Football career: From winning the championship to becoming a legend

Motta played brilliantly in the first half. Not only did he mark Riquelme for most of the first half, but he also created many threats, including but not limited to the set-piece that Ronaldinho created Pena's own goal, which was won by Motta...

However, Motta, who had just returned in the second half, was obviously drifting. He challenged his own goalkeeper at the beginning: Motta made a mistake in passing the ball back from the midfield, which turned into a lob shot. Fortunately, Valdés focused and bravely used a header on the goal line to clear Motta's lob shot from the midfield...

Motta was a little embarrassed, so he quickly raised his hand to signal, "Sau Rui, Sao Rui..." Yes, he almost scared Ten Cate to the point of peeing his pants, oh no, he almost popped his eyes out...

However, after this scare, the entire Barcelona team became more focused and began to continue to put pressure on Villarreal. Eto'o, Deco and Ronaldinho took turns attacking the penalty area defense of the Yellow Submarine; and in the 63rd minute, the score was rewritten again!

After Ronaldinho, Eto'o and Deco made a series of short passes, Deco made a gap at 25 yards on the right and shot with his right foot. This long shot hit Pena who was returning to defense, and then the ball drew a strange arc and deflected into the blind corner of the goal...

Faced with this deflection, goalkeeper Vieira could only watch the ball go into the net helplessly.

This was the seventh rebound or deflected goal Deco scored for Barcelona. Villarreal coach Manuel Pellegrini said after the game with a hint of dissatisfaction and sourness: "Barcelona only relies on rebounds."

Barcelona took the lead 2-0 thanks to two consecutive lucky rebounds, but energy is conserved, and Barcelona's good luck soon came to an end, and their luck began to turn bad...

First, in the 70th minute, Motta, who had no temper in defending Riquelme in this game, once again triggered his glass man attribute. He fouled Senna from behind and received a yellow sapphire card. He was injured again and was carried off the field on a stretcher. Motta had just returned from injury three weeks ago...

As soon as Motta left the field, Villarreal had a golden opportunity and almost scored a goal!

Riquelme's free kick was sent into the penalty area, and Jose Mari headed the ball from 10 yards away! Unfortunately, Valdés, who performed well in this game, made another beautiful save!

Ten Cate quickly sent Gabriel to replace Motta. Then in the 80th minute, Larsson replaced Messi, who was losing strength, to maintain the vitality of the midfield.

However, Barcelona's bad luck does not seem to be over yet. First, in the 85th minute of the game, Deco received a yellow card while defending and will be suspended for the next game due to accumulated yellow cards.

Then in the 89th minute, Marcos pulled down Jose Mari while competing for position in front of the penalty area and was shown a yellow sapphire card by the referee. However, considering that he had performed the Hand of God in the first half, this time Marcos was given a red card instead of two yellow cards and was sent off early to rest.

Ten Cate was helpless and quickly asked Li Qi, who was ready to warm up until the end of the game, to replace Eto'o with a full-back and let Oleguer move to the middle to play as a central defender to keep the defense line intact.

However, as Riquelme's free kick from 25 yards on the left missed the near corner, the Yellow Submarine was unable to turn the situation around in the final moments.

In the end, Barcelona won the away game with a score of 2-0 thanks to two rebounds from the insider Pena. Villarreal could only fall at the feet of its own player - the central defender...

Fortunately, Ricardo had warmed up for most of the game and was already sweating. Otherwise, he would have only played for 90 minutes after coming on as a substitute in 3 minutes plus the extra time. I don’t know if he should take a shower after the game…

After the game, Ten Cate proudly pointed out the key to Barcelona's victory: "Riquelme is the opponent's core and very threatening. But we did a good job today and successfully kept him in his activity area."

However, the media unanimously believed that it was supposed to be a peak showdown between two magicians, but in the end it was overshadowed by Pena's Mission Impossible drama.

Motta's post-match MRI scan was not optimistic either. He will definitely miss the Champions League match in the middle of the week, and will most likely miss the league next week. The replacement plan for Xavi's absence has just been found, but it has to be changed again...

Therefore, Rijkaard and Ten Cate are worried again: in the league match against Sevilla next week, Barcelona will confirm that five midfielders will be absent from the game, including Xavi, Van Bommel and Motta, who are all absent due to injuries, Marcos is suspended due to a red card, and Deco is suspended due to accumulated yellow cards...

Although Ten Cate still insisted after the game: "The abundance of players is what makes Barcelona great."

……

So three days later, on December 3, on the away trip to Udinese in the Champions League, Ten Cate barely took all the first-team players with him to make up the 12-man roster for the game.

Because the team had already secured first place in the group, Valdés, Ronaldinho, Marcos and Eto'o did not travel with the team this time. In addition, three main midfielders were absent due to injuries.

