Chapter 157: War Reignites,
Ricardo, who left Milan overnight, arrived in Seville in the late night. However, he got up early in the morning and took Eva and Sofia to see the school and the house. Ricardo wanted to fulfill his godfather's responsibility before his comeback...
After inspecting and debating for a week, Eva decided to move to a large 3-bedroom, -living-room apartment in the original apartment complex, similar to the one Ricardo lives in now. This way it would be convenient for Ricardo to pick up and drop off Sofia, or for her to take care of Sofia and little Ricardo at the same time.
Over the weekend, Eva and Sofia could not wait to move into their new apartment, which was located on the same floor as Ricardo, C1119, with the same apartment type. The previous tenant's decoration was still very good, 9% new, so Eva did not want to go through the trouble of renovating it. She just took her big wallet and small oil bottle to buy some more furniture and appliances, and moved in directly!
Now that Sofia's new home was decided, it was natural to arrange a school for her, which was a high-end private elementary school about 15 minutes' drive from the apartment complex. The tuition fee was not cheap, 5 euros per semester; but the key point was that it was close, convenient for pick-up and drop-off, and it was said that the teaching quality was the best in Seville...
After settling in Eva and Sofia's new home, Ricardo will report to the club on Sunday for a rehabilitation physical examination. The team doctor has also approved the resumption of normal training. However, Ricardo can only do recovery training on his own under the supervision of a trainer that day, because in the evening of that day, Sevilla will face the visiting Mallorca at home in the 06th round of the 07/18 Spanish Football League.
Sevilla has remained unbeaten in the last 10 matches between the two sides, with 5 wins and 5 draws; however, since the New Year, Sevilla's form has not been very good and has yet to win a game.
In this game, Juan Ramos continued to use the same starting lineup that he had used in the middle of the week, but replaced the injured David with Puerta, and continued to replace Fabiano with Maresca; Fabiano was suspended for an additional 5 games due to the red card in the previous game, including the King's Cup in the middle of last week, there are still 4 games left.
It was still a 4-4-2 starting lineup, with No. 1 Palop as goalkeeper;
The left and right backs are No. 16 Puerta and No. 4 Alves, and the double center backs are No. 14 Escude and No. 2 Navarro;
The left and right wingers are No. 6 Adriano and No. 15 Navas, and the double defensive midfielders are No. 8 Poulsen and No. 11 Renato;
The two forwards are No. 12 Kanoute and No. 25 Maresca.
New player No. 9 Korzakov, as well as Marty, Duda, Hinkle and others are on standby on the bench
However, in this game, Sevilla's performance has improved to a certain extent, but it still lacks rhythm and is not very stable.
Sevilla took advantage of the home court and started the game with a good offensive, taking the lead in the 21st minute. Kanoute passed the ball straight, Moya intercepted Maresca's attack, but then tripped Navas at the edge of the penalty area, and the referee decisively awarded a penalty.
Kanoute scored the penalty kick and scored his 15th goal of the season and his third penalty goal.
However, after taking the lead, Sevilla seemed to have lost the sharpness of the first half of the season. They started to play dully and a little panicked, and did not take advantage of the advantage in the first half to expand the score.
In the second half, the visiting team launched a fierce counterattack and equalized the score in the third minute after the second kick-off.
Mallorca equalized the score in the 48th minute. Ibagaza took a corner kick from the left side. Palop made a mistake in his attack. Alves headed the ball away but it was not far away. Nunez grabbed the ball 14 yards away from the goal and volleyed it into the empty net! The score was 1-1.
Seeing that the score was tied and the midfield was in disarray, Juan Ramos replaced Maresca with Martí in the 55th minute and pushed Navas to the front line, hoping to strengthen the midfield control. However, the effect was not obvious, and the visiting team seized the opportunity and scored another goal.
Mallorca took the lead in the 62nd minute. Jordi Lopez made a cross from the right side of the penalty area. Palop intercepted the ball but hit it into the middle of the penalty area. Maxi Lopez followed up from the middle and shot into the empty goal from 12 yards in front of the goal before the defender cleared the ball. The score was 1-2. According to international practice, the home team is in front and the away team is in the back.
Seeing that the team not only failed to stabilize its formation but also fell behind in the score, Juan Ramos had no choice but to make a desperate move. He replaced Navas and Poulsen with new players Korzakov and Duda. Adriano played as left back, Puerta played as right midfielder, Duda played as left midfielder, and Marti returned to the central defensive midfielder position...
However, Sevilla still found it difficult to break Mallorca's iron defense in the remaining time, and the home team even failed to create any offensive threats.
