Chapter 42: Finally the first release
On the way back to Barcelona, Ricardo also learned the result of another match in the group from the Internet: Udinese defeated Panathinaikos 3-0 at home.
It was Acuna, who did not bring his shooting boots in the last national team match, who scored a hat trick with his head and feet!
It turns out that he had been saving it up in the national team, and it exploded in this game...
……
Ricardo returned to Barcelona and immediately faced the last week of the summer mini-semester and the logistics support of Chiara!
The Barcelona brothers are about to go to the away game to challenge Atletico Madrid, who have 1 loss and 1 draw this season and have not won a game.
Yes, I don't know if Rijkaard wanted to understand Ricardo's pain of having to take classes during the summer vacation, or to save some time for Ricardo to punish Chiara, but Ricardo was not included in the roster for the away game this time...
After finishing Lopez's private lesson on Friday morning, Ricardo also ushered in the end of the summer semester, and next week will usher in the new fall semester of the University of Barcelona.
But in fact, there was no exam at the end of this semester, and the assessment was in the form of homework. Ricardo submitted a database storage and call framework that he had been working on for half a year, with some small C++ programs for factor analysis.
This is also the reason why Professor Almiron gave Ricardo, a master's student, a full scholarship. He did not use him as a teaching assistant or research assistant, but instead asked Ricardo to produce papers and code results.
Ricardo naturally had no objection. They just took what they needed. The second or third author was also an author. Anyway, he would not pursue an academic career. Even if he did, he would still have 10 years to copy, right? Hehe, pursuing an academic career also required following the circle. It was definitely a good idea to stick with Professor Almiron first.
As for the program code, it is even simpler... modify it, as an independent module, you can continue to use it in the future, anyway, the source code is in your hands...
In this class, Professor Almiron mainly discussed with Ricardo the debugging and subsequent debugging and optimization of the program...Ricardo was undoubtedly evaluated as excellent.
Next semester, I can only take two courses, and I plan to choose them on Monday and Friday mornings. I have already said hello to Professor Almiron in advance, and it just so happens that both courses are taught by Professor Almiron...
How about using one class for writing papers and one class for modifying code?
"Well... it's not impossible..." After getting the promise from Professor Almiron, Ricardo felt relieved. It seemed that the fall semester would be easier.
Ricardo, who has been performing well recently and the team's performance is back on track, was in a very good mood. He took Chiara home in the evening...
Why not vent your energy without going to an away game? Oh no, I want to punish Chiara with a stick to warn her about her constant flirting with me!
As for whether he had used too much force, Ricardo looked at Chiara, who had been staring at him for the entire weekend, and fell into deep thought. This seemed to be a reward rather than a punishment...
Ricardo, as usual, did not follow the match between Barcelona and Atletico Madrid on Saturday night:
First, Atletico Madrid has not found its rhythm since the start of the league and has not won a single game;
Second, Barcelona is in pretty good form recently, especially in the last league home win over Mallorca and the last Champions League away win over Bremen;
Third, this game is the last game of this round, which will be held at 9 o'clock on Sunday night. Barcelona still has nearly 3 days of complete recovery period...
Fourth, after sending Chiara to the airport, Ricardo returned home and was texting and making phone calls with his parents, brother Sarafina, Julian and a group of friends to celebrate China's traditional cultural festival, the Mid-Autumn Festival!
After talking on the phone with Sarafina for more than an hour, it was already very late. I hurried to sleep because I had to get up early tomorrow morning to attend private lessons and the opening ceremony of the fall semester...
It will definitely be another big victory when I wake up in the morning!
……
The next morning, Ricardo woke up and turned on his computer to browse the news:
"Well, let's see how many we have won..."
"Huh?! Lost 2-1 to Atletico Madrid away..."
"Ronaldinho, Eto'o and Xavi dads, what's wrong with you?"
"Hit me in the face again?!"
But when I looked at another game, ha, Real Madrid also lost, losing 0-1 to Espanyol away, suffering two consecutive defeats in the league.
Ricardo felt a little better now. It's true that happiness comes from comparison!
……
The fourth round of La Liga is about to begin, and the competition has entered the fast lane. All the season games are basically scheduled to be played on Wednesday evening from 9 to 10 pm.
In this round, Barcelona will play at home against Valencia.
In this game, Rijkaard seemed to want to give the main lineup that performed poorly in the previous game a chance to redeem itself, and he copied the starting lineup and substitute bench of the previous game almost intact...
Yes, in that case, Ricardo was excluded from the 18-man roster again... In fact, Ricardo really wanted to say: "Boss, you should also give yourself a chance to correct your mistakes..."
In this game, Ricardo watched the live broadcast in his apartment while eating melon seeds, fruits, and drinking soda water...
