Chapter 6 UEFA’s Best Player?

Real Madrid's failure to win the 2014 Spanish Super Cup was something that many media and fans did not expect. Even though Atletico Madrid carried out a large number of recruitments this summer, after all, Real Madrid still has the same team that won the Copa del Rey and the Champions League last season.

But fans who watched the game know that Atletico Madrid, which missed the Champions League title last season, is very strong, stronger and more aggressive than last season.

If it weren't for Tang Zheng's ability to stabilize the morale of the troops on the court, Atletico Madrid would probably have beaten Real Madrid home and away.

Tang Zheng's role was particularly obvious in the first round at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. The opening goal was planned by him. In the second round, he acted as both father and mother when the performance of other teammates was sluggish, giving people a feeling of being alone. Feel.

At the end of the game, Tang Zheng, who appeared on the broadcast screen, was helpless. He tried his best in both games, but the performance of his teammates was far from their abilities.

To put it bluntly, the work is done but the efforts are not made.

The on-site staff was very efficient. In the blink of an eye, the temporary podium was no longer visible. After receiving the silver medal, the Real Madrid players who lost the game quickly left and returned to the locker room through the player tunnel, leaving the venue to the home team players and fans.

Not many people noticed that Tang Zheng handed the silver medal in his hand to the Real Madrid fans as he walked towards the tunnel.

The next day, Real Madrid, who lost the game, was collectively bombarded by the Spanish and foreign media. Even Tang Zheng, who performed well, was also affected.

However, Tang Zheng did not care about these. He was more concerned about the upcoming 2014-2015 La Liga season and the 2014-2015 UEFA Champions League group stage draw and the 2013-2014 UEFA Champions League awards ceremony that will be held at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon at the end of the month.

The best news for Real Madrid, which lost the Super Cup, is that the opponent they faced in the first round of the 2014-2015 La Liga season was the newly promoted Córdoba, and they played at home.

As a newly promoted team, its strength is definitely limited. At that time, it can give some confidence to those Real Madrid players who lack confidence, so as to show their best level.

The atmosphere at the first-team training ground at the Valdebebas training base seemed particularly heavy.

Assistant coach Clement and Zidane could not find a solution in this atmosphere and could only adapt to circumstances.

Head coach Carlo Ancelotti is known as a good old man, but he can only lament the sluggish training atmosphere and is helpless.

The ideological work of the players has always been completed by Clement and Zidane. As the head coach, Ancelotti is only responsible for the competition and part of the training content.

In fact, Tang Zheng knew that the team's problems were not that complicated. He just lost confidence in facing Atletico Madrid in the two rounds. Coupled with the media's criticism, it was inevitable that he would have more things to think about.

Obviously, the defeat in the Super Cup caused the entire team to be greatly affected by the outside world, so much so that preparations for the domestic league were disrupted.

As a head coach, head coach Ancelotti naturally bears the brunt and becomes the number one target of media criticism, while Cristiano Ronaldo and Tang Zheng, Real Madrid's best performing partners last season, are fortunate to be the second targets of criticism.

On the contrary, Toni Kroos, who caused Real Madrid to lose the Super Cup, did not receive much attention. While he breathed a sigh of relief, he inevitably felt a little unbalanced.

Of course, he is just unbalanced, more of a lucky person.

I was not exposed to the media, and I had more time to release my own pressure and adapt to the team's overall tactics.

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Real Madrid's first league opponent in the new season, Córdoba, can be said to be very lucky to be promoted successfully. In the 2013-2014 season, they only finished seventh in the Spanish Second Division. Logically speaking, they are not eligible to participate in the promotion play-offs.

However, the Spanish League is different from other leagues. The echelon of La Liga teams can participate in the professional league, so there are also corresponding rules, that is, the echelon must be one level lower than the original team.

Barcelona B team won third place in La Liga in the 2013-2014 season. Since Barcelona is in La Liga, team B is not eligible to be promoted to the first division, so it is not even qualified to participate in the play-offs.

As a result, in the 2013-2014 season, Córdoba, seventh in the Spanish Second Division, unexpectedly qualified for the qualifying round and faced Murcia, fourth in the league, in the semi-finals.

A 0:0 draw at home and an upset 2:1 win as a guest.

In the crucial promotion final, it was also a 0:0 draw at home. In the second leg as a guest, Cordoba drew with Las Palmas 1:1 and advanced to La Liga in the 2014-2015 season with more away goals. league.

