Chapter 906 Who Is the Captain?

On February 13th, at 2:00 in the evening, at the Eprat Stadium in Barcelona, ​​Spain.

The focus of the twenty-third round of La Liga, Espanyol vs. Real Madrid.

The game is about to start.

Benitez stood in front of the visiting team's coach, gearing up for the upcoming game.

He and the team are full of fighting spirit and confidence.

Yesterday, on Saturday night, he went to France to spy on the military, watching the Champions League round of 16 opponents Lyon play away to Saint-Etienne in Ligue 1, while Barcelona played away to Sporting Gijon.

As a result, what no one thought was that Barcelona was tied!

In the past few months, since the derby of the century in late November, Barcelona have won nine in a row.

It can be said that Barcelona this season is desperate. They almost played the most dominant season in La Liga history. Except for the loss to Real Madrid in the derby of the century, they almost killed all opponents.

Yes, there are still more than a dozen rounds left in the league, but in fact, after seeing such a stable performance of Barcelona, ​​everyone's first reaction is that there is no suspense in the La Liga championship.

The reality is often more absurd and more elusive.

No one would have thought that in Sporting Gijon, Barcelona suddenly encountered a draw.

One to one, Villa scored a goal to tie the game.

This is a great opportunity for Real Madrid!

As long as this game is won again, the points gap between the two sides will be further reduced to seven points, and the suspense will reappear.

Because the two sides still have a derby of the century, and it is at the Bernabeu Stadium.

This morning, at Real Madrid's regular tactical meeting, many players, including Yang Yang, Ibrahimovic, Casillas and Ramos, all expressed their opinions, seeing this game as a battle of life and death.

"Barcelona have had one of the few falls so far this season, last night they fell on Sporting Gijon, this is a godsend for us to close the points gap, after this village there is no such shop, if this is a godsend We missed the opportunity and we deserved to lose the league!"

Yang Yang made a rare statement before Casillas. He thought that the team should go out and fight with the Spaniards and fight!

If you don’t fight at this time, do you have to wait until you lose the league title before crying?

Everyone in the team also has the same belief and determination, and everyone agrees with Yang Yang's judgment.

Whether it can reverse Barcelona is another matter, but with such an opportunity in front of you, it would be too useless to not fight!

So in this game, Real Madrid's dismount can be described as high-spirited, and everyone is eager to kill the Spaniard.

As long as this game is won, the points gap is reduced to seven points, and then we try to win Barcelona at the Bernabeu, then there are four points left.

It is not too much to chase four points in more than ten rounds of the league.

…………

…………

When the referee Matteu Rajoz blew the whistle for the start of the game, Real Madrid, who played away, took the lead.

Real Madrid took the initiative to attack at the beginning of the game, pressing on the whole, trying to oppress the Espanyol team and directly attacking the opponent's frontcourt.

But soon, Real Madrid made a mistake in passing the ball in the frontcourt. After the Spaniard got the ball, he quickly sent it to the back of Real Madrid's defense.

Callehon, who was on the left, went straight behind Maicon and took a step ahead of Pepe, chasing the falling ball.

Casillas quickly gave up the goal and rushed out of the big penalty area. He wanted to clear the ball with one kick. The two made moves almost at the same time, but Calejon stabbed the ball first. Casillas' plan failed and closed. Before he had time, he stumbled on Callejon lightly, and the Spaniard winger rolled over on the grass and into the Real Madrid penalty area.

The referee quickly followed and whistled for a foul.

All Real Madrid players also realized the seriousness of the problem and gathered around them. Maicon kept shouting that Callejon was offside, but the linesman ignored it, while Pepe and Xavi Alonso were both there. Negotiate with the referee, saying that Casillas did not deliberately foul, and Callejon was suspected of performing.

Indeed, the Spanish winger moaned constantly in the Real Madrid penalty area, rolling on the spot, a look of unbearable pain.

"Callejon's performance is really exaggerated."

"Judging from the slow-motion replay, Casillas can't say that there is no problem, but he did not foul intentionally, and he has his feet."

"Let's look at it from another angle, it's true that Casillas closed his foot, but he still accidentally tripped Callejon, certainly not as bad as he suffered in the penalty area, the Spaniard is now obviously wanting to ask for a A red card."

"Look at how the referee Lahoz made the penalty."

"Red card!"

"Casillas was sent off with a red card in the opening minute and 20 seconds!"

"The captain of Real Madrid opened his hands and looked very incomprehensible. He didn't seem to accept this result."

"Let's look at the slow-motion replay again. Casillas's movements are not big, and he obviously stopped his feet. It is really too serious to give a red card directly. Even I think it is not an exaggeration to give Callejon a dive. The performance was too exaggerated."

