Football career: From winning the championship to becoming a legend

Ricardo closed the Turin Sports Daily with a smug look on his face. Although the entire commentary did not say that Ricardo had become the new generation core of the Italian team, Ricardo felt that this was the meaning between the lines, so he was extremely proud and a little bit floating. Only when the long legs of the beautiful stewardess in black silk stockings passed by, could Ricardo, who was floating in the clouds, be pulled back to reality...

After the national team match, Ricardo spent a whole day with Sarafina before taking a flight back to Seville to report the next evening; in fact, he also had a Tissot brand endorsement business event that he needed to attend.

However, Juan Ramos was not happy with Ricardo, who just reported back to the club on Thursday night. In the national team match, Ricardo played the whole game, but after returning to the club, he had less than two days to prepare before he had to go to challenge Osasuna away...

But in fact, this cannot be blamed on Ricardo. The main reason is that a large number of Sevilla's main players were injured on this national team match day, and the number of injuries was so large that Juan Ramos was a little unprepared. But it was also because of the large number of injuries that Juan Ramos and the coaching staff began to review. This is definitely not a matter of luck. It is likely that the previous games were too intensive, the training burden was not small, and the national team match day was too tiring, so the injuries caused by fatigue broke out in a concentrated manner.

The Sevilla players who were injured on the national team match day include Palop, Alves, Adriano, Poulsen, Kanoute and Dragutinovic; basically, all the players who played for the national team came back with some injuries, but some were serious, while others only needed a week or two of recovery period.

After the national team match day, Sevilla has another intensive schedule, and will play 20 games in the next 6 days. This is already the end of the season. Sevilla is making great strides in La Liga, the King's Cup and the UEFA Cup. Naturally, all three events have reached the final stage of the championship, and every game is crucial.

Therefore, Juan Ramos and the coaching staff decided to slightly reduce the burden of daily training, and let the medical team conduct follow-up checks on the entire team every week. Once a player shows any warning signs in his body, he must be rested.

So Ricardo, who arrived a day late, was advised by the team doctor to rest after returning to the club for a physical examination after finishing his private lessons on Friday morning. The reason was naturally that his body was extremely tired and he was on the verge of injury. However, Ricardo didn't know whether his body was really tired or because of the private lessons in the morning.

In any case, on Friday, Juan Ramos gave Ricardo a day off; and on Saturday, Juan Ramos only gave Ricardo a relatively easy training session.

However, due to the injuries of a large number of key players, Ricardo was still arranged to travel with the team to Pamplona, ​​the capital of the Spanish Autonomous Region of Navarra, to challenge Osasuna away. It almost spans the entire Spain, from the southernmost tip of Spain to the northwestern tip of Spain, which is adjacent to the French border.

2007年4月1日愚人节，晚上21时，06/07赛季西班牙足球甲级联赛第28轮展开争夺；塞维利亚客场对阵奥萨苏纳。

The media unanimously believed that Juan Ramos had put on hold several key players in preparation for the UEFA Cup quarter-finals next week. But Ricardo knew that the injuries in the team were indeed serious. In addition to the six key players who were absent from the national team match day, Renato was also suspended due to accumulated yellow cards; so Juan Ramos had to put together an 1-man match roster and recruit young players from the second team.

The second goalkeeper, No. 13 Kobegno, got a rare chance to start;

The back line is composed of No. 24 Hinkle, No. 3 David, No. 2 Navarro and No. 14 Escude;

The midfield combination is a brand new one that appears for the first time this season, with No. 15 Navas and No. 25 Maresca on the two wings, and No. 16 Puerta and No. 18 Martí forming a double defensive midfielder;

The two forwards are No. 10 Fabiano and No. 9 Korzakov;

Li Qi, Alfaro, Duda, Osio and three young players are waiting on the bench...

Osasuna, who are in the middle of the standings, are not much better off, with six main players either injured or suspended. The two teams combined have enough missing players to form a full 6-man starting lineup.

Sevilla is competing for the treble, while Osasuna still has hopes of getting into the Intertoto Cup zone. It should be said that the result of this game is important for both sides.

But both teams also have UEFA Cup matches in the middle of the week. This Thursday, Sevilla will host Tottenham Hotspur at home, while Osasuna will challenge Leverkusen away. However, what is interesting is that if they can eventually eliminate their opponents and advance to the semi-finals, then on the 26th of this month, they will return to Osasuna's home stadium, the Kingdom of Navarra, to play another Europa League semi-final - that will definitely be a real battle.

This league match between the two teams was like a discounted game. Injuries, suspensions and preparations for the League Cup quarter-finals next week were the main reasons for the game's value reduction.

After the opening, the pace of both sides was very fast, but it was obvious that most of the players of both teams were not in very good condition. In addition, the starting combinations of both teams were running in for the first time in the official competition this season, and it was obvious that they did not have a tacit understanding in cooperation and made many mistakes.