Facing Córdoba in the first round of the new season is definitely a very good start to the league for Real Madrid, but many times newly promoted teams only start the first round of the league with the mentality that a draw is victory, which means that Real Madrid, which is sitting at the Bernabeu at home, will inevitably face Iron barrel array in Cordoba.

In the blink of an eye, the first round of the 2014-2015 La Liga season kicked off at the Rose Garden Stadium. At 6 pm on August 23, local time in Spain, Malaga faced Athletic Bilbao at home.

With Luis Albert's penalty kick, the team finally beat the visiting Athletic Bilbao 1:0 at home and got a good start to the golden season.

With the end of the opening game, the 2014-2015 La Liga season has begun.

Except for the strong dialogue between Sevilla and Valencia at the Pizjuan Stadium, the other eight games are basically clear-cut.

The first round match between Real Madrid and Cordoba took place on the third day after the first round of La Liga. Before that, Barcelona defeated Elche 3:0 at home and ranked first in the league with a three-goal difference advantage. .

In this context, Real Madrid's home game against Cordoba becomes a must-win, and it must be at least three goals clear!

At 6 pm on August 25, local time in Spain, the first round of the 2014-2015 La Liga season started at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. Real Madrid, which is at home, has made changes in formation compared to the two rounds of the Spanish Super Cup.

From the 4-3-2 formation to the 4-2-3 formation that was regularly used last season, the starting lineup was surprising. Spanish international Xavi Alonso, who partnered with Modric last season, did not appear in the starting midfielder. , the starting defensive midfielder was Toni Kroos, one of the biggest sinners of Real Madrid's loss of the Super Cup.

The goalkeeper is still captain Casillas, with left back Marcelo, right back Coentrao, and center back Pepe's partner Ramos.

The three offensive midfielders are composed of Cristiano Ronaldo, Tang Zheng and James Rodriguez, with Benzema at the front.

Although Xavi Alonso did not appear in the starting lineup, the flush composed of 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11, which the media and fans paid attention to, started at the same time for the first time, sparking heated discussion.

Of course, what everyone pays most attention to is the game itself.

"Ouch-ouch——"

Following the referee's whistle, the Bernabeu Stadium erupted in loud cheers, deafening.

Real Madrid quickly launched an offensive under the roar of the home fans, but Cordoba, who was playing in the top league for the ninth time in team history, wisely chose to retreat for half of the game. Except for goalkeeper Juan Carlos, all the other ten players retreated for half of the game. field, compressing Real Madrid's offensive space.

Breaking through dense defense has always been a world-class problem, especially for this merging galactic battleship, it is even more difficult.

First, James Rodriguez relieved Tang Zheng's frontcourt organizational pressure on the offensive end, and then Toni Kroos, who replaced Xabi Alonso in the starting lineup, integrated into Real Madrid's overall offensive and defensive transition.

Judging from the beginning of the game, James Rodriguez was very active. He dropped back many times to cooperate with Tang Zheng, Cristiano Ronaldo and Modric, which involved Cordoba's defense.

Toni Kroos' performance has improved significantly compared to the two rounds of the Super Cup, but this is based on the premise that Cordoba gives up offense and comprehensive defense.

All players in Cordoba huddled between the 20- to 40-meter defensive zone, giving the organizational midfielder Toni Kroos enough space to organize the attack.

However, when he gets the ball within the 40-meter area, there is not much he can do, and his passing success rate is even lower than that of the frontcourt players.

You must know that his pass is from a relatively deep position. In this case, the passing success rate is lower than that of the midfielder. This means that his overall tacit understanding with the team is quite low, so much so that it is difficult to stand in front of the head team coach. Ancelotti in front of the table shook his head frequently.

President Florentino has clearly told himself that the meritorious player Xabi Alonso will definitely leave before the end of the summer transfer window, and Toni Kroos will replace Xabi Alonso.

Toni Kroos is capable, but his integration with the team is slow. If nothing unexpected happens, the team's performance in the new season will be difficult to guarantee.

In the past thirty minutes of the game, Real Madrid had more than 70% of the ball possession and were far ahead in the number of shots. Only a few shots threatened Cordoba goalkeeper Juan Carlos.

Real Madrid held the advantage for a long time without scoring, and the chants produced by the Real Madrid fans in the stands dropped significantly.

Obviously, the fans are using this behavior to express their dissatisfaction with Real Madrid.

It wasn't until the 42nd minute of the game that Tang Zheng stepped forward. He received a corner kick from Toni Kroos from the right during a corner kick attack and headed the football into the dead center of the goal.

Tang Zheng's goal was also the only goal in the first half.