"Also, let's look at the moment when we just passed the ball, Callejon was indeed offside, Maicon raised his hand to signal him to be offside, but no referee responded, which made Callejon rush directly to the front of the penalty area. "

"I have to say, it was a really bad decision, both the referee and the linesman made an unbelievably wrong decision, sending off Real Madrid's captain and goalkeeper Casilla in just over a minute. Stupid, how can Real Madrid play this game?"

"There is one person less than the opponent in the audience. Can you still hold on to such a game?"

This is not only the doubts of the live TV commentator, but also the doubts of the audience and fans, but also the doubts of the players on the field.

A game has just started, and a goalkeeper is directly sent off, so how can you play?

...

Casillas was very angry, and the whole person almost went berserk.

When he saw referee Rajoz reach into his breast pocket and draw out a red card, he knew he was done.

Before the game, the whole team was eager to shorten the gap, but it was ruined because of this red card!

The captain of Real Madrid was very angry. He complained that he should not attack, and also complained about what happened to the referee's eyes.

Such an action, such a foul, it is enough to give a yellow card, why give a red card?

He even wondered if the referee was a Barcelona fan?

Taking advantage of Barcelona's loss of points, will Real Madrid be killed?

He walked to the sidelines angrily, a little shameless, and walked directly to the player tunnel, and threw the glove tightly in his hand against the wall of the player tunnel, but at this time assistant coach Jesterdan shouted live him.

"Captain's Armband!"

Casillas woke up, only to find that the captain's armband was still on his arm, he immediately turned around, untied the captain's armband from his arm, and walked back to the sidelines.

At this time, Real Madrid's players were depressed, and the team's morale plummeted.

Casillas looked at it, and felt ashamed and anxious in his heart, and at the same time thought of another question.

Who is this captain's armband for?

In the Real Madrid team, there has always been a tradition, that is, to be the captain according to seniority, that is to say, whoever has the oldest qualification in the locker room is the captain.

From the previous Sanchis, Hierro to the later Raul and Guti, to the current Casillas and Ramos, is the case.

But tonight, Ramos was absent in rotation, and Casillas was sent off again. The captain's armband should be given to the left back Marcelo. He joined the team in 2007 and is considered a team. The oldest player in the league.

Will he take it?

Casillas stood on the sidelines, holding the next captain's armband in his hand, waiting for his teammates to come and take over.

...

Marcelo looked hesitant.

He is the oldest player in the field to join Real Madrid. He joined in January 2007, followed by Robben, who joined in the summer of 2007. It stands to reason that the captain's armband should be picked up by Marcelo.

This has always been a tradition in the Real Madrid dressing room, and even Marcelo is now the team's third captain.

Of course, in the team's locker room, Marcelo and Higuain both joked about each other, because both of them joined in January 2007, Higuain signed earlier, but played on January 11, Marcelo signed a late contract but played on January 7.

In the end, who is the third captain and who is the fourth captain, this has always been a confused account.

But now, Higuain is not on the court, Marcelo is doing his part.

Marcelo's performances have been mixed in the past few years, and even before 2009, he was almost sold because of his unsatisfactory performance, especially on the defensive end.

Juande Ramos asked him to play as a left winger, but he didn't show the sharpness that a winger should have.

After Yang Yang joined, Benitez brought a stable defensive system, Marcelo gradually found his place in the team, but whether in the locker room or in private, Marcelo It is difficult to regard himself as the big brother in the team, he has always played the role behind Yang Yang.

Like Maicon, Maxwell and Kaka and other Brazilian teammates, he is very close to Yang Yang, and they all take Yang Yang as the leader.

Now, the team is in dire straits, at a critical moment of life and death, it is not difficult to take over the captain's armband, but...

Marcelo was very uneasy, very uneasy, he was a little hesitant, some was not confident enough.

But at this moment, Yang Yang on the side of the court suddenly walked over and came to Casillas. Under everyone's dumbfounded gaze, he reached out and took the captain's armband.

At this moment, all Real Madrid players, coaching staff and staff on and off the pitch were stunned.

This is how many years of Real Madrid's dressing room tradition has continued!

Yang Yang is this to break it?

Does he think that Marcelo is not suitable to be this captain?

Or, does he want to take this opportunity to replace everyone else, stop by and serve as the team captain?

On the sidelines, Benitez's face sank and he was a little worried, because he realized that Yang Yang's move is likely to bring some discordant factors to the locker room.

Not everyone will accept him!

Of course, he wants to be, and no one can object.

He has this qualification!