The only highlight in the first half came in the 38th minute, when Fabiano received a pass from Maresca and shot into the goal from the right side of the penalty area, but the Brazilian striker committed a handball foul when he stopped the ball, so the goal was ruled invalid.

After that, both sides attacked and defended each other, but most of the shots were from long range, and there was almost no chance to really threaten the opponent's goal and goalkeeper.

In the second half, the coaches of both teams kept changing their players, but they did not replace the main players, but replaced the main players and rotated them for rest; for example, Juan Ramos replaced Navas, Maresca and Puerta by bringing on Duda, Alfaro and Li Qi in the 65th, 75th and 80th minutes respectively.

Li Qi, who only had ten minutes to perform, was not very excited after he came on the court. After all, the rhythm of the whole team was strange. Before Li Qi could sort out the midfield and adjust his condition, the game was over. Ten minutes was not enough for Li Qi to dominate the game or become the hero of Sevilla.

The two teams had 30 shots in total, but none of them were successful. Sevilla had the upper hand, but the game ended in a goalless draw. Osasuna drew at home, and Sevilla has not won in the past four away league games.

然而，塞维利亚在联赛的竞争对手们则在本来都取胜了：巴萨在本轮主场2比1战胜拉科鲁尼亚后取得2分的领先优势；而皇马在客场2比1战胜塞尔塔，瓦伦西亚在主场3比2力克西班牙人，也将分差迫近。

In the post-match press conference, Juan Ramos denied the claim that the team was conserving its strength: "I know what you think, you think we are thinking more about Tottenham Hotspur - this is wrong, every game is equally important for us."

But whether what he said is true or not, it is an indisputable fact that Sevilla is currently burdened by fighting on three fronts.

2007年4月5日，晚上20时45分，06/07赛季欧洲联盟杯1/4决赛首回合4场比赛展开争夺，卫冕冠军塞维利亚在主场迎接英超劲旅托特纳姆热刺的挑战。

In this crucial European match, Juan Ramos made no reservations and used all his potential as a main player, changing his conservative style of saving money on weekends:

In the 4-4-2 starting lineup, the first to bear the brunt was the timely return of No. 1 goalkeeper Palop from injury, injecting a shot of adrenaline into the team's defense;

Next is the back line, which consists of No. 24 Hinkle, No. 16 Puerta, No. 2 Navarro and No. 14 Escude;

The midfield combination is No. 15 Navas, No. 6 Adriano, No. 11 Renato and No. 7 Li Qi. This is obviously a layout that is stronger in attack than defense. There is no full-time defensive midfielder. Obviously, Juan Ramos wants to win the game at home with all his strength.

The front line duo is No. 12 Kanoute, who returned from injury in an emergency match against his former club, and No. 9 Korzakov, who was in excellent form in the previous game;

Alves, who also returned from injury but did not make it to the starting lineup, was on the bench with Alfaro, Fabiano, Maresca, Osio and Marti.

Tottenham Hotspur also sent out their strongest lineup, also starting with a 4-4-2 formation:

Goalkeeper is number 1 Paul Robinson

The four-man back line is No. 7 Startree, No. 20 Dawson, No. 26 Ledley Kim, and South Korea national team defender No. 3 Lee Yong-pyo;

The forward four consisted of No. 25 Lennon, No. 4 Zokora, No. 8 Jenas and No. 6 Tainio;

The forward combination is No. 9 Berbatov and No. 10 Robbie Keane;

Sitting on the bench are Hector, Anthony Gardner, Danny Murphy, Edgar Davis, Defoe, Ziegler and other good players.

On the day of the match, in addition to being the traditional Qingming Festival in China, it also coincided with the local traditional festival of Seville - Holy Thursday, and the whole city of Seville held a carnival. Previously, the Sevilla club had reported to UEFA and asked for the match to be rescheduled, but was rejected by UEFA. Perhaps the Sevilla players were not focused on the field, so their performance after the opening was not satisfactory.

Juan Ramos's original plan before the game was to press forward with all his troops from the start, taking advantage of the away team's unstable footing and preparing to defeat the opponent in one go. However, the home team lost the first goal after more than a minute in the game and was taught a lesson by the only Premier League team among the top eight.

Sevilla kicked off first. Renato used a long shot to scare the opponent, but the shot was too straight and the ball was caught by Tottenham goalkeeper Robinson.

Then Robinson kicked the ball out, and the cool Berbatov leaned on the defender brilliantly, stopped the ball under his feet, and then made a light pass into the penalty area.

Tottenham striker Robbie Keane rushed over and shot from 11 yards in front of the goal! The ball was bravely blocked by Palop, but the Sevilla goalkeeper did not block the ball far, and the Irishman immediately shot into the empty goal from the left side of the small penalty area.

