Chapter 16 Double Insurance

Real Madrid took the lead less than an hour into the game, and the fanatical atmosphere at the Bernabeu Stadium increased significantly. The shouts from the Bernabeu Stadium could be heard even in the Harvest Square a few kilometers away.

The Real Madrid fans in front of the TV were as excited as children, as if they were there in person, madly venting the huge excitement brought about by the lead.

The game at the Bernabeu Stadium continues, and Barcelona coach Enrique hopes to strengthen control of the midfield through substitution adjustments.

Rakitic may not be as good as Xavi in ​​terms of exquisite passing, but his running ability and sense of responsibility on the defensive end are beyond Xavi's, so Enrique's adjustment idea is correct. He hopes to pass Rakitic The running ability in the midfield strengthens the defense, and then waits until Rakitic adapts to the rhythm on the court before integrating into the team's offensive system.

If nothing else happens, Rakitic's appearance can play a key role.

But is this really the case?

At least judging from his two-minute performance as a substitute, he only had a certain effect on the defensive end. The football distribution rights on the offensive end were more at the feet of Iniesta and Busquets, and Rakitic only had certain transition rights.

Obviously, the Barcelona players on the field did not seem to trust the Croatian international who transferred from Sevilla this summer.

With Rakitic's appearance, Barcelona's midfield control has been strengthened to a certain extent, but the shooting opportunity that threatened Casillas' goal did not appear.

Of course, this has a lot to do with the three players in Real Madrid's midfield who are gradually adapting to Ancelotti's four-three-three tactical system.

As Modric, Tang Zheng and Toni Kroos accumulate playing time, their tacit understanding has greatly improved. Coupled with Tang Zheng's superior ability to read the game, he is often able to complete key replacements in regular defense.

Messi even gave up his personal breakthrough after Tang Zheng's consecutive successful defenses and instead focused on organizing offense.

The on-site director took advantage of a dead ball opportunity to meaningfully give a close-up shot of Messi and Tang Zheng. Thinking of Messi's behavior for most of the first and second half, many Barcelona fans felt extremely frustrated.

Messi is a famous Real Madrid star, but he was unable to exert much power until an hour into the game, which is somewhat worrying.

In the 61st minute, Messi tried to cut in laterally on the right wing of the attack. He used the shaking of his upper body to make an illusion of continuing to cut in, thinking that it would trick Tang Zheng, who had a high center of gravity, to move ahead of time, and then hit the inside of the instep of his left foot. Slam the ball toward the baseline.

Tang Zheng did move ahead of time as Messi wanted,

But Tang Zheng, who is tall and has long legs, kept an eye out. He stretched his long left leg forward, and the side of his instep blocked the football that Messi dunked toward the baseline.

The football happened to pop out of the baseline, and Barcelona only got a corner kick.

If Tang Zheng had better luck and had a larger contact area with the ball with his left foot, he might have blocked the ball directly at his feet and launched a counterattack on the spot.

Pity……

Messi pouted and looked at Tang Zheng, feeling very depressed.

He had the illusion that every time he faced Tang Zheng's breakthrough, he always felt like he had been seen through in advance.

Can't you just let me have a good breakthrough?

After Tang Zheng stood up, he habitually looked down at Messi. He seemed to understand what Messi wanted to express and shrugged his shoulders.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch—"

At this time, a deafening roar rang out from the sky above the Bernabeu Stadium, shouting for Tang Zheng's wonderful defense and hoping that Tang Zheng would continue to perform well.

Feeling the loud shouts coming towards his face, Messi's frown deepened for another half minute.

Barcelona's corner kick attack, the broadcast screen no longer showed eye contact between Tang Zheng and Messi, but showed Rakitic preparing to take the corner kick.

Everyone's attention has also shifted from the battle between Tang Zheng and Messi to Real Madrid's corner kick defense. However, most Real Madrid fans are not very worried about Real Madrid's corner kick defense because the offensive end can grab many shots, and the same goes for the defensive end. in this way.

Real Madrid rarely falls behind in La Liga in terms of control of high-altitude balls.

Even if you face a Premier League team, you won't lose much.

Tang Zheng, Cristiano Ronaldo, Ramos, Pepe, and Benzema are all very capable in headers. Although they may not be able to grab the ball every time, they can at least put pressure on the opponent. .

Rakitic, who was about to take a corner kick, looked towards the penalty area while his brain was running at high speed, wondering where he wanted to kick the football.

