The strongest winger

Chapter 956 Key Matches
At 1:4 p.m. on the second match day of the Champions League quarter-final second leg, Bayern Munich VS Arsenal and Shakhtar Donetsk VS Barcelona kicked off at the same time.

There is no doubt that Bayern Munich's Champions League quarter-final match against Arsenal at home attracted more attention. After all, it is a strong dialogue and there are more things to watch.

In contrast, Barcelona's away game against Shakhtar Donetsk is much less interesting.

A 5-0 victory at home in the first round means that the place to enter the semi-finals this season is none other than Barcelona...

However, in order to prepare for the Spanish national derby held at the Bernabeu on the weekend, Barcelona made a large-scale rotation in the second round of the Champions League quarter-finals, leaving only Messi and Iniesta who had a strong desire to fight to lead the starting lineup.

Although most of Barcelona's players are substitute rotation players, Messi still continued his good scoring form, scoring two goals in the away game, helping Barcelona beat Shakhtar Donetsk 2:1 in the away game, and advanced to the semi-finals of this season's Champions League with a total score of 7:1.

In another focus battle at the same time, Bayern Munich defeated Arsenal by two goals at home with the goals of Robben and teenager Muller, and joined Barcelona in the semi-finals of this season's Champions League.

In the middle of this week, all four qualifying teams for the Champions League semi-finals were announced: Real Madrid VS Valencia, Bayern Munich VS Barcelona.

The four teams have a very high status in the current world football, so a total of four semi-finals will definitely attract great attention. In addition, the UEFA Champions League has reached the semi-finals. No team will relax. After all, the championship is close at hand, and it is destined that the four semi-finals will be extremely exciting.

The mainstream European media first expressed their congratulations on the four teams entering the Champions League semi-finals, and then talked about three La Liga teams among the four teams that have advanced to the Champions League this season. They are more worried that the focus of the future Champions League will move closer to La Liga.

Now Valencia, Real Madrid and Barcelona are all strong and strong, and Aiello, Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi have just reached their golden age, and there are at least five years before the age of physical decline.

In this regard, the Spanish media will naturally report and publicize it vigorously.

The Champions League in the past few seasons was monopolized by the Premier League teams. Now the situation has changed, and it is finally the turn of the Spanish team. Thinking about the arrogance of the British media in the past few seasons, the Spanish media can’t find any reason not to be arrogant.

This situation is a huge blow to the Italian media that no Serie A team has entered the quarter-finals of the Champions League. The media headed by "Torino Sport" said with jealousy: "No one thought that AC Milan would enter the Champions League final in the 2006-2007 season. After that, no Italian team will enter the Champions League final. It is even difficult to see the semi-finals. This is the sadness of Italy. As the influence of Serie A is declining, this situation will continue..."

The English media "The Times" also talked about this point: "With the departure of Ai, Cristiano Ronaldo and Cesc Fabregas, the ebb and flow is very obvious. This season, except for Arsenal and Tottenham. Manchester United and Chelsea are all blocked from the quarterfinals. This is an unimaginable doomsday for the Premier League teams that have dominated the Champions League finals in previous seasons... But we have to get used to this, because in the future, this will continue to happen for a long time..."

Of course, the views of the German media are not optimistic.

Although Bayern Munich has entered the semi-finals of the Champions League this season, he is facing a very powerful Barcelona, ​​which is recognized as a cosmic level team. Only Valencia with Aiello can compete with it.

Even if you can enter the final, you can't take advantage of Real Madrid or Valencia.

And as this season enters the second half of the Bundesliga, Bayern is also under great pressure. They are now two points away from the top Dortmund.

The two teams will have a Bundesliga championship battle between the two rounds of the Champions League semi-finals this season. At that time, they will definitely be distracted. It is still unknown whether they can maintain 100% combat effectiveness in the Champions League.

Fortunately, Barcelona also has this situation. They must be distracted in the league, otherwise they will not be able to maintain their hopes for the league championship.

※※※

While the European mainstream media was still analyzing the situation of the Champions League semi-final match and complaining about the purchasing power of the Spanish team and the national league, the Spanish media began to shift their attention to the Spanish national derby between Real Madrid and Barcelona on the weekend.

This Spanish national derby is also the fifth national derby in Spain this season.