Tottenham Hotspur gave the home team a wake-up call right at the start of the game, leading 75-1 in 0 seconds!

This lightning-fast goal not only stunned the Sevilla fans, but also completely disrupted the plan that Juan Ramos had arranged for the Sevilla players before the game. This goal also made it doubly difficult for Sevilla to advance.

The situation of Sevilla, which was lagging behind, did not look very good. The players seemed hesitant and a little impatient in handling the ball. The intensity of the confrontation was obviously not enough, the wing attack lost its power, the tactical play was seen through by the opponent at a glance, and the forward passes were repeatedly intercepted by Tottenham's midfield.

Sevilla's series of mistakes and low passing level after the opening even surprised Tottenham, and the visiting team easily controlled the game.

Then, in the 12th minute, Tottenham midfielder Lennon's direct pass after intercepting the ball was a little too strong, and Robbie Keane, who was half a beat slower, missed the opportunity to expand the score.

However, Li Qi stood up afterwards. Li Qi had not received the ball for a while, and Tottenham coach Jol specially arranged Zokora to closely guard Li Qi before the game; however, Li Qi was also the first time to start with Renato as a double defensive midfielder, and the two sides had a clear division of labor on who was responsible for retreating to receive the ball.

According to previous games, when Renato played with Marti or Paulson, Marti or Paulson would retreat deeper to make the transition between the midfield and backcourt, and Renato would be responsible for holding the ball and attacking and moving forward to support the striker. So Renato thought that Li Qi should take over the task of retreating and supporting.

However, Li Qi's task in this game was to take over from Juan Ramos, and he was completely the front midfielder: organizing the attack behind the striker, advancing with the ball, and delivering shells to the striker...

Li Qi felt something was wrong after playing for about 10 minutes. Renato was always running in the same position as him: Damn it, could it be that Renato didn't read the tactical log sent by the coaching staff before the game, and is still accepting the previous way of playing?

So Zokora's task was extremely easy at the beginning, and he felt extremely awesome, as he could easily defend his own area by himself against two people, and these two stupid big cats often collided with each other and couldn't get the ball.

Li Qi thought that this would not work, and since Renato was stubborn, he decided to let him deal with the black man Zokora. Li Qi decisively retreated deep, imitating the role of his senior Pirlo in the national team, changed the requirements of the coaching staff, and went from being behind the two forwards to directly in front of the two central defenders.

As soon as Li Qi retreated and got the ball, Sevilla's midfield became active, and Tottenham suddenly felt that the game was getting more intense. The ball was not so easy to pass, and the rhythm of ball control was taken back by the home team. After all, Li Qi was a strengthened version of Paulson, who could run, steal, pass, and control, and his prediction was very accurate...

However, Sevilla was also confused by Sevilla's rough performance after the start. For a while, the formation was a bit too high and the defense was a bit too arrogant. So when Jenas was easily passed by Li Qi using the ball, Sevilla won the best counterattack opportunity since the start.

It was the 18th minute of the game when Li Qi dodged Janus and there was an open space in front of him. Li Qi naturally strode forward with the ball. Before Tenio came over to defend, Li Qi made a fake look and deceived Zokora in front of him to block the possible pass to Renato on the right.

Li Qi changed direction and dribbled towards the left wing, then aimed at the angle, saw the right moment, and sent a penetrating pass to the gap between Startree and Dawson...

Adriano, who started forward at just the right time and at high speed, cut into the side of Tottenham's penalty area from the outside, intercepted Li Qi's wonderful pass outside the small penalty area, and faced Tottenham goalkeeper Robinson who had already attacked.

Adriano had no time to make a fake move, Robinson's attack was very timely, and the former could only dunk and change direction, trying to dribble to the baseline to bypass Robinson's defense.

Robinson obviously guessed Adriano's idea, and he fell sideways to the ground, trying to intercept the ball at Adriano's feet...

"Beep!" But in the end Adriano fell in the penalty area, and the referee in black decisively blew the whistle and pointed to the penalty spot; the referee believed that Robinson tripped Adriano who broke into the penalty area, and awarded Sevilla a penalty!

However, slow-motion replays showed that the call was questionable, because Robinson's save was beautiful and he touched the ball first, only to hit Adriano in passing; of course, with Robinson's 1-meter-tall and 91-kilogram body, if he fell sideways, it is very likely that he and the ball would have died.

In addition, Li Qi's previous series of actions and passes were very beautiful, coupled with his handsome face and golden hair, which attracted countless female fans to scream loudly...

However, the referee's decision could not be changed. Sevilla's top scorer Kanoute took the penalty kick and steadily stabbed his old club, slamming the ball into the upper left corner of the goal, helping Sevilla equalize the score!

After equalizing the score, Sevilla quickly regained its morale, and the players calmed down and, under the leadership of Li Qi, gradually took over the rest of the game...