Chapter 162: Huashan Road, Going to Defend the Title on Both Fronts [Please Subscribe! ]

"After the change of coach, Barcelona has won two consecutive games in the league and the King's Cup, with the results of 4-0 Espanyol and 6-0 Cordoba respectively."

"Villanova was almost single-handedly responsible for the training of the Barcelona team before. He is Guardiola's most trusted assistant and the assistant who is most familiar with Guardiola's style of play. His ability to play in the cup competition remains to be verified, but he is definitely familiar with the opponents in La Liga."

"With Barcelona's current lineup, if there are no major problems in the team, Vilanova will definitely have no problem leading the team to compete in La Liga, so our suggestion"

In the conference room, before Karanka gave the final suggestion, Mourinho rubbed his temples and opened his eyes.

"Okay, I understand, let's follow our final decision. We have already defended the King's Cup, and I believe the fans will understand."

Karanka and other coaches in the conference room were relieved when they heard this.

The most difficult thing about this matter is actually to reach a consensus within the coaching team during the discussion process.

Since Mourinho, as the leader, has made the decision, the rest of the things will be easy to handle.

First, explain the situation to the players and unify the ideas, and second, try to gain the understanding and recognition of the fans in terms of public opinion.

For the former, Karanka and Mourinho will communicate with all the players of the first team as soon as possible.

For the latter, Sanchez and the old man can only do more.

The day before the league match with Osasuna, Mourinho summoned all the players of the first team and announced his decision to give up the King's Cup after the training.

The Real Madrid players were a little surprised at first, but after thinking about it, they could understand the decision of the coaching staff.

If you say that Real Madrid gritted its teeth and advanced on three fronts in the second half of the league last year, who would have thought that Real Madrid would really win the treble in the end?

Confidence is confidence, but on the road of fighting on three fronts, the Real Madrid players have actually been tense.

They all relied on the energy in their chests, thinking that they would try their best to win a championship, and they would not regret it if they failed in the end.

And Real Madrid's lead in the league last year was too big.

They could really sacrifice one or two league games to play the King's Cup, but it is obviously not possible this year.

At this time, Barcelona still maintains an unbeaten league record and suppresses Real Madrid, which has one less game. The pressure of league competition is too great.

So Real Madrid players can understand that they sacrificed this season's King's Cup and reduced the burden to compete with Barcelona in the league.

Just like what Mourinho said in the internal meeting of the coaching staff before.

Real Madrid has defended the King's Cup championship, and defeated Barcelona in the final for two consecutive seasons.

They no longer need to prove anything in the King's Cup.

The most important thing now is to defend the league and the more important Champions League.

So with the players expressing their understanding and recognition, the ideas within the Real Madrid team were unified quickly.

However, after learning Mourinho's true thoughts, the old man called Mourinho to confirm it quickly.

"Jose, you have to know that it's not that I value the King's Cup, but this championship tolerance.

You will have more trouble fighting on the front line, but if you make the worst plan, if an important championship in the Champions League or the league is lost this year, then at least there is still the King's Cup to fight for.

At that time, Real Madrid will also have the opportunity to fight for the double crown of the season, which will have a completely different effect in terms of public opinion propaganda.

At that time, even the picky media will not be able to deny your and Real Madrid's success in the season, do you understand what I mean?"

The old man's inquiry finally got Mourinho's definite and confident guarantee.

"We will successfully defend the league and the Champions League. After the burden is reduced, Real Madrid will show a dominant performance and advance on both fronts, Mr. Chairman."

After hearing Mourinho's words, the old man didn't say anything more, and said very readily that he would say hello to fight for the public opinion position.

Anyway, he got the most desired guarantee of winning the championship from Mourinho.

If Real Madrid really defends the league and Champions League titles at the end of this season, everything will be fine.

No matter what Mourinho stirs up in the public opinion, the old man can personally clean up his mess.

But what if the double defense fails?

Hehe

Regardless of what everyone in Real Madrid thinks, at least they have quickly reached a consensus on the surface.

However, Real Madrid's public relations and publicity department has not taken any action yet, but has just started to prepare for the contingency plan.

On the evening of January 12, Real Madrid fielded a semi-main lineup to the El Sadar Stadium to play against Osasuna.

Today Alonso rested again, so Li Ang stayed back to organize, and he formed a three-man midfield with Essien and Modric.

Ronaldo, Benzema and Callejon started the front line.

On the back line, Marcelo, Pepe, Albiol and Carvajal lined up.

Adam also started again today instead of Casillas.

This starting lineup is normal, and it is not much different from the predictions of major Spanish media before the game. After all, it is Osasuna, a relegation team, and it is reasonable for Real Madrid to adopt rotation.

However, during the game, Real Madrid chose to take the initiative to attack and attack, which surprised the media and neutral fans.

You know, the main players of Real Madrid had played two games in the previous week.

Even Li Ang, who has the best physical condition in Real Madrid, can't stand this kind of game rhythm.

Three games in ten days, and still going all out, really want to recover in winter?