现在西甲联赛积分榜积分有点微妙，巴伦西亚以29胜2平积89分，巴塞罗那以27胜1平3负积82分排名第二，联赛排名第三的是皇家马德里，他们26胜3平2负积81分。

Real Madrid is only one point behind Barcelona. As long as they can beat Barcelona at home in this campaign, they can reverse the opponent and become No.2 in La Liga this season.

If they beat Valencia in the next back-to-back league, then the points gap between Real Madrid and Valencia will only be five points, and Valencia will definitely be distracted by preparing for the Champions League semi-finals...

So many Real Madrid fans began to look forward to Real Madrid defeating Barcelona at home, and then defeating Valencia in an away game, thus returning to the ranks of the championship.

However, the head coach Mourinho does not have much hope for this. This season is his first season in charge of Real Madrid. If he is too distracted, it will definitely lead to his four seasons in this season.

But then again, as the most popular head coach in world football today, if he really beats Barcelona and Valencia in the next national derby, he will still be happy to adjust the team's focus.

After all, the league championship is not tied to Valencia.

At the same time, the head coach Pep Guardiola, who has returned to Barcelona, ​​is discussing with the assistant coach Vilanova the countermeasures for the next schedule. An away game against Real Madrid is definitely not to be missed, but the problem is that next week, he will be a guest at the Mestalla Stadium to play this season's King's Cup final with Valencia.

If too much energy is invested in the Bernabeu, it will inevitably affect the Copa del Rey final at the Mestalla Stadium in the middle of the week.

But playing Real Madrid away with reservations may not be able to beat Real Madrid, which is bound to win at home...

For Guardiola, this is indeed a very headache.

※※※

Under the background of headaches for the head coaches of both sides of the national derby, the national derby between Real Madrid and Barcelona came quietly.

此前两队交锋161次，皇马以68胜30平63负稍占上风，主场优势更加明显，50胜14平16负占据绝对上风。

It's just that Real Madrid lost to Barcelona in the first five confrontations, and in the first round of the national derby at Camp Nou this season, they were defeated by Barcelona with six goals in a row when Cristiano Ronaldo advanced by two goals, a 2:6 defeat.

The loss of that game has also become a lingering pain for Real Madrid fans.

Therefore, Real Madrid fans hope that Real Madrid can beat Barcelona at home, so as to wash away the away defeat in the first half of the season.

Under the pressure of Real Madrid fans and Real Madrid executives, Mourinho had no choice but to take one step at a time and take the lead in this round of home games against Barcelona.

Cristiano Ronaldo, who spent £8000 million on transfer fees from Real Madrid last summer, was full of confidence in an interview with reporters before the game, and expressed his personal thoughts on the three fierce battles with Valencia in the future.

As Barcelona's leading star and leading shooter, Messi will naturally not let Cristiano Ronaldo sing a one-man show. He is at a disadvantage in the competition with Aiello, but compared to Cristiano Ronaldo, he still has enough confidence.

So before the game even started, the two sides of the game started a war of words.

Real Madrid's villain Pepe hinted that Messi should be careful in the game!
Then Barcelona midfielder Keita warned Pepe viciously.

This shows how hot this round of the Spanish national derby is.

In addition, the result of this round of the league will most likely change the competition for the league championship this season, so it has received the most attention in Europe.

If Real Madrid and Valencia draw the winner, then the victor will still maintain the hope of winning the league title.

But if once the winner fails, and Valencia wins Almeria at home, then this season's championship will no longer have any surprises.

In fact, Valencia hopes that the match between Real Madrid and Barcelona will be tied, because Almeria can't pose any threat to them at all. As long as they win, they will completely widen the points gap with Real Madrid and Barcelona.

With six rounds left in the league, the gap of nine or ten points is basically irreparable.

Therefore, this round of the Clasico at the Bernabeu is very popular. In just 10 minutes, Real Madrid and Barcelona contributed a total of seven yellow cards, including four for the home team Real Madrid and three for the visiting team Barcelona.

Barcelona has a strong ability to control the ball because of the traditional style of play, but Real Madrid has been adjusted by Mourinho for most of the season, and its defensive ability has risen sharply, and its counterattack ability is stronger than before.

Although the game seems to be that Barcelona has a certain advantage, once there is a chance to counterattack, Barcelona's defense is still in jeopardy.

And the three yellow cards in the first 10 minutes of the game were all used on Real Madrid's counterattack players...

(End of this chapter)