In the end, Sevilla suffered a losing streak, and their undefeated home record this season was ended by Mallorca, who was on the edge of the relegation zone; Mallorca, who had won for the first time in the past six rounds, also ended their four-game losing streak...
At the press conference after the game, Juan Ramos was extremely serious: "My team and I made a fatal mistake. Last year we went all out, and with some luck, we achieved good results. But we became arrogant and relaxed our strict requirements on ourselves. We were too happy during the holidays, which led to us suffering three defeats after returning from the new year. Even the home stadium record that we have always been proud of was broken... If we continue like this, let alone the championship or the Champions League zone, we can't even stay in the league! I think my teammates and I need to wake up..."
Some reporters also mentioned Ricardo who is about to return from injury. Juan Ramos' expression eased a little: "Ricardo injured himself during extra training during the holiday. It's really not worth it. The good news is that he has passed the physical examination this afternoon and can resume training and competition. It is expected that he will return in the King's Cup in the middle of the week to find his form... But we can't pin all our hopes on one person. Football is a game of 11 people!"
Ricardo could feel Juan Ramos' anger and urgency through the screen. It was estimated that the amount of training in the next week would increase significantly. Everyone's good days were over...
Fortunately, Ricardo's personal training team has been helping Ricardo with recovery training. Otherwise, as soon as he returned to the team, he encountered the furious head coach who turned into a training maniac and would definitely be fucked hard.
而就在上一轮联赛结束后4天，2007年1月18日晚上21时30分，06/07赛季西班牙国王杯1/8决赛次回合再赛6场，塞维利亚回到主场面对巴列卡诺的挑战。
In this game, new signing Korzakov made his first start after joining the team. Juan Ramos also adjusted the lineup according to the training status. Ricardo also entered the bench. After all, the previous main lineup had played three consecutive games within 10 days.
Still using the 4-4-2 starting lineup, the goalkeeper was replaced by No. 13 Kobinho who replaced Palop who made many mistakes in the last round;
The left and right backs are No. 5 Duda and No. 24 Schinkel, and the double center backs are No. 19 Dragutinovic and No. 20 Osio;
The left and right wingers are No. 22 Salles and No. 25 Maresca, and the double defensive midfielders are No. 18 Marti and young player No. 27 Alfaro;
The two forwards are No. 12 Kanoute and No. 9 Korzakov.
As soon as Ricardo saw this starting lineup consisting almost entirely of substitutes, he knew that Juan Ramos' idea of prioritizing the league has not changed. The King's Cup will go as it will. If he wins, he may not be happy, but if he loses, he can just go all out to stay in the Champions League zone.
Among them is the young player Alejandro Alfaro who made his debut for the first team. He is the same age as Ricardo, a Spanish native player born on November 1986, 11. He came from the Sevilla youth training camp, is 23 cm tall and weighs 173 kg. He was called up to the first team during the winter break to replace the loaned Jesuli.
However, sometimes substitute players will show more powerful energy in these unimportant games. After all, they have fewer opportunities to play in the first team, so they have to rely on their performance.
So in the 17th minute of the game, Sevilla broke the deadlock with the two players who had played the least before.
New signing Korzakov, who had only made two substitute appearances before, received a through ball from Kanoute, dribbled past the goalkeeper on the left side of the small penalty area, and made a triangle pass back to the middle as there was no shooting angle at the bottom line. Alfaro, who had not made an appearance before, followed up smartly and headed the ball into the empty goal from 6 yards in front of the goal!
Sevilla leads the visiting team 1-0 in this weak match.
However, the good times did not last long. The biggest feature of the fight between the weak teams was the chaos and lack of control in the game. So Sevilla, who had taken advantage of their home court to attack fiercely at the beginning of the game, was immediately ambushed by the visiting team when their old strength was gone and their new strength had not yet emerged.
In the 24th minute, the visiting team's striker Mauri took advantage of a counterattack and decisively shot from the edge of the penalty area to score, helping the visiting team equalize the score.
However, the game fell into a stalemate afterwards. Although Sevilla attacked and Rayo Vallecano defended, the home team failed to knock on the away team's door, and the away team continued to create threats through counterattacks. This situation continued until the 60th minute of the second half, when Juan Ramos replaced Li Qi with Marti, and Li Qi was responsible for connecting and organizing the midfield.
After Li Qi came on the court, although his movements were a bit stiff and unfamiliar, his basketball IQ and explosive power were always online, which immediately changed the chaotic situation of Sevilla's offensive organization. Under Li Qi's patient guidance, Sevilla controlled the ball more, and the offensive organization became more three-dimensional and layered, no longer blindly rushing forward and attacking high like before.