Most people can't guess the ideas of the Real Madrid coaching staff, and a few people began to question Mourinho's rotation policy in advance, thinking that he was floating.

Only a smaller number of industry insiders probably guessed the true intentions of Mourinho and Real Madrid.

But they didn't speak. After Real Madrid won Osasuna 3-1 away, they just looked at the schedule.

On January 15, in the first leg of the King's Cup quarter-finals, Real Madrid will face Valencia at home at the Bernabeu!

Also in the midst of media doubts, Real Madrid, who won another league victory, returned to Valdebebas in silence and started their journey to prepare for the King's Cup.

On January 14, at the pre-match press conference, Real Madrid released the 18-man roster.

Well, it looks normal, all the main players are in the 18-man roster.

But on the evening of January 15, an hour before the game, when Mourinho released the starting eleven, the media and fans exclaimed that they were fooled by Mourinho again!

It is true that all the main players of Real Madrid are in the 18-man roster today, but only half of the main players are in the starting lineup!

These starting main players are completely different from the main players who played in the last league game!

Li Ang, Ronaldo, Benzema, Essien, Pepe and others all sat on the bench.

The players of Valencia were surprised and happy. The head coach Valverde who took over the Bats after the Christmas holiday was also confused.

Is Mourinho playing a new tactical trap with him?

At first, Valverde, who was uncertain, chose a conservative and cautious start.

But when he confirmed that Real Madrid did start normally and did not make any new tactical attempts, Valverde slapped his forehead.

He commanded the team to press forward and attack, but Valverde soon found that Real Madrid played quite conservatively today.

Even though many main players were rotated, Real Madrid's main players in the midfield and backcourt were not less.

Casillas, Ramos, Coentrao, Arbeloa, Alonso.

With these main players as a backup, Valencia had to spend a lot of energy to break through Real Madrid's defense.

Another thing is that Real Madrid also has Higuain and Di Maria on the front line today.

With Alonso's long pass and Di Maria's speed, the counterattack can still threaten Valencia's defense.

The two teams fought in the Bernabeu. Anyway, the confrontation and fighting on both ends of the offense and defense were fierce, but there was no gorgeous scene and no goals.

When the expected boos from the home court sounded, Mourinho was already prepared and sat on the coaching bench and shook his head slightly.

The two teams tied 0-0 in the first half.

In the second half, Valencia took the lead. Parejo made a long arc pass after advancing and assisted Soldado to score a goal that broke the deadlock.

The coaching bench on the Real Madrid side remained unmoved.

Seeing this, Valverde also signaled his players to continue to maintain an offensive posture.

It was not until the 73rd minute of the second half that Mourinho chose the first substitution of the game.

Li Ang and Ronaldo came on, Matuidi and Vazquez came off.

After this substitution, only six minutes later, Real Madrid scored a goal to tie the score!

It still came from Li Ang's steal and Long Ge's long pass counterattack.

But this time, Real Madrid had Ronaldo at the end, so the direction of attack was very simple.

Higuain's pass helped Ronaldo have a chance to shoot in the Valencia penalty area.

With the first shot after coming on the court, Ronaldo broke the goal that Guaita had defended for nearly 80 minutes!

In the end, Real Madrid and Valencia tied 1-1 at the Bernabeu home.

At the press conference after the game, reporters had too many questions that Mourinho urgently needed to answer.

But Mourinho smiled slightly and perfunctorily evaded them one by one like Tai Chi.

After getting an away goal at the Bernabeu home and tying the powerful Real Madrid, the Valencia players were simply full of confidence.

Valverde also said that in the upcoming league, he and the players will continue to show excellent performance and fight Real Madrid again.

However, on January 20, when Valverde saw the starting lineup of Real Madrid's main players, he subconsciously had a bad feeling in his heart.

In the end, Valencia, who chose a slightly aggressive style of play, died quite ugly in the confrontation with Real Madrid's full main players that night.

Ronaldo once again performed a hat trick, and Li Ang scored a header in his forward run.

In the end, Real Madrid handed Valencia a big defeat at the Mestalla Stadium!

7-3!

This is also the first game in La Liga this season with more than 10 goals.

After seeing the state of Real Madrid in full swing, the Spanish media once again changed the direction of public opinion.

Completely forgetting that just the day before, they were still questioning Mourinho's use of players and the performance of Real Madrid players in the game.

However, when this momentum of flattery was still rising, Mourinho made a move and announced the 18-man roster for the next round of the King's Cup in advance.

Pure rotation, even mixed with a few youth training players promoted from Castilla!

None of Real Madrid's main players were selected, all resting at home!

Now even the slowest media and fans reacted.

This is not a problem with Real Madrid's previous game state, it is simply that Mourinho decided to give up the King's Cup!

If he hadn't wanted to maintain his unbeaten record at the Bernabeu, Mourinho might have used pure rotation and youth training players to deal with the first King's Cup match against Valencia!

If other coaches had given up the domestic cup so decisively at Real Madrid, they would have been bombarded by public opinion.

But when the coach is Mourinho, it is reasonable for him to dare to do so.

Real Madrid is going to defend the title on both fronts!