Earlier?

Later?

Or the middle?

Suddenly, Rakitic saw Iniesta, who was pressing outside the top of the penalty area, waved towards him and pointed his finger at the ground.

Although Rakitic has not been with Barcelona for a long time, he still has some tacit understanding with Iniesta, so he passed the ball close to the turf according to Iniesta's ideas despite hesitation.

After all, many people's conventional thinking in corner kick attacks is for their own players to complete headers, and the defender will subconsciously think that the opponent's corner kick attack method is a high-altitude ball. Under this conventional choice, it is very likely to choose a ground ball. Received miraculous results.

The idea is good, but it often requires a certain amount of luck.

The football rolled quickly against the turf towards the top of the penalty area. If nothing else happened, Iniesta, who was facing the football, could at least complete one kick.

However, at this moment, a leg suddenly stretched forward and blocked the path of the football. Therefore, Iniesta, who ran to the penalty area line, raised his right foot and missed it. The football was intercepted by Tang Zheng in advance. Come down.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch—"

Immediately, huge shouts sounded again over the Bernabeu Stadium.

Iniesta had no time to regret. He quickly retracted his raised right foot and started chasing Tang Zheng.

But Tang Zheng did not stick to the ball and kicked the ball horizontally to Marcelo with his left foot.

Iniesta suddenly braked on the spot. Instead of defending Marcelo, he quickly helped to cover the space behind him.

Marcelo, who was on the defensive left side of Real Madrid's penalty area, passed the ball without stopping, looking for James Rodriguez who was running along the left sideline of the defense.

James Rodriguez started a little slowly and was beaten by Iniesta who was lagging behind.

James Rodriguez, who knew that he was lacking in this transition from defense to attack, did not stop where he was, but followed Iniesta, looking for opportunities.

In order to ensure the safety of Iniesta's rib defense after he made a mistake, center back Mascherano jogged over to form a double insurance.

At this time, the huge cheers from the Bernabeu Stadium dropped significantly, because James Rodriguez was lagging behind and Mascherano was in front of him to protect him. Ninth, I can't touch football.

Despite this, Benzema, Cristiano Ronaldo and Tang Zheng, who played a huge role on the defensive end, still ran forward.

They all know that opportunities often come to those who are prepared.

James Rodriguez was chasing after him. The football was moving slowly and it never got out of the baseline. Iniesta, who maintained control of the football, was pressured by James Rodriguez behind him and chose to use his right foot. Kicks the ball to Mascherano.

The problem is that Mascherano thought that Iniesta was protecting the football and then allowed himself to clear the ball. He was actively facing the football.

So something went wrong.

Iniesta's pass rolled towards the position where Mascherano was originally standing. James Rodriguez, who was chasing behind him, seemed to be mentally prepared and kicked the ball out before Iniesta. Iniesta instantly accelerated from the right and chased the football.

"Iniesta and Mascherano made a mistake in cooperation! Real Madrid's opportunity!"

Central 5 commentator He Wei suddenly said.

As he spoke, Mascherano, who was about to kick the ball out of the sideline, obviously didn't understand Iniesta's approach, but he reacted very quickly and turned around quickly.

Because James Rodriguez's absolute speed is not fast enough and the combination of man and ball has not reached a very high level, as long as he perseveres, he will always catch up.

In addition, when Iniesta realized that James Rodriguez was chasing the ball diagonally, he quickly started and ran in a straight line.

The distance between the two is the shortest in a straight line. Even if Iniesta starts too slowly, he will eventually appear in front of James Rodriguez.

It turned out that Iniesta's enthusiasm helped Barcelona win a certain initiative, and James Rodriguez, who was chasing the ball, had to use his left foot to pull the ball back while running.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Cristiano Ronaldo follow up in the middle and pass the ball quickly with his right foot.

Since James Rodriguez's sweep pass is completed at the moment of pulling the ball, the passing foot is not his usual left foot, so the force used is slightly smaller.

Cristiano Ronaldo, who broke in at high speed, had to slow down to wait for the ball, but Barcelona coach Enrique, who was standing in front of the visiting team's coaching bench, did not take it lightly because Benzema, who was running at high speed on the far end, was unmarked.

And the most critical thing is that Tang Zheng follows up at high speed in the middle, unmarked!

