero! ”

In the conference room at the Valdebebas training base, Paul=Bayer announced in advance the squad and substitutes for the first leg of the Copa del Rey quarter-finals for Villarreal.

In fact, this is no secret, because after three days of playing Villarreal, the team will return to the Bernabeu Stadium and meet Villarreal again, three duels in a week, one away and two hosts, everyone knows that the league is the most important thing, in order to avoid the fatigue of traveling, it is only natural to arrange substitutes for the cup.

But Yang Cheng refused to say so.

After Paul = Bayer announced the squad, Yang Cheng spoke up, and the first sentence was, "I want all of you not to have a wrong thinking, not to have a self-consolation idea, that is the best excuse for losers to use, and it is synonymous with cowardice!" ”

'A lot of the teams that have been eliminated like this always like to keep themselves safe and they will say, 'It's not a bad thing that we've been eliminated from some dispensable cup competitions, it's going to give us more time to prepare for the rest of the tournaments, but is that really the case?'

"What do you mean by being dispensable?" Yang Cheng looked at the players, "Is the Copa del Rey dispensable?" ”

"It's been five years since we've won this trophy, don't we want him?"

"Maybe, you will think that Xavi = Alonso did not play, Mascherano did not play, Villa, Kaka and others did not play, which means that I have to give up the Copa del Rey, I tell you, wrong!"

"I never give up a game, I always want my team to stay in all the games and have the last laugh, the reason why they didn't play is because their battlefield is at the Bernabeu Stadium at the weekend and the Love Song Stadium in midweek is your battlefield, there is no one who is high or low, only the division of labor is different!"

"I hope you return to the Bernabeu with a great palmares and I look forward to a great performance at the Love Song Stadium - don't let me down, guys!"

Yang Cheng's words did not resonate with the players, because this was just a very ordinary explanation and mobilization, but he emphasized the significance of this game so much, which is undoubtedly to increase the weight of the game in the minds of the players, and let them know that the hopes of me and the fans for the Copa del Rey that have been coveted for 5 years are pinned on you. ..., this is undoubtedly an incentive!

However, in many cases, a game does not rely on the motivation and tactics of the head coach to make a difference, at least in the first leg of the Copa del Rey at Love Song Stadium, as the best proof of this.

Villarreal's goal for La Liga this season is to qualify for the Champions League, and frankly, no matter how arrogant Pellegrini is, he can't believe that he can reverse Real Madrid, which belongs to Barcelona's grand ambition, not Villarreal.

So, Manuel Pellegrini's side played their main game in the first leg at home to Real Madrid, which is enough to show the importance he takes in the Copa del Rey, after all, this is the closest cup title away from him, isn't it?

However, he still underestimated Real Madrid's overall combat ability.

The strength of Real Madrid, which played on the bench, is indeed not as good as Villarreal, although these players in the squad may sound like star-studded, but they are actually still young, and when they meet the mature and experienced Villarreal, they will inevitably be at a disadvantage.

But at the critical moment, Real Madrid's back line withstood the pressure of Villarreal, and Real Madrid, who played a defensive counterattack, still coaxed Xavi = Garcia and De La Red to protect the defense, plus the back line composed of Arbeloa, Thiago = Silva, Pepe and Miguel = Torres, it was hard to keep Pellegrini's team at the Love Song Stadium in an unfavorable situation.

The Chilean engineer could not hide his disappointment after a 0-0 game, saying in his post-match press conference that Real Madrid's defence froze Villarreal's attack with a near-perfect performance, and that 0-0 was a reasonable scoreline, which he regretted but accepted.

In his comments on Yang Cheng and Real Madrid, Pellegrini said that this season's La Liga title will belong to Real Madrid, but he refused to make a prediction on whether Real Madrid will win the championship three rounds in advance, after all, whether it will be or not, it is an offending word.

Although Yang Cheng also had a good impression of Pellegrini's Villarreal, after returning to the Bernabeu Stadium, Real Madrid, who played as the main team, defeated the Yellow Submarine 30 with Kaka's brace and Villa's goal.

It was almost an overwhelming victory, and although Pellegrini's team also played with the main force, it was inferior to Real Madrid in terms of fitness and competitive condition, and the Galacticos completely controlled the game in the first minute of the Bernabeu, and once again Xavi = Alonso had two assists, which was very eye-catching.

But even better news came after the game, when Barcelona played Athletic Bilbao at the same time, and although teenager Bojan opened the scoring for Barcelona in the 35th minute, Llorente's header equalised in the 78th minute.

The contest between teams from Spain's two nationalist regions ended in a handshake

But this draw widened the points gap between Barcelona and Real Madrid to 14 points, which immediately attracted the attention of the media, after all, last season, Real Madrid also started to fight back from 14 points behind.

Many newspapers such as Daily Sport and World Sports have called for Barcelona to do everything they can to resist, especially with the return of Samuel Eto'o and Yaya = Toure, which has given Barcelona enough confidence.

In midweek, Real Madrid beat Villarreal, with Raul's goal, Real Madrid defeated Villarreal 1-0, and eliminated the yellow submarine from the Copa del Rey and successfully reached the last four.

But three days after this game, Real Madrid was met with stubborn sniping from Almeria away from home.

Only 6 minutes into the game, Felipe = Melo took advantage of a chance to step forward, passed a counterattack after breaking the ball, helped the wing killer Kalou = Uche successfully countered offside, cut into the Real Madrid penalty area from the left side of Marcelo, and scored a sneak attack, opening the scoring for Almeria and giving Real Madrid a slap. After that, Real Madrid struggled to break through Almeria's goal, and although they dominated the game, they were always difficult to convert the advantage into goals, which made the team a little anxious.

In the 70th minute of the second half, seeing that he couldn't attack for a long time, Yang Cheng replaced David = Silva with Guti to further strengthen the offensive pressure on Almeria, but there was still not much progress.

But to make matters worse, Barcelona hosted Osasuna in the other game that kicked off at the same time as Real Madrid, and Rijkaard's side also did not start the game well, dominating the whole game but never being able to find the back of the net against Osasuna.

However, in the 83rd minute of the game, Xavi's sudden shot broke through Osasuna goalkeeper Ricardo and scored the winning goal for Barcelona.

This is undoubtedly tantamount to pushing Real Madrid into a desperate situation!

If they lose to Almeria and Barcelona win Osasuna, the points between the two teams will be reduced to 11 points, which will undoubtedly make all Barcelona fans gloat and disappoint all Real Madrid fans.

Of course, Yang Cheng also knows the urgency of the situation, although he has enough lead, losing a game will have little impact on Real Madrid's championship situation, but more importantly, it will have an impact on morale.

The most important thing in a season's championship battle is to be a blow, once this momentum is contained, the impact is not only three points, and the most unfortunate thing is that Negredo was not injured before the game, otherwise, this youngster is definitely a big addition to the front line, but now...