Chapter 787: The Battlefield of Superstars
Real Madrid finally defeated Zurich in Switzerland 5-2 away to win their first victory in the Champions League group stage.
At the last moment of stoppage time of the game, Raul scored another victory for Real Madrid.
It stands to reason that the Champions League away victory should be appreciated by the outside world, but in fact it is completely the opposite. The Spanish media are not satisfied with Real Madrid's performance after the game.
The Spanish public newspaper believes that this is a deceptive victory, and the ABC newspaper also publicly stated that Real Madrid used a sharp attack to cover up many of its own problems and weaknesses, which will expose Real Madrid when facing stronger opponents. Achilles' heel.
Without exception, they all target Real Madrid's defense.
From the 3-0 in the first half to the precarious 3-2 after that, Real Madrid played extremely dangerously, and what is even more incredible is that the two goals conceded only happened in three minutes.
Once the opponent counterattacked with a single-handed shot, Casillas was forced to abandon the goal and attacked for a foul, and the other was a corner kick defense leak.
The Spanish national newspaper also analyzed that Real Madrid’s defensive weakness was not exposed until this game. As early as the first round of the game against Deportivo, although the team defeated the opponent 4-0, the problem on the defensive end was still very serious. Seriously, the game gave Deportivo several chances.
Afterwards, whether it was facing the Spaniards or playing Zurich away this time, the problems exposed by Real Madrid were very obvious, that is, the old problems of the team on the defensive end.
"This can be said to be an old problem that has plagued Real Madrid for nearly ten years!" The National newspaper said.
Real horse once reassuring, that should go back two thousand years, or even earlier.
At that time, after Bosque took office, he changed Real Madrid's past offensive football and adopted a more secure five-back play.
At the beginning, Bosque's style of play was met with huge criticism and accusations, and the criticism of being conservative was clamorous, because this kind of conservative football is not allowed in Real Madrid.
But later, with the steady improvement of the team's performance, especially in the Champions League, Bosque relied on this set of five-back play style to literally lead Real Madrid to the Champions League final, and in the final beat Cooper 3-0. led by Valencia.
With this Champions League, Bosque became the most successful firefighting coach in the history of Real Madrid, and Elgra, who was originally a midfielder, was transformed into a central defender after this season. These have become a big story.
But then, Real Madrid began the era of Florentino's Galaxy Battleship. The frontcourt accumulated superstars, the middle and backcourt became weaker and weaker, and the weakness of the back line continued. Even now, there is still no can be improved.
This time, the 5-2 away victory over Zurich is certainly pleasing, but the defensive weaknesses exposed behind it are equally worrying.
The famous Spanish football critic Santiago commented in his column that the five away goals are indeed dazzling, but Zurich's strength is not outstanding, Benitez still needs to learn from it, Real Madrid Need to become more balanced.
"Balance doesn't mean to blindly strengthen the defense, but to firmly control the ball and the situation until the most suitable route is found, and then send the ball to the area that can create threats, but this is precisely the Real Madrid are doing relatively poorly now."
Santiago also pointed out that there is indeed a problem with Real Madrid's back line. Ramos and Pepe have always been unable to give people confidence. The two central defenders always play frizzy, and Benitez uses Metzelder in rotation. And Fermaelen, there are also some problems, which cannot be reassuring.
"We should see that both Abeloa and Maxwell are good full-backs in Liverpool and Inter Milan, and the double midfielder combination of Mascherano and Xavi Alonso has proved it in Liverpool. own value."
"But in Real Madrid, such a defensive configuration is very scary when facing a team like Zurich, which has to be paid enough attention."
Santiago finally said that the reason why Real Madrid started this season so smoothly is the superstar in the frontcourt, especially Yang Yang.
"So far, Yang Yang has played three games for Real Madrid, scoring five goals and two assists. Such a report card is enough to make him stand out from the crowd. Looking at the entire world football, there is no second person who can take it. performance like that.”
"As Real Madrid fans, we are full of confidence in the team's offense, and we can proudly tell the world that with a top attacker like Yang Yang, we have the confidence to break through any defense line in the world, but at the same time, we must also Mind you, it's not enough to just attack to win."
As a famous Real Madrid fan, Santiago's column has written the voices of countless Real Madrid fans.
For Yang Yang, they generally gave the highest evaluation, thinking that the transfer fee of 100 million euros was too worth it.
But everyone is most worried about defense, for fear that the team's weak defense will drag down Yang Yang in front.
However, there are also many media helping Benitez to explain that Real Madrid's defense has been weak for a long time.
Marcaro listed the defensive data of Real Madrid in La Liga in recent years. Since Queiroz took over Real Madrid in 2003, Real Madrid have conceded 54, 32 and 40 goals in La Liga respectively. , forty, thirty-six and fifty-two.
