Chapter 1087 Real Madrid's Vulnerabilities
March 5, Bernabéu Stadium.
Real Madrid host Shakhtar Donetsk in the second round of the knockout round of the Champions League round of 16.
In the case of a two-to-two tie in the away game, after returning to the Bernabeu, Real Madrid formed the strongest attacking lineup.
Diego Lopez in goal, Marcelo, Vermaelen, Ramos and Carvajal in defense, David Silva, Mascherano and Javi Aaron in midfield Suo, the frontcourt is a combination of Hazard, Yang Yang and Robben.
After the opening, Real Madrid quickly controlled the initiative of the game and launched a series of attacks against Shakhtar Donetsk. The offensive was like a wave, but the Ukrainian team was determined to play a defensive counterattack and retreated across the board.
As the team's number one offensive star, Yang Yang was also very active. In the 10th minute, he received a precise through ball from David Silva and volleyed vigorously in the penalty area, but the ball was blocked by the goalkeeper with his body.
After that, Xavi Alonso threatened the opponent's goal with a long shot, and Yang Yang once again made a wonderful performance of driving straight in the midfield.
Throughout the opening, Shakhtar Donetsk was firmly suppressed by Real Madrid, let alone a counterattack, and even the defense became full of loopholes.
Until the 31st minute, Robben created a corner kick from the right, Harvey Alonso took the penalty, and Ramos hit a header from close range, breaking the deadlock for Real Madrid.
After that, Real Madrid's offensive continued unabated, their morale was boosted, and they performed even better. However, Shakhtar Donetsk began to rush to equalize the score and frequently planned attacks, which gave Real Madrid an opportunity.
Five minutes later, Real Madrid made a quick counterattack. After receiving the ball from the right, Yang Yang dribbled straight in and made a cross from the right side of the restricted area. Shakhtar Donetsk's goal.
Two to zero!
Then Real Madrid made threats one after another, but failed to score again.
Until the fifty-ninth minute of the second half, Xavi Alonso suddenly shot a long shot outside the penalty area, which caused the goalkeeper of the Ukrainian team to drop his hand. Yang Yang appeared in front of the goal like a ghost, easily picking up the miss Hit, expand the score.
Three to zero!
In the 74th minute, Real Madrid played a wonderful frontcourt cooperation.
David Silva made a diagonal pass to the right. After Robben stopped the ball in the penalty area, he turned and knocked back. Yang Yang followed up and shot angrily. The ball broke Shakhtar Donetsk's goal again, 4-0 !
The momentum is overwhelming!
Real Madrid drew Shakhtar Donetsk 2-2 in the away game. With Yang Yang's two shots and one pass at home, Real Madrid beat the Ukrainian team 4-0 and advanced to the quarter-finals with a total score of 6-2.
In the ensuing quarter-final draw, Real Madrid drew Galatasaray from Turkey.
This can be regarded as Real Madrid's luckiest draw in the UEFA Champions League this season, drawing the weakest of the quarterfinals.
It is worth mentioning that Bayern Munich and Juventus are in the same half of the zone as Real Madrid.
In the other half, Barcelona faced Paris Saint-Germain and Dortmund faced Malaga.
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March 10, Balledos Stadium.
In the twenty-seventh round of La Liga, Real Madrid challenged Celta Vigo away.
In this game, Real Madrid rotated players in seven positions. Only goalkeeper Diego Lopez, left back Marcelo, midfielder David Silva and forward Yang Yang continued to start.
In two-front combat, rotation is inevitable.
However, the large-scale rotation made Real Madrid's performance in the first half very unsatisfactory, especially in the away game against Celta Vigo. The home team made Real Madrid fall into the offside trap seven times in the first 20 minutes. , Yang Yang alone created four times.
In the 40th minute, Yang Yang created an excellent opportunity to pick a pass to the left side behind him, and Hesse inserted behind to form a single goal, but this talented young player who Real Madrid placed high hopes on did not hit the goal immediately , but chose to stop the ball.
There is no doubt that his stop was beautiful and solid, but he missed the best opportunity to kick the goal, and then the keeper came out to block and his shot hit the keeper.
For this reason, Yang Yang specially taught Hesse a severe lesson, thinking that he should kick the ball directly, instead of stopping the ball.
Perhaps because he knew that he had made a mistake, Jesse acted more aggressively. One minute later, when facing the defensive player on the left, Hesse continued to shake and made a pass from the bottom to the goal. The header from close range hit the crossbar and bounced back.
Tonight, both Yang Yang and Real Madrid are out of luck.
After changing sides to fight again in the second half, Real Madrid continued to besiege Celta Vigo.
In the 61st minute, David Silva sent a corner kick. After the goalkeeper hit the ball with both fists, Di Maria shot angrily from the edge of the penalty area and hit the defender and deflected. Yang Yang picked up another bargain , easy push hit.
One to zero!
