Chapter 64: Cheetahs are going to the Africa Cup (explosive chapter)

Ricardo and Chiara left home early today and first went to visit the Olympic Ring, one of the most famous attractions in Barcelona in the afternoon, as they had never visited here before.

The Mozuzi Olympic Stadium is not far from the Camp Nou Stadium. It is located in the Olympic Ring Scenic Area. It is adjacent to the Olympic Park, the Palau Sant Jorge, the Barcelona Botanical Gardens, the National Art Museum of Catalonia, the Albeniz Palace, and the Montjuic Castle, which offers a bird's eye view of Barcelona and the beautiful sea view.

The ancient castle of Montjuic towering over the sea presents the splendor of an old royal palace. The surrounding scenery is even more unique. On one side is the modern city of Barcelona, ​​and on the other side is the endless Mediterranean Sea and endless coastal scenery...

In the evening, with the afterglow of the setting sun and the sea breeze blowing, Chiara, who was a little cold, snuggled tightly in Ricardo's arms. Looking at such a beautiful scenery, smelling the fragrance of the beauty's hair, and in order to keep warm, Chiara even got into Ricardo's down jacket - feeling the curve of the seductive body, oh no, it should be this charming scenery that made Ricardo a little distracted, oh no, it was drunk...

The young man was full of blood and couldn't bear it anymore. He didn't care about the fierce battle he had just had before going out, so he dragged Chiara to find a corner in the castle that was sheltered from the wind and had no people or cameras, to experience the scenic spot + outdoor + castle mode that even old Li Qi had never experienced...

But this mixed-up experience is not so good, especially in winter. Fortunately, there are not many tourists in early January, so the two still found a relatively clean toilet for the disabled... After finishing, Ricardo, who was refreshed and restored to a gentlemanly appearance, took Chiara, who was still smiling and a little angry, to a nearby restaurant for dinner to replenish his energy. Ah, he should apologize, and then prepare to go to the stadium to watch the game...

……

On Saturday, January 2006, 1 at 7 pm, the Espanyol derby against Barcelona at home is about to begin!

The stadium was almost full of fans, and before the game started, it started to rain heavily. After putting away their umbrellas, Ricardo and Chiara finally found their seats, which were in the middle of the stadium. Although they were not closest to the runway, they were at the waist, but the view was better. Moreover, there were no fanatical home team fans around, but more away team fans and third-party neutral fans, which made a certain person who came with his family to watch the game and considered himself a rising star in Barcelona feel a little relieved...

"Pimenta is reliable! Let Lapang give her a chicken leg if there's a chance!" Ricardo couldn't help but give a thumbs up to his assistant agent in his heart.

After taking a quick look at the starting positions, Ricardo knew Rijkaard's lineup for this game (Ricardo completely ignored the roster he had just seen yesterday...), and then he whispered to the beauty next to him:

“Our boss deployed a 4-3-3 formation in this game;

The goalkeeper is our perennial No. 1 goalkeeper Valdés (he occasionally makes low-level mistakes, but most of the time he is very reliable, with good goal-line skills and good footwork);

The shorter one in the middle of the back line with long hair is our captain, No. 5 Puyol. Next to him is No. 23 Oleger (he is an independent, but I heard that he has a chance to join the national team). The one on the left is the Dutchman, No. 12 Van Bronckhorst, who has super accurate left-foot passes. The one on the right is No. 2 Belletti (he was injured before, and I took his position for a while).

The one in the middle of the midfield is No. 15 Edmilson, who changed from a defender to a defensive midfielder. The two forwards, the taller one is No. 3 Motta (don't be fooled by his gentle appearance, he is very fierce when he kicks the ball), and the shorter one is the Portuguese attacking midfielder No. 20 Deco - this little guy has good skills and passing skills;

It’s the turn of the most powerful forward, Na Ge San.