Among them, although in the 2006-07 season and the 2007-08 season, Real Madrid won the La Liga championship, but in the 2006-07 season, the Real Madrid coached by Capello only conceded only one goal in La Liga. In fifth place, they lost to Barcelona with 33 goals, Sevilla with 35 goals, Atletico Madrid with 39 goals and Getafe with 33 goals.
Only in the 2007 to 2008 season, Real Madrid played a relatively dominant position, ranking first with 84 goals in La Liga, and conceding 36 goals is also the strongest defense.
The purpose of Marcaro's listing of these data is to tell everyone that Real Madrid's weak defense is a long-standing problem, and defense is maintained by the system, and it cannot be improved overnight.
"Whether it's Benitez or several defensive players in the team, they are all players who have proven their strength in the Europa League. I believe that as long as they are given a little more time, they should be able to integrate quickly."
…………
…………
On the evening of September 20, the Bernabeu Stadium.
In the third round of La Liga, Real Madrid host Jerez.
This is a game that was sentenced to death before the game, and Real Madrid, which has invested hundreds of millions of euros, is determined to win at home.
But the trend of the game is somewhat surprising.
Due to Xavi Alonso's pre-match training injury, Gago replaced the Spanish midfielder and played the role of double midfielder with Las Diarra, while Kaka, Raul and Zlatan Ibrahimovic were in the frontcourt. And Robben all started.
But what was unexpected was that, under the pressure of Jerez, Real Madrid failed to create an effective offensive in the first hour, and Gago, who was the core of the midfield, performed in a sluggish and disappointing manner. .
In the 65th minute, Benitez replaced two players in one go, Gago with Guti and Raul with Yang Yang, determined to completely change the trend of the game.
And this time around, the substitution soon paid off.
In the 75th minute, Yang Yang made an empty run from the left, and after receiving a return pass from Ibrahimovic from the outside of the penalty area, he drove the ball all the way to the right and rampaged. In front of him, he dribbled the ball from the left rib to the right side of the penalty area, seized an opportunity, suddenly entered the penalty area, and hit a volley with his right foot.
One to zero!
This goal once again won him a full house of applause!
The whole Bernabeu was chanting his name.
Afterwards, Yang Yang and Robben switched positions. After getting the ball from the right, they suddenly made a cross from the bottom. Ibrahimovic missed the goal, followed by Robben, and made a left-footed push, 2-0 !
Two minutes later, Robben forced a breakthrough on the left to create a corner kick, Guti took the corner kick, Yang Yang jumped high from the back, grabbed the ball in front of everyone, headed the goal from close range, and smashed the ball into Jerez. goal.
A brace! Three to zero!
Afterwards, Yang Yang made a successful steal in the frontcourt and passed it to Ibrahimovic after he got the ball.
In the 89th minute, Guti gave a through ball and gave it to the penalty area accurately. Ibrahimovic made a low shot, five to zero!
In the last twenty minutes, Real Madrid's players set off an offensive frenzy on the pitch.
From being unable to open the situation for more than an hour before, to scoring five goals in the last 20 minutes, to the end, more than 80,000 fans in the entire Bernabeu Stadium stood up and cheered.
There were also fans who spontaneously pulled up a huge portrait of Yang Yang to show their love and gratitude to Yang Yang.
"From 0-0 to 5-0, Yang Yang scored twice and provided an assist again. He became Real Madrid's most threatening superstar on the pitch, and he also became the source of Real Madrid's frontcourt offense."
"If it wasn't clear enough before, now, we should be able to say clearly that Yang Yang is the core competitiveness of this Real Madrid team. If there is him, just look at this game against Jerez."
"At the same time there is Gago, the Argentine midfielder who has been disappointing, not showing satisfactory quality during Xavi Alonso's injury absence, but the veteran Guti, who came on as a substitute. After that, it shines brightly, as if he has regained the demeanor of the talented midfielder of the Golden Wolf."
...
When Yang Yang scored twice after coming off the bench, setting off an attacking storm at the Bernabeu and leading Real Madrid to a 5-0 home win over Jerez, Messi also scored twice, helping Barcelona at Camp Nou 5-2 beat Atlético de Madrid.
Interestingly, both had an assist.
After this round of games, Real Madrid continued to lead the La Liga standings, followed by Barcelona.
Yang Yang leads the La Liga scorer list with five goals, followed by Messi and David Villa with four goals.
It is also clear to everyone that this season's La Liga has entered a white-hot stage from the very beginning.
The two superstar teams, led by Yang Yang and Messi, started a fierce competition.
This also makes everyone look forward to the Derby of the Century this season.
Especially when it is the centennial celebration of Barcelona.