In the second half, the team changed sides and fought again. Cordoba, which was lagging behind, had no choice but to strengthen its attack and try to equalize the score.

But Cordoba's offense is not as determined as their defense. The frontcourt offensive players want to strengthen the offense and score goals, and the backcourt players want to ensure the safety of the goal. The inconsistent thinking in the frontcourt and frontcourt also limits the efficiency of the frontcourt offense.

In the 16th minute of the second half, Tang Zheng sent a precise cross from 45 degrees to the right rib of the attack, bypassing all Cordoba defenders in the penalty area, and advanced to Cristiano Ronaldo on the left rib of the penalty area with a powerful pass. His diving dive pushed the football towards the lower right corner of the goal.

2:0

Cordoba, which was two goals behind, seemed to have no hope of equalizing the score, so it came up with the idea of ​​​​taking a loss as a win and retreated to half-time again.

Real Madrid, who wanted to score another goal, encountered trouble again on the offensive end and found it difficult to create a threatening offense.

During the half-time offensive and defensive drill, Real Madrid thought of many ways, but after Cordoba lost two headers in a row, they made great efforts in the air defense and did not give any Real Madrid players any chance, so it was not until the referee on duty blew the full game. The scoreboard has not changed at the end of the whistle.

In the end, Real Madrid defeated Cordoba 2:0 at home with Tang Zheng's shot and pass.

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Although the game was won, Real Madrid players were still criticized by many media.

At the end of the game, Real Madrid's total ball possession rate was as high as 81%. In this situation of fully controlling the game situation, Real Madrid failed to win by a big score, which is somewhat unjustifiable, especially after Barcelona defeated Elche with three goals.

Real Madrid, which has a two-goal difference at home, can only tie for third place, behind Barcelona and Celta Vigo.

Fortunately, after the first round of La Liga in the 2014-2015 season, the attention of mainstream media in Europe has shifted to the 2014-2015 UEFA Champions League group draw ceremony and the 2013-2014 UEFA awards ceremony.

The 2014-2015 Champions League group draw, whether there is a dead group, the final ownership of the 2013-2014 UEFA best player and other topics can attract attention, and therefore the Real Madrid players who are at the forefront can breathe a sigh of relief.

At 5 pm local time in Europe on August 28, the 2014-2015 Champions League group draw was held on time at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco.

The opening ceremony was as usual, without any bright lines, so the fans in front of the TV were more concerned about the new season's Champions League group draw.

Real Madrid fans are naturally concerned about Real Madrid's group draw. In the end, Real Madrid was divided into Group C with Liverpool, Basel and Ludogorets who returned to the Champions League.

The group of death that fans are paying attention to is in Group E, and the protagonist of the group of death is Manchester United. They are drawn with Bayern, Roma and CSKA Moscow.

In addition, Group H, which is relatively even in strength, is also difficult to guess the final qualifying spots. Porto, Shakhtar Donetsk and Athletic Bilbao are not much different in strength. The final qualifying rights can only be pursued by the three teams themselves. .

This draw in Group C is very good for Real Madrid. Except for Liverpool, which is relatively difficult to win, Basel and Ludogorets are equivalent to accompanying the prince to study. It is difficult to even threaten Liverpool and can only compete for a Europa League seat.

It is worth mentioning that Chinese fans are very excited that Real Madrid and Basel are drawn in the same group, because the UEFA Champions League group stage is about to stage the first UEFA Champions League group stage Chinese derby in the history of Chinese football.

Chinese international Wu Sanshi is Basel's main winger. As long as he is healthy, he will definitely appear in the Champions League group stage against Real Madrid at home and away!

The 2014-2015 UEFA Champions League group ends and the 2013-2014 UEFA awards ceremony begins.

The UEFA awards ceremony will determine the best men's and women's football players of the year. The first award is the UEFA women's football player of the year.

Nadine Kessler was named UEFA Women's Player of the Year, beating out teammates Muller and Fischer.

Immediately afterwards, it was the UEFA Player of the Year who received the most attention tonight.

Two of the three candidates are from Real Madrid, namely Tang Zheng and Cristiano Ronaldo, and the last candidate is Bayern goalkeeper Neuer.

The broadcast screen successively switched between the faces of Tang Zheng, Cristiano Ronaldo and Neuer.

In fact, Neuer is just making up the numbers, and the final UEFA Player of the Year will only be between Tang Zheng and Cristiano Ronaldo.

In the past 2013-2014 season, Tang Zheng was the guarantee for Real Madrid to win the Champions League and Copa del Rey, while Cristiano Ronaldo set a new UEFA single-season scoring record...