At the end of the last round of the Champions League, Bremen coach Schaff said jokingly: "Well, it seems that whether we can qualify depends on who Barcelona plays against Udinese. Maybe I should call Rijkaard before the game."

But what was the result? Rijkaard was determined that he could not supervise the away game due to lung disease, Ronaldinho and Eto'o were rested, and Xavi and Motta were injured. Barcelona almost had a second-team lineup in Italy, which had not won for nearly 10 years.

I guess Shaf was not very happy to receive this news...but the truth is often not as simple as it seems!

No. 2 goalkeeper Holkera started for the first time, while No. 3 goalkeeper Ruben and second-team player Verdu were also included in the match roster for the first time.

On the contrary, Udinese only needs a draw to ensure their qualification, so Udinese will field all its main players and try their best to maintain a draw and win. Candela and Acuna will also be able to start after passing the final physical examination before the game.

Rijkaard's pneumonia has not yet recovered (his real self: "Nonsense, how can it be so fast... I have pneumonia!"), and assistant coach Ten Cate's lineup is still a little conservative - at least Ricardo thinks so, because both he and Messi, the two young players, can only start the game from the bench.

Barcelona's only 4-3-3 formation is a second team version with all substitutes.

The goalkeeper is No. 25 Holkera;

The back line from left to right is No. 12 Van Bronckhorst, No. 23 Oleger, No. 5 Puyol and No. 2 Belletti;

The new iron triangle in the midfield is No. 15 Edmilson, No. 18 Gabri and No. 20 Deco;

The forward trident is No. 8 Giuly, No. 7 Larsson and No. 14 Esquillo.

Ten Cate actually believes that Ricardo must start the game from the bench because of his versatile attributes. It depends on when the front, middle and back lines need to be adjusted, there will always be at least one substitute available.

Barcelona's substitute lineup obviously still had a gap in technical and tactical level compared to the main lineup, but they made up for it through enthusiasm and still had a good fight with Udinese, who were fighting hard for points at home.

Just two minutes into the game, Udinese midfielder Vidigal's powerful shot from 2 yards on the right was blocked.

In the 9th minute, Obodo fouled Belletti in the backcourt, and Van Bronckhorst took a direct free kick from 30 yards on the right and hit the wall.

In the 10th minute, Iaquinta made a cross from the right, and Di Natale volleyed with his left foot at the far point, but the ball slipped past the goal.

Barcelona almost took the lead in the 11th minute. Deco made a straight pass in the counterattack, and Giuly successfully made an offside and quickly broke into the right side of the penalty area and shot from 10 yards in front of the goal. The goalkeeper had no time to react, but unfortunately the ball hit the crossbar and bounced out.

However, as the game progressed, it seemed that Barcelona B, with a more relaxed mentality and a more positive attitude, gained more control of the game.

In the 19th minute, Larson passed the ball from the left side of the penalty area, and Esquero's follow-up shot from a small angle was blocked by De Santis who was in a well-positioned position and went out of the baseline.

In the 33rd minute, Larsson did it himself, and his long shot from outside the penalty area was slightly higher than the crossbar.

In the 40th minute, Deco's free kick hit the wall.

In the 41st minute, Deco passed the ball to the right wing, and Giuly dribbled directly into the penalty area after receiving the ball. However, the Frenchman's final shot was blocked by the goal frame again - this time it hit the post in the near corner and bounced out.

(Ricardo couldn't help but joked on the sidelines: "He's not very tall, I didn't realize he's such a pillar man!")

The two sides tied 0-0 in the first half and went into the halftime break. Obviously, Udinese played a little conservatively, unwilling to take too many risks in attack and fearing Barcelona's counterattack, so they gradually handed over the dominance of the game to Barcelona.

Ricardo knew after watching the first half that Udinese was going to be in trouble; if Udinese attacked Barcelona fiercely, Barcelona B, whose teamwork was not good enough, might reveal many flaws...

But if Barcelona starts to control the situation and play the passing game...

Ricardo couldn't help but shout in his heart: "Coach! Hurry up and let me play! Otherwise it will be too late! I won't get a share of the chicken!"

In the second half, Udinese continued to play a safe and counter-attack game, and the game gradually fell into the rhythm that Barcelona likes, which is also the rhythm that has been advancing rapidly recently, passing and controlling the ball to play like a chicken, oh no, it is a sudden attack!

When the game reached the 70th minute, Ten Cate made two substitutions, replacing Gabri with Iniesta and Edmilson with Licky. Barcelona, ​​which already had an absolute advantage on the field, needed stronger midfield control and changes to break the deadlock.