Well, this game was full of twists and turns. Both teams played well, especially Barcelona who played well for most of the first half; unfortunately, Valencia scored two goals in the middle of the second half and overtook them... and they almost won the game.
Yes, the final result of the game was a 2-2 draw between the two sides.
Barcelona broke the deadlock in the first half with Eto'o assisting Juri, and Barcelona also dominated the game...
But in the second half, the situation changed suddenly and Valencia gained more initiative.
They scored two goals in three minutes at the 53rd and 55th minutes of the game, reversing the score!
Both goals were scored by Villa, who first scored the penalty he won, and then blocked the ball that Valdés kicked in the penalty area into the empty goal...
Fortunately, Ronaldinho's father had another flash of inspiration in the 81st minute! A cross from the left just passed the hands of Valencia goalkeeper Cañizares, and Deco pushed the ball into the empty net with his left foot from 12 yards in front of the goal. This was the Portuguese's first league goal of the season.
In the final period of the game, both sides had chances to kill their opponents, but unfortunately Ronaldinho's free kick hit the post and Valencia's last attack was also bravely resolved by Valdes in front of the goal.
After watching the match, Ricardo thought that the main reason Barcelona failed to beat their opponent at home was due to physical strength and condition. Although Ronaldinho and Eto'o still performed at a top level, the other players were obviously not in the best condition or had not found the right rhythm...
This was especially evident in the midfield. Van Bommel, who came on as a substitute in the second half, was a complete misfit...
"Hey, boss, you see, our team has not won a single game without me on the bench!" Ricardo only dared to complain in his heart...
However, it seemed that Rijkaard heard Ricardo's inner call, or was determined to give himself a chance to correct his mistakes: just two days later on Saturday night, Barcelona went to challenge Real Betis in the league away, and Rijkaard put Ricardo in the starting lineup for the first time!
First start in the league! Ricardo was very happy. Even Ricardo, who received Chiara on Friday night, did not dare to make a big move like last week. He just made a small move because he had to save his strength for the game the next night!
In order to prepare for the Champions League match against Udinese at home next week, Rijkaard made a large-scale rotation in this game. Ronaldinho, Marcos and Deco did not travel with the team to Seville, and Iniesta will not start, so Ricardo finally has the opportunity to play back to his familiar midfield position!
Some time ago, Barcelona's schedule was not very good. Although it did not face any strong opponents, it was affected by Fifa and the nightclub virus. In addition, the schedule was relatively dense. Basically, a game was played every 3 to 4 days, and many games were away games, which also made Barcelona suffer.
Messi was diagnosed with a groin strain after last week's Champions League group match and needed to rest for 2 to 3 weeks, so including the match against Betis, he has missed three consecutive league games. It is unknown whether he can recover before the next Champions League group match.
Barcelona's starting lineup for this game is still 4-3-3:
The goalkeeper is No. 1 Valdés;
The back line from left to right is No. 16 Sylvinho, No. 15 Edmilson, No. 5 Puyol, No. 2 Belletti;
The iron triangle in the midfield is composed of No. 66 Ricardo Ricci assisted by No. 6 Xavi and No. 17 Van Bommel;
The forward line is a combination of No. 8 Giuly, No. 7 Larsson and No. 9 Eto'o.
Another thing to mention is that it turned out that both Van Bommel and Larsson got their first start of the season in this game...
It seems that this is how the rich are... How does that saying go? Once you enter a rich family, it's like entering a deep sea? Ricardo should also reflect on himself, not be too anxious, and not be too picky, after all, he is a generation behind the big brothers...
In the opposing team, the one who alerted or surprised Ricardo the most was Joaquin No. 17. For a while, Old Li Qi was a big fan of Joaquin and believed that this right winger would be the next Luis Figo!
华金·桑切斯·罗德里格斯（JoaquinSánchezRodriguez），1981年7月21日出生于西班牙圣玛丽亚港，身高1米81。
This classic right winger is particularly good at dribbling. Although his absolute speed is not top-notch, he has excellent explosive power and a very reasonable combination of man and ball. If he is allowed to start dribbling, it will definitely be a nightmare for the opponent's defense.
Last season, Joaquin helped Real Betis qualify for the Champions League play-offs with a fourth-place finish in La Liga - they have already made it to the main competition; and in the King's Cup, he helped the team defeat Osasuna to win the championship. His strength should not be underestimated!
The mediocre record of 4 win, 1 draws and 2 loss in the first 1 rounds of the league made Rijkaard, who had just renewed his contract, feel the pressure... When Li Qi stepped onto the field, he looked at the boss who was pacing on the sidelines early and could feel his pressure.
However, Li Qi felt that this game would not be too difficult. Although half of the main players were rested, Eto'o and Xavi were still there. In addition, Larsson and Giuly could also change the situation...