But the good times didn’t last long. Two minutes later, Vigo Celta launched a counterattack. Marcelo failed to return to his position in time. He was passed by the opponent’s player Fernandez. The unguarded forward Aspas shot in the middle. On Pepe, bounced into the goal.
This goal was not an own goal, but Aspers' goal.
The two sides returned to the same starting line again, and this time the stalemate lasted until the 86th minute. David Silva cooperated with Jesse on the left and then passed to the unguarded Yang Yang, forming a single-handed fight. Yang Yang calmly grasped Seize the opportunity and surpass the score again, two to one!
In the end, this score was maintained until the end of the game.
Relying on Yang Yang's brace, Real Madrid narrowly beat Celta Vigo 2-1.
In another game at the same time, Barcelona defeated Deportivo 2-0 at home. Sanchez scored in the 38th minute and Messi sealed the victory in the 88th minute.
And when this round was over, the Spanish Football Association also announced that the venue for the Copa del Rey final this season will be at the Mestagna Stadium, which made Barcelona escape by luck and was greatly relieved.
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On the evening of March 16, the Bernabéu Stadium.
In the twenty-eighth round of La Liga, Real Madrid faced Real Mallorca.
Between the twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth rounds, Real Madrid got an extremely rare one-week break this season. Ancelotti even gave the team two days off to allow everyone to relax and adjust their state.
A week later, against Real Mallorca, Real Madrid is quite good in terms of state, physical fitness and morale, and has controlled the initiative on the field from the very beginning.
But in the sixth minute, Real Mallorca made a quick counterattack. Former Barcelona youth player Dos Santos penetrated the gap left by Carvajal's forward assist and crossed to the goal. Ensue Overwhelmed Lamo header hit, broke the Real Madrid goal.
But Real Madrid did not let Mallorca be proud for too long. In the 15th minute, Modric sent a direct pass. Robben calmly scored the ball. Yang Yang easily pushed and scored from the front of the small penalty area, equalizing the score for Real Madrid.
But in the 21st minute, Mallorca took advantage of a corner kick, and Dos Santos took a corner kick, creating chaos in the Real Madrid penalty area. Alfaro hit the goal with a header and once again exceeded the score.
Falling behind twice and conceding two goals, both hit Real Madrid's vitals.
One is the gap after the full-backs plug in the attack, especially on Carvajal's side, which is more exposed. The other is the old problem of Real Madrid, the defense of set balls.
The former is a new problem, while the latter is an old problem that has plagued Real Madrid for four years.
The score of 1 to 2 was maintained until the second half, but after another side battle, Real Madrid quickly took advantage of a corner kick. Yang Yangqian nodded and scored for Real Madrid to equalize the score, 2 to 2.
Two minutes later, Marcelo made an assist to the left side of the penalty area and made a cross to the penalty area. After being cleared by the defender, Modric followed up and volleyed directly, breaking the goal of Real Mallorca again, 3-2 .
In the fifty-seventh minute, Robben made a pass from the right, and Yang Yang, who was unguarded, made a shot from the small restricted area, expanding the score again, 4 to 2!
Yang Yang performed a hat-trick!
Then in the 92nd minute, Yang Yang suddenly pulled to the left side of the penalty area. After receiving a pass from Hazard, he selflessly crossed to the back point. Robben followed up and easily pushed and hit, expanding the score to 5-2!
In the end, Real Madrid defeated Real Mallorca 5-2 with Yang Yang's hat-trick and an assist.
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Real Madrid won a big victory, Yang Yang scored a hat-trick, both leading the standings and the scorer list.
But after the game, Real Madrid's two goals conceded were criticized, especially the second goal conceded.
Corner kick defense has always been a major weakness of Real Madrid. It can even be said that since Benitez coached Liverpool, corner kick defense has always existed. Back then, the British media criticized Benitez for this, thinking that his area marking There was a problem with mixed defensive tactics, but that disappeared with Liverpool's quadruple.
But in Real Madrid these years, the corner kick defense has never been stable. This is already a thorny old problem.
Especially this season, the goalkeeper Iker Casillas has not come back, even if he does, the state is not known, and the left back Marcelo is unstable after his comeback, and the right back Carvajal is weak in defense. Very worried about Real Madrid's defense.
If even Real Mallorca can break Real Madrid's goal twice, then in the Champions League, especially in the quarter-finals or even the semi-finals, will Real Madrid be able to defend against stronger opponents?
Whether it is Ancelotti or Zidane, they all know this well, and even to some extent, Real Madrid's performance this season has greatly exceeded everyone's expectations, because after the summer reorganization, the team's performance Not at all lost to the past.
Ancelotti also admitted that the team's set-kick conceded is indeed the hardest hit, but he said that this is caused by many reasons, and the team will continue to work hard in this regard.
But the Italian also said that Real Madrid's goal this season will still work hard in the league, King's Cup and Champions League.
"Of course, it will not be easy, especially in the Champions League, we will face greater challenges, but this will be a rare experience for a young team like ours."