Chapter 168: Battle against former club Barcelona, ​​Part

The black and hard Kanoute, who was over 1 meters tall, was lying in ambush near the far post. Seeing the ball coming from the front point by the second setter Li Qi, he jumped up lightly, headed the ball, and smashed it into the home team's goal net, which was less than 9 yards away...

Kanoute headed the ball into the net while watching the linesman to see if he had raised the flag, because after Alves took the free kick, Kanoute had already rushed forward to score, and he didn't know if he was offside when Li Qi touched the ball.

However, Kanoute looked at the linesman several times, and the linesman just held down the flag without making any comment. The referee just blew the whistle to confirm that the goal was valid. However, his teammates could no longer hold back and rushed over to celebrate around Kanoute, especially Li Qi, who directly rode on Kanoute's shoulders and shouted wildly!

Kanoute's goal locked the score at 2-0 in the first half. Li Qi wanted to take advantage of the home team's continued confusion and score another goal in the last stage of the first half to completely lock the victory, but he didn't expect Korzakov to kick away the nanny's one-on-one shot that even a grandmother could score...

Li Qi didn't get a goal or an assist. He just received an apology and assurance from Korzakov, promising to get the next pie...ah, bah, that's nothing!

The home team entered the halftime break in a depressed mood. In just two minutes from 38 to 40 minutes, the visiting team Sevilla scored two goals in a row. At halftime, most of the players were probably still confused. How could the defense that had been so solid for more than 30 minutes suddenly collapse? So when they were behind, should they attack or defend?

During the half-time break, the home team even replaced two players. Irueta knew that if he didn't give it his all in the second half, he would have no chance, as this was a knockout match of the King's Cup.

However, after the change of sides, Betis still failed to change the situation after the substitution. Although they intensified the pressing, they could not control the ball and their attack was disorganized... It's just like Li Qi said, the defensive tactics for many consecutive games made the team lose the rhythm and confidence of ball control and positional attack. That is not a problem that can be solved simply by replacing one or two people.

But before recalling, why did the author say that the last day of February was an accident for Juan Ramos? I guess some other old charlatans have calculated that this old guy will have a bloody disaster today!

Less than 10 minutes into the second half, Real Betis' situation did not improve much. They were still beaten up by Sevilla, and it looked like they might concede a third goal at any time. So the home team fans on the sidelines were not happy about it, as this was the craziest Sevilla derby in all of Spain!

So the fans who had been making trouble since the score fell behind decided to vent their emotions further. Since the home team players were not good enough, we fans would come and kill these visiting team Dog mother’s babies… The fans began to throw debris into the field crazily. There were all kinds of things, but nothing too valuable, such as smelly shoes, rotten apples, large eye masks of female compatriots, mineral water bottles, etc…

Finally, just as the charlatan had expected, a mineral water bottle which was half filled with urine or water directly hit the top of the head of Juan Ramos who was watching the game on the sidelines, which directly caused trouble for the visiting team coach, bringing about a bloody disaster and knocking him unconscious.

Li Qi learned about the situation after the game and recalled the distance between the stands and the coaching seats. He couldn't help but sigh: Wow, there are still experts among the people. This is not just a matter of unicorn arms, it's as good as a small trebuchet! And it was thrown so accurately. Fortunately, it was a soft-packed mineral water bottle. If it was a glass bottle, the head coach would have been rushed to the ICU directly...

The home team's players failed to win on the field, so the fans in the stadium directly helped to beat the visiting team's head coach. So in order to protect the safety of the players, the match was stopped by the referee; according to convention, the two teams will continue the remaining matches on another day.

As for how the Spanish Football Association will punish Real Betis for the violent and bloody incident on the field and seek justice for its own coach, this is not what Ricardo is concerned about after the game.

The team can be said to have turned a disaster into a blessing. Sevilla, who led by two goals away from home, basically secured a place in the King's Cup, and the game lasted less than 60 minutes, which meant that the main players did not expend too much physical strength, leaving enough physical strength and energy for the decisive battle with Barcelona four days later.

However, it is not all good news for Sevilla. After the King's Cup match, captain Navarro felt discomfort in his thigh muscles. A check-up the next day showed that he had a slight muscle strain and would need to rest for a week, which would mean he would miss the weekend's big battle with Barcelona and the first leg of the UEFA Cup round of 16 next week.

The worse news was that in the team's group confrontation the day before the match with Barcelona, ​​Escude and Fabiano, who were training hard and hoping to start in the weekend league, collided in a fight for the ball and both were injured.

