Chapter 994 Locking the Champion
Barcelona's upset away loss immediately caused an uproar in Spain.
Regarding what is going on with Guardiola's team, it has aroused enthusiastic reactions from the media and fans. Many voices have pointed the finger at the head coach Guardiola, thinking that his coaching this season has not been successful and many problems have arisen.
What's interesting is that both the head coach and the players have been criticized by the media and fans, but only the management's summer training and unfavorable signings have not been brought up. Many media even threatened that Guardiola will dismiss get out of class after the end of the season.
As the head coach of the team, he should take responsibility for the loss.
Guardiola said in an interview with the media at the post-match press conference that this upset was surprising.
"We have been driven to a very critical distance by Real Madrid. We can imagine that after tomorrow's Real Madrid game, our points gap will reach 18 points, which is unacceptable."
"I am confident that I will continue to lead the team to shorten the point gap, but the gap will continue until the end of the season."
This remark also proves what Guardiola thinks in his heart, that is, it is basically impossible to reverse Real Madrid this season. He just doesn't want to tell the media and fans publicly.
Later, Guardiola made it clear that the team is about to go to the Champions League and they will fight for the Champions League. This is tantamount to indirectly telling everyone that La Liga is no longer in Barcelona's plan.
Twenty-three rounds, 18 points behind, such a gap is impossible to make up.
...
Sure enough, early the next morning, almost the entire Spanish media began to criticize Guardiola.
The Daily Sport was the first to comment, thinking that Guardiola's practice of letting Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets' midfield iron triangle sit on the bench, and let players such as Thiago, Roberto and Fabregas start, is surprising. It is especially difficult to accept that Xavi and Iniesta sat on the bench for 90 minutes.
"Guardiola may have done this because he wanted to make the team's midfield more powerful considering the harsh weather conditions in the away game, but he overlooked one thing, that is, without the support of several technical players in the midfield, Messi completely lost his role in the frontcourt."
"Eighteen points behind Real Madrid, almost ruining the prospect of La Liga. The merits and demerits of the whole season cannot be distinguished for the time being, but for this game, Guardiola must bear all the responsibilities!"
Julian, a well-known reporter from Le Monde even directly questioned Guardiola in his article, "What are you doing?"
This is an extremely rare media attack on Guardiola.
Julian believes that it is extremely rare for Guardiola to win the midfield iron triangle in the starting lineup, and even replaced Puyol and Pique afterwards, which made Barcelona almost face Osasuna with a broken formation, and the home team also gave Barcelona the most painful lesson.
Julian also criticized Guardiola's use of Messi. He believes that Messi should rest. "No matter from which point of view, Messi should have a good rest, just like Yang Yang of Real Madrid. But in the dressing room of the Nou Camp, Messi's authority has even surpassed the head coach Guardiola, which makes Guardiola have no guts to let Messi rest."
"Since the winter break, Messi's state has been sluggish. Everyone can see it, but Guardiola dare not let Messi take a good rest and make adjustments. He just let Messi start game after game, even playing the whole game. So far this season, Messi is almost the player who has played the most minutes in the Barcelona team."
Julian believes that Guardiola has long since given up the league and focused on the cup competition, but if Barcelona is in this state, even if it is a cup competition, it must be bad luck.
...
The news of Barcelona's upset away loss reached Madrid, causing an uproar in the Real Madrid dressing room.
Then in the match against Levante at home, Real Madrid's morale was like a rainbow, and they scored in just five minutes. Yang Yang took a free kick from the right in a tactical coordination, received a header from Ramos, then nodded and scored, opening the scoring for Real Madrid.
Before the end of the first half, Levante midfielder Ibola fouled with a handball in the penalty area and was sent off with two yellow cards. Zlatan Ibrahimovic made a penalty kick, 2-0.
After changing sides in the second half, Yang Yang received a cross from Ibrahimovic from the right in the small penalty area and scored with a header. Then Yang Yang dribbled the ball in from the left side of the penalty area and then suddenly took a long shot.
Once again staged a hat-trick, Yang Yang was quickly replaced by young player Hesse.
The most outstanding young rookie of Real Madrid's youth academy, embraced Yang Yang adoringly on the sidelines, and gave him great affirmation for his hat-trick in 60 minutes.
Jesse also said in more than one interview with the media that Yang Yang is his most admired idol.
Subsequently, Levante pulled back a goal, but Ibrahimovic made another goal in the 66th minute. The final score was locked at 5-1, and Real Madrid defeated Levante at home.
