princely elegance

Chapter 24
Real Madrid's opponent in the next round is Villarreal, and last season's "yellow submarine" reached the pinnacle of the club.Under the leadership of Chilean engineer Pellegrini, they broke into the Champions League for the first time and reached the semi-finals.But at the beginning of this season, the conflict between Riquelme and Pellegrini has become irreconcilable, and the conflict between the core of the team and the head coach has also made the Yellow Submarine's performance so poor that it is unbelievable.

La Liga has conducted a total of 20 rounds so far, and Villarreal has only won seven games, and is now ranked seventh from the bottom.Although it has not yet fallen into the relegation zone, it is unforgivable for fans who have experienced the glory of last season.Riquelme has been completely blocked by Pellegrini since the beginning of the season because of his lazy attitude. Fans believe that the team's poor performance is because the head coach did not let Riquelme play, so Pellegrini I'm having a hard time.It can be seen from the fact that the fans booing him at the Love Song Stadium have not stopped since he played.

But Pellegrini is also a tough person. Even in such a predicament, he did not change his attitude and still let Riquelme sit on the bench.But I have to say that the coaching ability of Chilean engineers is not top-notch either.The reason why he was able to break into the semi-finals of the Champions League last season is also indelible.

All the media in this game believe that Real Madrid will definitely win, because since Villarreal was promoted to La Liga, they have played against Real Madrid seven times, and Real Madrid has 4 wins and 3 draws to remain unbeaten.If it was the "Yellow Submarine" last season, I'm afraid it's a bit worth seeing, but now, it's not bad if it doesn't lose a little bit.

But the development of this game has exceeded everyone's expectations. Capello used the lineup of the recent winning streak in this game, but Real Madrid fell into a passive position after the opening.Villarreal took advantage of the advantage of the home court to continuously launch offensives, and Diego Forlan's attack line directly suppressed Real Madrid's defense.

Pellegrini used offense instead of defense, and used offense to suppress Real Madrid in the half court.

In the 206th minute of the first half, Fran and Carney made a beautiful cooperation. They entered the penalty area with two passes and one shot, facing Casey with a small angle shot to open the scoring for the team.

Villarreal, who has taken the lead, has no intention of withdrawing. Under the command of Pellegrini on the sidelines, the attack is even higher, threatening Real Madrid's goal time and time again.

At this time, because of a conceded goal, Casillas showed the demeanor of the world's number one goalkeeper in the future, and made six key saves in a row to keep the goal clean.

The most dangerous thing is that at the end of the first half, Fran shot a cold arrow from outside the penalty area and hit the upper left corner of the goal, which was saved by Cassie. Carney's supplementary shot 10 meters into the penalty area was also saved by Cassie. .Mathias' follow-up shot was also blocked by Cassie who got up quickly and flew out of the bottom line.

Three consecutive wonderful saves made all the Real Madrid fans present burst into a cold sweat while being pleasantly surprised.

During the intermission, Capello severely criticized Real Madrid's defense and midfield, thinking that they did not give the opponent enough pressure and allowed the opponent to take several shots calmly.

In the second half, they changed sides and fought again. Gago, who was scolded by Capello in the middle of the game, was very depressed and cut off the ball from Marcos in the middle of the field. Robinho went as fast as he could and shoveled the ball into the goal before the goalkeeper.

Robinho, who equalized the score, immediately took the ball out of the goal and put it on the center line, signaling the opponent to kick off quickly.

The irritated Villarreal began to attack Real Madrid's goal continuously, and Real Madrid was no less.During the intermission, after Capello's guidance, Gago began to organize the team's offense and played against each other.

But Villarreal was the first to overtake the score. No. 608 minutes, Fran made a fake shot and made a real pass, shaking Diarra away and then gave the ball to Mathias.After receiving the ball, Mathias made a direct pass and stuffed it into the penalty area. Marcos made an emergency stop and threw Ramos away.

2: 1.
After Capello saw the score, he sent De La Reid, who had finished warming up, to replace Reyes, who was in a mediocre state in the game.

After leading the score, Villarreal's offensive slowed down a bit, and then Real Madrid, who had been under pressure for most of the game, launched a counterattack like a tide.Gago's constant dispatching of the ball in the midfield created several opportunities for Real Madrid, but Villarreal, who was united as one, resolved all the attacks one by one by running without hesitation.

Senna, who will be hailed as the last piece of the puzzle of the Spanish national team by coach Aragones in the future, showed a world-class level in this game. His sweeping interception in the midfield made Real Madrid's attack basically unable to threaten Villarreal. goal.

No.706 minutes, Gago was just about to distribute the ball after a midfield steal, when he felt a gust of wind behind him.Alerted, he quickly jumped, but was still tripped by the opponent's player, and the opponent's spikes scratched Gago's thigh.Seeing Gago bleeding, Capello quickly replaced him with the teenager Nieto.

Although Jia Ge was unwilling, he had to leave the field because of bleeding.

Losing Gago as the midfield commander at the last moment, Real Madrid's offensive was chaotic, and they still failed to equalize the score in the end. Real Madrid ushered in their first defeat at the Love Song Stadium.And Villarreal finally tasted the taste of home victory.After this game, there were no more boos to Pellegrini on the court, but only cheers.The football world is so realistic, as long as you can win, everything is fine.

And Real Madrid's winning streak was terminated at the Estadio Estadio, which is also Gago's second defeat this season.

After this game, most of the media were justifying the players, because they had just experienced Calderon's "speech" internal disaster, so it is normal for Real Madrid's players to be out of state, Capello is the world's top coach, The state can be adjusted immediately.

However, it is a pity that Barcelona, ​​which started later, won again and easily won the relegation team Celta 3:1.Sevilla, which is most concerned by Real Madrid, finally showed the demeanor of a strong team after a two-game losing streak, beating Levante 4:2.The two teams once again widened the gap with Real Madrid.

After the game, Gago's injury was concerned by many people, and now Real Madrid really can't lack him as a midfield organizer.But fortunately, Gago's injury looked terrible and bled, but it was actually not serious, and he would be fine after a few days of rest after the bleeding stopped.This made Capello and Real Madrid fans very relieved.

In the next round, Real Madrid will face Levante at home. This game has special significance. This is the 1000th league game ushered in at the Bernabéu Stadium. The first league game was played at the Bernabéu in 1947. After 60 years of ups and downs, the stadium in the Spanish capital has attracted thousands of league games today.

This is a no-lose game.

Before this game, the news of Raul and Guti's return from injury made Real Madrid fans very excited.However, just to be on the safe side, Capello did not let Gago, who was injured in the last game, enter the squad, and was ready to let him recover completely before making his debut.

Ps: There should be another chapter later.

(End of this chapter)