Five minutes after Li Qi came on the pitch, the home team converted their offensive momentum into a goal. Li Qi's continuous passing and cutting on the right attracted the visiting team's heavy defense, and then he suddenly made a precise low and diagonal pass to find Duda who was running at high speed on the left.
The latter stopped the ball in the corner of the penalty area and kicked the ball directly. The ball passed the goalkeeper's defense, and Kanoute followed up at high speed and rushed over, overpowering the defender who returned to defend, and headed the ball into the empty goal 6 yards in front of the far goal! Sevilla once again surpassed the score 2-1.
Then 5 minutes later, Sevilla's Italian twin stars connected successfully again to expand the victory.
First, Li Qi clearly cut off the visiting team's counterattack, dribbled a few steps to find a good ball route, and then, with the help of his explosive power, he accurately sent a crotch pass...
Maresca took the ball and rushed into the penalty area from the ribs, then directly shot with his right foot. The ball whizzed like lightning and hit the top corner of the goal. The goalkeeper had no reaction! Sevilla led Rayo Vallecano 3-1.
However, it was not over yet. In the 86th minute of the game, the visiting team's corner kick was cleared out of the penalty area.
Li Qi stole the ball in one step, and then used a fake shoulder move and change of direction to deceive the defensive player who rushed over to steal the ball; then in a flash, he poked the ball out and made a wall-to-wall two-pass with Maresca, dodging the second defensive player who was about to foul him with a tackle.
Li Qi then observed calmly, adjusted himself and made a long pass across most of the field, clearly finding Kanoute who was counterattacking at high speed at the edge of the opponent's penalty area, and was not offside.
Kanoute performed a brilliant high-altitude pass, stopping the ball and passing it to the middle, directly avoiding the defender who came to defend and the goalkeeper who was blocking the near post... Young player Alfaro started his attack after the ball was cleared out of the penalty area, running for more than 70 meters, and finally made a shovel shot from 12 yards in front of the goal on the right side of the penalty area, poking the ball into the half-empty goal; while scoring twice, he also locked the score at 4 to 1!
Sevilla eliminated Rayo Vallecano with a total score of 4-1 in two legs and advanced to the quarterfinals despite drawing in the first leg.
Juan Ramos was satisfied with the team's recovery and wonderful performance, but he also felt a little helpless that the team would continue to be distracted by the King's Cup. After the game, Kanoute also paid the price of a minor injury for the last wonderful assist...
So there was no expression at the press conference after the game. They just said that a cup victory did not mean anything. The away game against Villarreal in two days would be a tough challenge. What's more, one of the two forwards was suspended due to a red card, and the other would be out for a week due to muscle discomfort!
Because the team will go to Villarreal at the weekend, Ricardo continues to give Chiara a long vacation; after all, with the daily care of Eva, a former model and flight attendant, the scumbag Li's hormones are always maintained at a relatively normal threshold.
Due to the King's Cup in the middle of the week, Juan Ramos arranged for most of the main players to rest, so the team's starting lineup was still in good physical condition for the weekend league two days later. The main problem is on the front line. Fabiano is still suspended, Kanoute is injured, Ricardo has just returned from injury and cannot play the whole game. The only main striker is Korzakov, who just transferred to the team during the winter break.
It's not that Korzakov lacks ability, but he has obviously not yet integrated into the team and formed a tacit understanding. He has not scored a goal yet. Fortunately, he got an assist in the cup match in the middle of the week, which also gave him some confidence.
Therefore, in the away game against Villarreal at the weekend, Juan Ramos' tactics were also very low-key. After all, they were playing away from home and had suffered consecutive defeats in the league. They sought to stabilize the situation first, keep the goal intact, try to reduce the tempo of the game as much as possible, and focus on low-post defensive counterattacks. Therefore, the starting lineup they arranged was also very targeted.
Still in the 4-4-2 starting formation, the goalkeeper returned to No. 1 Palop;
The left and right backs are No. 16 Puerta and No. 4 Alves, and the double central defenders are the air-dominant combination of No. 2 Navarro and No. 20 Osio;
The left and right midfielders are No. 6 Adriano and No. 15 Navas, and the double defensive midfielders are No. 18 Mati and No. 8 Paulson;
The two forwards are No. 11 Renato and new signing No. 9 Korzakov.
Li Qi, Maresca, Duda and Sales are on the starting bench; among them, Li Qi and Maresca, the Italian twin star combination that has formed a tacit understanding, are likely to appear in the second half, taking advantage of the home team's physical decline to launch a surprise attack and strive to take away the victory.
The starting lineup is naturally defensive; in addition, there is good news before the game, that is, the home team's midfielder, Riquelme, has recently had conflicts with the team and has been excluded from the game list...