Fortunately, neither of them suffered serious injuries. One had an ankle sprain and the other had a knee contusion. Both only need to rest for one to two weeks. However, they will also miss the big battle against Barcelona the next day and the home game against Shakhtar Donetsk in the middle of next week.

Three main players were injured before the game, and the head coach had a big bandage on his head. In Li Qi's opinion, Sevilla was unlucky. But in the eyes of outsiders, Sevilla was still good, because in comparison, Barcelona was the real turmoil recently. Injuries during training were a small matter. The key was the unstable morale of the team.

First of all, Barcelona's main players in the midfield and frontcourt are constantly injured, otherwise they would not have wanted to recall Ricardo Liqi during the winter break. Currently, the main center forward Gudjohnsen is still recovering from injury, and Messi has just recovered from injury. In the last round against Valencia, Messi, who had just returned, was almost injured, which also triggered a large-scale conflict between the two teams.

Barcelona's frontcourt players are frequently injured. On the one hand, it is because Messi and other Barcelona players play on the ground and dribble too much. On the other hand, Barcelona currently lacks flexible means in its attacking lineup. Gudjohnsen is okay, but most of the time they can only rely on Messi's small body to forcefully penetrate...

The one who can't shirk responsibility is Ronaldinho, the absolute core of last season. Ronaldinho's condition has declined significantly this season, not only in terms of technical movements, but also in terms of physical speed and game reading. People in the industry know that this is the result of insufficient training and rest, as well as excessive drinking and sex...

This reflects the team's management problems after Barcelona won the Champions League and La Liga double last season, or it can be said that the mentality of most people has changed.

To the extent that the media's focus on weight loss is no longer on Ronaldo, who has transferred to AC Milan, but has begun to target Ronaldinho, who is still in Barcelona.

The media constantly lists and compares photos from this season and last season to sound the alarm for the best magician in today's football.

Less than a year has passed since last season's Champions League final, and Ronaldinho's original 1-pack abs have almost condensed into one piece, turning into a small belly. However, not only the belly, but also the triceps that were originally chiseled by a knife and an axe have begun to blur; the original lines and contours have almost disappeared, replaced by an overall round feeling...

Spanish media generally use the word "overweight" to evaluate Ronaldinho this season. Although he is far from being obese, compared with his original explosive body, Ronaldinho seems to have become a different person. However, how can such a slightly fat body perform those extremely difficult technical moves, and how can he walk on flat ground in the La Liga arena full of dangers?

The topic that when Ronaldinho gets fatter, Barcelona gets weaker is not groundless, because once Barcelona's overall performance declines, many problems that were originally covered up will be exposed, spotlighted, and exploded...

Last week, the day before Sevilla eliminated Steaua and advanced to the round of 16 of the UEFA Cup, Barcelona lost 16-1 to Liverpool at home in the first leg of the Champions League round of 2.

Losing to Liverpool at home may not be the end of the world. Barcelona still has a chance to regain confidence from the devilish home field of Anfield, but it was after that game that the Spanish media exposed Ronaldinho's recent night life. Originally, the media mentioned that Ronaldinho's most frequented place was the gym; but the defeat at Camp Nou made the media reveal that Ronaldinho's most frequented place in the past few months has become a bar.

Alcohol is also the natural enemy of football players in a sense. From George Best, Maradona to Gascoigne and even Ronaldo in Real Madrid, many stars have spent their time drunk.

Ronaldinho already has the honors of World Champion, European Champion and La Liga Champion. If he has no direction and motivation, the consequences will be hard to imagine.

Ricardo, who is young but has won almost the same championship and is richer, shuddered when he saw the relevant reports: Fortunately, I am severely allergic to alcohol and have never won the Golden Globe Award...

In addition, Barcelona also has a cheetah with a strong personality. Eto'o, who had just returned from injury after nearly 4 months of recuperation, has recently had a huge conflict with the Barcelona club and his teammates. On the one hand, Eto'o has excellent football and sports talent, on the other hand, the cheetah also has a very extreme style of doing things. Are all geniuses extreme?

(Ricardo doesn't think so, it's just that Eto'o is more extreme)

As early as two seasons ago, Eto'o had already been at odds with the team, and Ricardo was a little confused. Wasn't he just looking for trouble? Was he just trying to prove his existence or importance? He was just a troublemaker.