What he had to do was actually very simple, which was to assist Xavi to organize the midfield, help Van Bommel to find the rhythm and stabilize the defense, give enough support to the offensive players, and then he could just sit back and watch the attacking group led by Eto'o to blow up the opponent's defense...
Therefore, after the game kicked off, Ricardo hardly participated in the forward run, but left the space for the forward run to Xavi. He surrounded the genuine defensive midfielder Van Bommel and constantly built different triangles with Xavi to receive the pass, or to sweep and intercept, or to assist in defense. After grabbing the ball or receiving the ball, he basically gave it to Xavi to organize it or passed it directly to Eto'o to attack the opponent's defense line, and he never dragged his feet and hesitated too much...
The first shot of the game came from Barcelona's corner kick in the first minute: Xavi took the corner kick and Puyol headed the ball wide.
In the 10th minute of the game, Barcelona had a chance to open the scoring. Betis defender Rivas was dazzled in the penalty area and could only foul Larsson to block the latter's shot. The referee decisively awarded a penalty kick and also showed a yellow card, a combination of a yellow and a dot package.
But! The penalty shot by Eto'o's father hit the goal post and bounced out, but was cleared by the Betis defender...
"Eto'o, Papa, how many times have you missed a penalty? You should be more careful..."
"Just hand over the penalty kick to others like I did... Oh, you would rather miss the penalty than see your teammates under the pressure of penalty kicks..."
"Okay, you are so great, I am so moved, woooo, you are worthy of being Eto'o's father..." These were all Ricardo's mumblings to himself. Eto'o, who missed the penalty, continued to play football calmly and ignored him at all...
However, Barcelona still took the lead in the 20th minute: first, Giuly won a free kick in the frontcourt on the right side, Xavi was responsible for the penalty, and passed the free kick to the middle of the penalty area. The arc speed and landing point of the ball were excellent. Van Bommel jumped high in the crowd 12 yards in the middle to head the ball. This header was very powerful, and the goalkeeper was unable to save it, and the ball flew into the upper right corner of the goal.
This is also Van Bommel's first league goal after joining Barcelona!
And two minutes later, Barcelona received good news again: in the 2nd minute, Oliveira was dissatisfied with the referee's decision after a fight with Belletti. After receiving a yellow card, he took the initiative to apply for a yellow card. He was sent off after receiving two yellow cards in a row. Betis will play with one less player in the next 22 minutes of the game.
This was also caused by the pressure that Barcelona's stable midfield and backcourt put on Betis in this game. Betis hardly formed any threatening attack in the first 20 minutes. The organization in the midfield and frontcourt was cut into pieces by Barcelona's defense, and 90% of them were intercepted. It is difficult to tear through Barcelona's tight defense by relying on individual players alone.
In the subsequent games, Barcelona firmly suppressed Betis in the half and had many chances, but unfortunately the final pass or the final shot was just a little bit off.
In the 38th minute of the game, Betis finally got their first shot on target in the game, and it was this shot that helped Betis luckily equalize the score.
It was also a set piece from the right, and this one was won entirely by Joaquin's personal ability. He used a series of fake moves to deceive Sylvinho's center of gravity, and before Li Qi could make up for it, he was tripped by Sylvinho's tackle on the right...
Assuncao sent a free kick from the right to Betis, and Juanito headed the ball from 6 yards in front of the goal, beating Edmilson. In fact, the header was not powerful enough due to interference from the defenders, but the ball had a strange arc after bouncing in front of the goal. No one could touch the ball or dared to touch this bomb that slid past the goal...
Fortunately, the ball hit the near post and bounced into the net. Betis also scored through this set-piece, and both teams returned to the same starting line.
Although the score was tied, the Barcelona team, who had one more player, remained calm and composed, unhurried and confident, believing that winning the game was a matter of time...
Of course, the only exception is head coach Rijkaard, who was eager to score two goals in the first half stoppage time!
During the halftime break, Rijkaard had to take advantage of the opponent's one-man deficit to strengthen the offense and strive for this timely victory, so he replaced Edmilson with Iniesta and pulled Li Qi back to the back line as a central defender like in the Gamper Trophy...
With Li Qi's extensive running in this game, Barcelona's midfield performance in the first half was quite good. Li Qi himself had 6 interceptions and steals, and Van Bommel also had 4... Betis's attack could hardly get through Barcelona's midfield.
In comparison, Barcelona's defense was a bit dull and faced almost no challenges. The only shot on target was scored by the opponent with a header...
He was not substituted, although he was moved to play as a central defender, that’s ok, let’s see if there is a chance to brush up some stats in the second half…
Of course, helping the team win comes first!
……