The shortest is Argentina's new genius No. 19 Messi - this little guy has the potential to become a football king (yes, I snatched the World Youth Championship from him in the summer);

The curly-haired guy on the right is Ronaldinho, the Brazilian genius No. 10 who has won the FIFA World Player of the Year award for two consecutive years. He is the most skilled player on the football field right now (yes, he is Ronaldinho's father whom I often mention);

Then the darkest one is No. 9 Eto'o - super fast and excellent technique (yes, that's the African big cat I often mention, in fact his nickname is Cameroon Cheetah)..."

“Messi originally wore the No. 30 jersey, but just changed to No. 19 after the winter break;

In addition, another key player, Marcos, missed the game due to a thigh injury;

At present, our Barcelona team ranks first in the league, while Espanyol ranks only 14th in the league. The difference between the two teams is as much as 22 points..."

Ricardo also added some background or team news, but it was obvious that Chiara was not very interested, and Ricardo could see that she was just pretending to be interested.

Chiara is not as good as Sarafina in this respect. Under the influence of Ricardo, the little princess has learned a lot about football in the past ten years...

It seems that Julian also knows a lot. After all, the Ice Goddess is a top student and knows a little bit about everything.

……

The game had already started, and the heavy rain continued to make the field a bit slippery, but Barcelona played at a very fast pace right after the opening.

However, the Spaniards took the lead in creating threats through counterattacks. In the 7th minute, the Spaniards midfielder De La Pena passed the ball to the right, and the striker Tamudo made a diagonal run and made a low cross near the right bottom line of the penalty area! Fortunately, Valdés made a timely save and intercepted the cross. Although the ball slipped out of his hands, Belletti made a timely defense and cleared the ball first...

Although Espanyol mainly adopted a defensive strategy, their counterattacks were very sharp. Moreover, because the field was slippery, both sides wanted to threaten the opponent's goal with long shots.

Barcelona almost took the lead in the 20th minute. After receiving Deco's surgical pass, Belletti broke into the right side of the penalty area and shot! Unfortunately, due to the rain, the ball rolled slower than usual due to the accumulated water, so Belletti missed the ball...

However, this turned out to be a fake move, causing the opponent's defender to miss the ball and the goalkeeper's center of gravity was also shaken. So Belletti adjusted and shot again from 16 yards in front of the goal, but unfortunately the angle was not good enough and the goalkeeper Kameni, who was already kneeling on the ground, saved it with one hand!

(Ricardo slapped his thigh hard on the sidelines in pity... bang!)

(“Ah! Why are you slapping my thigh again?!” The nice scream and scolding came from the girl next door…)

(…Chiara’s thighs are so elastic!)

Barcelona then took a corner kick. This time Eto'o stopped the rapid corner kick with his chest, broke into the penalty area near the right bottom line, and shot from a small angle, but unfortunately it also hit the side net.

(Ricardo wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to take advantage of her again, but Chiara was smart enough to notice it and caught his hand which was just raised in the air but had not yet fallen...)

(Ricardo chuckled awkwardly and retracted his evil hand... and began to gently caress the beautiful woman's hand...)

After that, Barcelona gradually got into the groove and took over the game.

In the 26th minute, Ronaldinho's father organized an attack on the left as usual, dribbled past the defense after receiving the ball, and then made a cross.

Eto'o cleverly caught the ball at the far post and volleyed it from 6 yards in front of the goal... However, the ball missed and turned directly into an inverted triangle cross...

However, Messi resolved the embarrassment of the African big cat, and more cleverly followed up to intercept the kicked ball, and then dribbled past the full-back Domi who came to defend from the right side of the penalty area with a fake shot from 14 yards, and then took a low shot. However, Messi's shot was again blocked by another defender Jairqui and went out of the baseline.

Barcelona almost took the lead again in the 34th minute. This time, Messi dribbled the ball on the right and broke through the opponent's defense. Then, after a wall pass with Deco at the edge of the penalty area, he rushed into the right side of the penalty area like an arrow, and decisively faced the defense 14 yards in front of the goal and shot with his left foot. Unfortunately, the shot was slightly higher than the crossbar...