After this battle, Real Madrid overwhelmed Barcelona with an 18-point lead in the standings.
It can be said that since La Liga has progressed so far, there is no suspense about the title of the champion.
After the game, Ancelotti refused to talk about the fact that Real Madrid had secured the league title in advance at the press conference. He just said that Real Madrid was the favorite, but he focused on Yang Yang.
Ancelotti said that Yang Yang's name has been recorded in the history of Real Madrid. He belongs to the kind of player who creates surprises in every game. "We thought he was good enough, but we didn't expect him to be even better."
"In fact, he was still suffering from a bad cold tonight, but he volunteered before the game, hoping to play, and I only promised him 60 minutes. Unexpectedly, he staged a hat-trick and led the team to win this precious three-pointer again."
Ancelotti believes that Yang Yang is gradually becoming the soul and spiritual symbol of Real Madrid.
"It's like in tonight's game, Yang Yang, who played with an illness, was able to conquer the Bernabeu. Did you see the picture of more than 80,000 fans standing up and applauding for him when he left the field? Even I, the head coach, have to envy him, and even envy his status in the hearts of Real Madrid fans."
Ancelotti said that Yang Yang's everything comes from his dedication on and off the court. With him, Real Madrid will have more confidence and fighting spirit in any game.
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Yang Yang and Messi, two of the most prestigious superstars in world football, are also the stars of Real Madrid and Barcelona. The media and fans always compare them inevitably.
One was to play the full 90 minutes of the game and do nothing, which led to the team losing 2-3 away and thus losing this season's La Liga.
In media reports, Yang Yang's performance once again overwhelmed Messi.
Three days later, the UEFA Champions League round of sixteen knockout match ignited the flames of war.
Barcelona challenged Bundesliga Leverkusen away, while Real Madrid traveled thousands of miles to Russia to challenge CSKA Moscow away. At this time, the temperature in Moscow was only minus five degrees, which was quite cold.
From Madrid to Moscow, Real Madrid are extremely uncomfortable with this climate.
Because Yang Yang had just had a bad cold and hadn't fully recovered yet, Ancelotti and the team medical team finally prevented him from going to the ice and snowy Russia, but let him stay in Madrid to rest.
As a result, Real Madrid drew CSKA Moscow 1-1 away.
There was no way around it. The local weather conditions were so bad that Real Madrid couldn't adapt to the cold Moscow. Although Robben scored for Real Madrid in the 28th minute, they were still equalized by CSKA Moscow in stoppage time.
Ibrahimovic also started this game, but he was injured after only 16 minutes of playing. After the game, he was diagnosed with a muscle strain. It was initially estimated that he would be absent for three weeks. This also made Real Madrid cautious.
The coaching staff and the team medical staff were even more secretly thankful that Yang Yang, who had just recovered from a severe cold, was not allowed to go to the away game. Otherwise, if Yang Yang was also injured, it would be a real injury to Real Madrid.
...
Unlike Real Madrid's away game against CSKA Moscow, which paid a heavy price, Barcelona suffered tenacious resistance from the home team in Germany, but in the end there was no danger.
Messi passed and shot, Sanchez scored twice, and Barcelona defeated Leverkusen 3-1 away.
...
The expedition to Moscow, a world of ice and snow, has more than just the impact on Real Madrid.
After returning to Spain, Real Madrid collectively fell into a downturn, and the team's state was not ideal.
In the twenty-fourth round of La Liga, Real Madrid played against Malaga at home.
Yang Yang scored a goal for Real Madrid in the 35th minute, but Real Madrid was seriously out of shape throughout the game. In the final stage of the game, in the second minute of stoppage time, Cazorla's goal helped Malaga take away a point from the Bernabeu.
Malaga equalized 1-1 at home, and Real Madrid looked a little depressed from top to bottom.
The winning streak ended, but Real Madrid's lead in La Liga continued.
The fans also understand this. After all, it is a 40-day consecutive week of double matches, especially when they travel thousands of miles to Moscow and travel back and forth. It is understandable that there are problems.
In this game, Barcelona defeated Valencia 5-1 at home and won a hearty victory. Messi, who has been in poor form recently, finally ushered in a rare explosion.
After the game, all the media also changed their tunes one after another, and began to praise Messi's outbreak in the trough, and even the Catalan media touted that Barcelona still had a chance to counterattack Real Madrid.
Messi also relied on his four goals in this round to successfully increase his league goals to 31 goals, only three goals behind Yang Yang's 34 goals, posing a threat to Yang Yang again.