However, Tang Zheng Enrique is not worried. Cristiano Ronaldo, who takes the ball forward, faces a space equivalent to a 2D plane and cannot see what is behind him.

Cristiano Ronaldo received the ball without any hesitation. Alves, who was in the process of high-speed defense, passed the ball to the attacking right rib.

Benzema took the ball forward and entered the penalty area.

Alves did not blindly pounce on Benzema who entered the penalty area because Benzema's shooting angle was not very good. If he was too close to Benzema, Benzema would pass the ball back to Cristiano Ronaldo. , that’s the real trouble!

As an experienced defender, he interferes with Benzema while also restricting Cristiano Ronaldo who may receive the ball.

If Benzema passes the ball backwards to Cristiano Ronaldo, Alves is confident that Iniesta, who is actively tracking back, will destroy the ball.

However, one's subjective consciousness cannot change the choices of others. When Benzema entered the right rib of the penalty area, he did not hand the ball to Cristiano Ronaldo in the middle of the penalty area, nor did he shoot directly, but used the arch of his right foot. An inverted triangle was passed and the football rolled towards the top of Barcelona's penalty area.

The on-site director suddenly pulled the camera, and Tang Zheng, wearing Real Madrid's white No. 10 jersey, appeared on the left side of the top of the penalty area in the broadcast screen.

At the same time, CCTV 5 commentator He Wei suddenly stood up from his seat: "Tang Zheng——"

From his field of vision, he could clearly see that Tang Zheng was unmarked, and goalkeeper Bravo's attention was completely focused on Benzema, who had a shooting angle.

When he realized that Benzema had not chosen to shoot, it was too late to make a move.

Because Tang Zheng, who was facing the goal, had a lot of space to shoot. There were no defensive players except him, and there were no defensive players in front of him.

In other words, Tang Zheng had enough time to adjust his shooting opportunities, but as a technical player, Tang Zheng likes to pursue difficulty. From the corner of his eye, he saw Bravo's center of gravity sinking obviously while running laterally.

So during the adjustment process, Tang Zheng's brain had already figured out how to shoot.

Almost at the moment Tang Zheng raised his right foot and kicked the football, Barcelona goalkeeper Bravo was like a hungry tiger pouncing on food. The next moment, he regretted it.

Tang Zheng swung his right foot and spread the inside of his foot instead of kicking the ball towards the near corner of the goal. Instead, he used the flexibility of his ankle to rub the inside of his instep towards the bottom of the football. The football soared into the air at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The flying height may not be very high, only about 1.5 meters, but it is enough for Bravo, who completely threw his body to the left side of the broadcast screen.

Iniesta, Alves, and Mascherano, who returned to the penalty area, were not in Tang Zheng's shooting path, so they could only watch the football pass over Bravo on the left side of the goal, and then fall. Towards the middle of the goal.

A second later, a deafening roar erupted from the Bernabéu Stadium: "Ouch, oh, oh, oh -"

The Real Madrid fans in the stands used this method to express their support for the team's expanded score, and the inciting voice of the on-site announcer Albert sounded at the right time, impacting every fan's sensory world: "The one who scored the goal for us yes--"

The enthusiastic fans at the scene elongated their voices in tacit agreement: "——Don!!"

In this fanatical atmosphere, Tang Zheng, who helped Real Madrid expand the score, also looked particularly crazy.

Before this game, Barcelona led Real Madrid by two points. Once they win the game, Real Madrid, which is two points behind, will overtake one point and become the top scorer in the league.

Everyone knows that the La Liga champion of the new season will be won between Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid. The first leg of the Madrid derby was won in a reverse way, and this round they won in a reverse way in the El Clasico, which has a very obvious motivating effect on the morale of the military. .

Topping the league is a start, a start to the league title.

Central 5 commentator He Wei finally found a way to praise Tang Zheng. He was passionate and eloquent: "Tang Zheng's role is fully reflected in this goal. From completing the defense to scoring the goal, he has his contribution in every link." Huge effect! Especially blocking the corner kick passed by Rakitic to Iniesta..."

The live director gave a close-up shot of Tang Zheng, and also a close-up shot of his face.

The fans sitting in front of the TV could clearly see Tang Zheng's handsome face that was a little ferocious with excitement, but the Real Madrid fans in front of the TV didn't care. They were led by Tang Zheng and desperately vented their excitement to expand the score.

One goal is not enough insurance, so leading by two goals and playing at home is equivalent to double insurance!