However, hard work pays off. After besieging the opponent for nearly half an hour, Barcelona finally broke the deadlock in the 44th minute of the game.

Espanyol full-back Armando Sa fouled Ronaldinho in the backcourt; Ronaldinho's father took a direct free kick from 25 yards in front of the left goal, the ball went around the wall and was saved by goalkeeper Kameni!

However, this time it was the clever Deco who got the ball first after it was saved by the goalkeeper. Then he made a shoulder fake move, shook off Costa who came to defend, and shot with his right foot from 24 yards on the right side of the penalty area.

This time Kameni did not make another magical save, but just barely blocked Deco's powerful long shot. Although the ball changed direction, it still deflected and went into the net.

Deco's long-range shot helped Barcelona score the first goal; this was also the Portuguese's fifth goal of the season.

Barcelona also entered the halftime break with a score of 1-0. In the second half, Barcelona quickly expanded their lead.

In the 47th minute of the game, Ronaldinho's father passed the ball from the left, and Eto'o made a diagonal run and successfully got past the offside. He broke into the left side of the penalty area, and before the defender could tackle him, he shot the ball into the near corner from 12 yards in front of the goal! 2-0, this is the Cameroonian's 18th league goal this season.

Barcelona almost changed the score again in the 52nd minute. Deco passed the ball straight down the middle, and Eto'o made another diagonal run to beat the offside, but this time the Cameroonian cheetah's shot was blocked by Kameni outside the penalty area.

However, the slow-motion replay of the TV broadcast showed that Kameni intercepted the ball with his hands outside the penalty area; but the referee Vazquez did not make any penalty decision.

In the 58th minute of the game, Deco was hit in the left eye by his teammate Motta during a header. The Portuguese was immediately replaced by Van Bommel.

At the same time, the Spaniards also sent two new players, one of whom was Juanfran, Ricardo’s old rival in the World Youth Championship in the Netherlands!

I don’t know if it was because the teammate’s accidental injury seemed to divert Barcelona’s attention, or because of the good luck brought by the new players that the Spaniards replaced, or maybe it was both…

The Spaniards took advantage of Barcelona's distraction or good luck and equalized the game in the 60th minute!

Espanyol midfielder Fredson made a diagonal pass from the left, and it was the turn of the Espanyol striker to make a direct run and successfully get out of the offside trap. Tamudo broke into the right side of the penalty area and then faced the attacking Valdes from 15 yards in front of the goal and shot into the goal!

The Spaniards scored a goal and narrowed the score.

However, the subsequent games were lackluster, with neither side creating any particularly good chances. Rijkaard replaced Messi with Larsson in the 76th minute and Motta with Iniesta in the 85th minute, strengthening the running and control of the midfield while continuing to disrupt the rhythm of the Spanish counterattack...

In the end, the game ended with Barcelona winning 2-1. Barcelona won the city derby, maintained its 15-game winning streak and continued to top the league table!

……

At the post-match press conference, the Black Swan seemed to be very considerate of the key players who had just returned from vacation and were in the recovery period. Rijkaard commented after the game: "... First of all, our organization on the court was very good. Secondly, our players were physically able to compete with the opponent for 90 minutes and withstand the opponent's pressure very well. Winning the game is not easy, and therefore it is very important."

Espanyol coach Lotina seemed depressed after the game: "Perhaps a draw should be the most reasonable result."

Indeed, the Spaniards were not at a disadvantage in the game. Therefore, the head coach of the Catalan team, Alonso, praised the Spaniards' performance: "If the Spaniards can play like they did against Barcelona in future games, they will not only have no worries about relegation, but also have a chance to enter the European arena if things go well. I really like the spirit and fighting spirit of the Spaniards... This kind of derby is a real derby, a derby worth watching. The reason why the Spaniards lost is that Barcelona is the best in La Liga and even in Europe, but Lotina's team did not perform badly and should lose without regrets."