On May 2005, 5, Barcelona regained the La Liga championship after six years. Eto'o, who was resentful of the lack of attention he received during his time at Real Madrid, publicly shouted insulting words during the celebration. As a result, not only did Eto'o have to hold a press conference to apologize under strong public pressure, but the Barcelona club was also condemned by the society and investigated by the Spanish Football Association.

On October 2005, 10, in a crucial World Cup qualifier, the Cameroon national team missed a penalty at the last minute and lost the qualification for the 8 World Cup finals. Eto'o, who was originally the number one penalty taker, backed off at the critical moment and handed the responsibility to defender Vorm; but after the game, Eto'o actually criticized Vorm, saying that he had taken away his penalty kick right.

On February 2006, 2, in Barcelona's away game against Zaragoza, Eto'o went on strike due to his dissatisfaction with the racist behavior of the home fans, and finally returned to the game after being persuaded by Rijkaard and others. Eto'o was originally a victim of this incident, but afterwards, the Cheetah put too much energy into criticizing the racism in the La Liga stadium, and criticized many stadiums and clubs by name...

On August 2006, 8, Barcelona defeated Espanyol, the champion of the King's Cup last season, in the Spanish Super Cup, but Eto'o was missing at the award ceremony afterwards. It turned out that Eto'o drove away from the stadium without waiting for the end of the game because he was dissatisfied with the coach's substitution of him in the middle of the game...

However, the events after the New Year were even more explosive, because Eto'o was no longer satisfied with criticizing outsiders, but began to publicly criticize his parent team and his teammates.

The cause was that in the league match against Valencia, Eto'o refused to come on as a substitute because he was dissatisfied with the playing time. After the game, Rijkaard announced to the media the fact that Eto'o refused to play. Ronaldinho later said in an interview that every player should think more about the team.

Then last Tuesday, when Eto'o participated in a charity event, at the press conference after the event, Eto'o angrily began to blast the head coach, teammates and club: "... those who said I refused to participate in the game are bad people, they are really bad people, they can say whatever they want, anyway, I have always fulfilled my responsibilities, if you want to know what the facts are, you should ask Rijkaard. I don't need to explain to anyone..."

"My teammates said I should consider the interests of the team first? But I think he is the one who should consider the interests of the team more. At least, I think of the team first, and then the money... Maybe I scored too many goals and embarrassed others."

"I don't have any problems, the problem is with the team. Now the club has split into two factions, one is the chairman's faction, and the other belongs to another person... I have been involved in a war that has nothing to do with me, and someone is hitting me in the back..."

Eto'o said a lot of things without restraint, but to sum it up: Rijkaard is a bad guy, a nobody; Ronaldinho only cares about money; Barcelona has been divided into two camps, and the two sides are constantly fighting for power...

If these words came from someone related to Real Madrid or Espanyol, there would be nothing surprising. Perhaps in the eyes of the staunch supporters of these two clubs, the situation inside Barcelona is much dirtier. But if such words came from a Barcelona player, then there would be a big problem.

Daily Sports published a special comment immediately, saying: "Eto'o's ruthless attack caught Barcelona off guard, which also plunged Barcelona into complete chaos."

However, after venting his anger, Eto'o gradually realized how bad things were, and tried to clarify and ease the situation with the head coach and the club.

But Eto'o's attitude towards Ronaldinho has not changed. Even though the Brazilian's words were not excessive, Eto'o thought he was saying one thing and doing another: "I can't accept what he said. We can't be friends. We got along well in the past few years, but it's not the case now... If I want to blame a teammate, I will tell him privately... He broke the rules."

In the league at the weekend, Eto'o chose to come back. Of course, this was a choice made by the Cameroonian himself, not by coach Rijkaard...

But at least in the 65 minutes at Camp Nou on Sunday night, Eto'o's performance was perfect, contributing an assist and a goal, as well as pressuring the Bilbao defender to score an own goal.

Football is simple, but being a human being is difficult. It is difficult to explain the relationship between Eto'o and the club, Ronaldinho and even other teammates, both on and off the field. For various reasons, Ronaldinho has been the club's top player in the past few seasons; however, Eto'o is not a person who likes to follow others and enjoy honors. What he pursues is the admiration of his teammates, fans or anyone else. He likes to be the protagonist of the story...

In any case, Ricardo believes that Eto'o's rebellious character will make it impossible for the Barcelona team to be as united as before, and the sequelae of division cannot be simply eliminated...

And this is Sevilla's chance! Of course, it could also be Real Madrid or Valencia's chance...