Barcelona finally broke the deadlock in the 85th minute: Li Qi intercepted Udinese's clearance and sent the ball into the penalty area to Esquero again; Esquero, who performed exceptionally well in this game, stopped the half-high ball with his chest and volleyed it directly with his right foot!

The ball was first blocked by De Sanctis on the goal line; the blocked ball bounced back to the middle, Larsson carried Udinese's central defender Sensini to make a supplementary shot, but De Sanctis turned around and flew to save the ball with his fingertips...

However, Esquillo followed up with a second shot from close range, and the goalkeeper, who was still lying on the ground, was really helpless. He could only watch the goal he had defended for 85 minutes fall! Barcelona led 1-0.

Barcelona's lead put Udinese in a completely passive situation, and they could only make a desperate all-out attack at the last moment, hoping to equalize the score!

But once the attack fails, there will be large gaps left in the backcourt, which will be easily counterattacked by Barcelona.

So Barcelona changed the score again in the 90th minute and secured the victory: it was Li Qi who directly intercepted Di Natale's pass, and then cooperated with Iniesta to break away from the close pressure, and before Acuna returned to defense and was about to foul him, Li Qi rushed to send a fatal straight pass!

Esquero, who played well in this game, successfully beat the offside and faced De Sanctis who was attacking. Then he dribbled past the goalkeeper who could only make a tackle outside the penalty area, and sent a nanny ball to the middle to assist. Iniesta, who rushed over, easily followed up and scored an empty goal. This goal completely killed the game!

Maxi Lopez, who replaced Giuly in the final injury time, had not even broken a sweat when the referee blew the whistle to end the game.

2比0战胜乌迪内斯之后，巴萨本赛季在7场联赛和3场冠军联赛中取得了10连胜的佳绩；这一波10连胜，也追平了克鲁伊夫的“梦之队”在1992-93赛季创造的连胜纪录以及另一位荷兰人范加尔在1998-99赛季取得的10连胜记录。

In the league match at the weekend, facing the challenge of Sevilla at home, Rijkaard will lead the team to challenge the club's ultimate record of 11 consecutive wins. This record was created in the 1955-56 season and has been dormant for half a century.

Interim coach Ten Cate was full of pride after the game: "I am very satisfied and proud of the team's victory. Barcelona has once again shown why it is great. We have to strive to win every game and don't need the German media to provoke us... The whole game was controlled by us. We had chances to score in the first half, although sometimes the rhythm was still a little lacking... And it once again proved that Barcelona has a lineup with a total of 25 main players, and they are all qualified to start."

The best player of the game was Esquiro, who started for the first time and scored a goal and an assist.

Barcelona controlled the ball for 72% of the game without Xavi (OPTA data), and shot 11 times, hitting 2 goals, not counting Giuly's two misses and Esquero's two one-on-one shots. Udinese only had 2 shots, both of which went wide, and they were almost entirely on defense for the entire 90 minutes.

"We lost in the last five minutes of a battle, but it is wrong to judge our performance in the entire war based on these five minutes. At least we are still alive in the European battlefield." After the game, Udinese head coach Cosmi showed his strength, but at the same time, even with his stubborn character, he had to admit that this was a sad ending. "We were only one step away from our dream. This is a cruel ending... Football is beautiful, but it also has a bad side."

Udinese, who had been following the northern three, fell behind at the last moment. Italian media expressed regret, and even Spanish media felt a little sorry. Mundo Deportivo apologized to Udinese on behalf of Barcelona: "I'm sorry, you were happy for 85 minutes in vain. Everyone wanted Xavi's position, and they were too eager to show themselves."

Yes, sometimes the second team or the substitute lineup can indeed burst out with greater combat power.

In another match in this group, thanks to Micoud's 3 assists and 1 goal, Bremen defeated Panathinaikos 5-1 at home and advanced together with Barcelona; Udinese could only move to the UEFA Cup as the third in the group.

After the game, Bremen's home stadium, the Wiese Stadium, became one of the happiest seas in the whole of Europe. The SPORT1 sports website exclaimed sincerely: "Bremen celebrated Christmas in advance." And the Santa Claus who allowed Bremen to celebrate the holiday in advance was undoubtedly from Barcelona.

After the game, Bremen's sports director Allofs praised: "Ronaldinho and Eto'o are not on the field, but Barcelona is strong enough, so there is no problem with the substitutes. This is a great team. They hope to win every game, and the substitutes will seize any opportunity to prove themselves."

Midfielder Frings, who helped Bremen score the fifth goal in this game, expressed his feelings more directly: "We watched their first half video during the halftime break. Although many of the players were substitutes, it can be seen that Barcelona wanted to win the game. Barcelona, ​​thank you from the bottom of my heart."

Sometimes, it is really hard to define whether we are opponents or friends, enemies or comrades. It may just be the difference of one or two games or one or two points...

……