Chapter 71 King's Cup elimination and injury recovery
However, the actual situation is often unexpected. Barcelona, which was behind in numbers, scored the first goal in the 42nd minute!
Deco was surrounded in the middle and suddenly passed the ball behind the Zaragoza defense line in the crowd. Giuly understood the situation and immediately started the offside successfully. He dribbled the ball to the right bottom line of the penalty area and aimed at the ball again. Messi, who was unguarded at the far post, headed the ball into the net from close range 6 yards in front of the goal - this time the header did not fly high, it seems that he has practiced more recently...
Barcelona tied the total score. If the game ends with this score, Barcelona with 3 away goals will eliminate Zaragoza and advance to the next round. So now although Barcelona has one less player, Zaragoza is anxious.
So Zaragoza changed its previous strategy and launched a fierce attack on Barcelona's position in the final stage of the first half!
In the 43rd minute, Cani intercepted Deco's pass and passed it straight to Oscar Gonzalez, who shot directly from the edge of the penalty area. Marcos blocked the shot and deflected it out of the baseline. Then Diego Milito quickly took a corner kick from the left. Zapater, who was at the far point, headed the ball away without being marked, missing the chance again...
The game soon entered the halftime break, but it seemed that Marcos was injured in the previous offensive and defensive battle, so Sylvinho was ordered to replace the injured Marcos, Van Bronckhorst switched to the right back, and Oleg switched to the center back position.
In the second half, Zaragoza, who had the advantage in numbers and needed to score goals, continued to attack Barcelona's defense, and as a result Barcelona had more counterattack opportunities.
In the 51st minute, Giuly received a long pass from Barcelona, stopped the ball and passed it back. Messi received the ball near the midfield and started, dribbling past several players and breaking into the penalty area from the left side and passing it in! (Damn, this must be the breaking point, it's so exciting!)
Unfortunately, Giuly's shot from 10 yards in front was blocked by the defender and lacked power, and the ball was caught by Cesar.
In the 53rd minute, Edmilson suddenly moved forward to receive Oleger's long pass from the backcourt and then passed the ball to Iniesta, who took a long shot from 25 yards on the right, but unfortunately the ball hit the outside of the far post and bounced out of the bottom line!
Then Ponsio made a flying tackle on Deco from behind, which was a more serious foul than Ronaldinho's in the first half, but he didn't even get a yellow sapphire card... Ricardo seemed to understand this time, it seems that there is another story in this game!
The TV broadcast showed that Rijkaard kept signaling to the excited players outside the field to stay calm, not to get red cards again, and to focus calmly on the game itself.
But Barcelona's players were still affected. Iniesta and Messi just kept fighting alone and breaking through with the ball, which often made them trapped in the visiting team's siege. Barcelona's offense lost its previous threat.
As one side gained strength while the other lost strength, Zaragoza once again took the lead in the 61st minute. It was Cani again, the troublemaker of this game, who intercepted Barcelona's counterattack and immediately passed the ball to the left side of the penalty area. The elusive Diego Milito made a beautiful offside run and got the ball. Facing the goalkeeper who came out 8 yards in front of the goal, he immediately shot with his left foot and the ball went straight into the upper corner of the goal!
The score of this game was 1-1, and Zaragoza was leading again in the overall score, 5-4.
However, just as Barcelona adjusted its tactics and prepared to attack again, Zaragoza took advantage of Barcelona's unstable formation and changed the score again in the 66th minute.
Another frontcourt steal, Oscar Gonzalez got the ball 18 yards from the left side of the penalty area, observed for a moment, and shot with his right foot. The ball drew a beautiful parabola and went directly into the far corner. Faced with this world wave, goalkeeper Holkera was helpless. The total score became 6 to 4...
In this case, Barcelona must score at least two more goals and ensure that the opponent cannot score any more goals to ensure advancement.
Therefore, Rijkaard immediately arranged for Larsson to replace Giuly to support the front line, and replaced Van Bommel with Van Bronckhorst to increase the height of the midfield. However, Zaragoza obviously knew the score situation, and immediately recalled all the players to defend tightly!
In the 70th minute, Zapater was given a yellow card for fouling Deco.
In the 73rd minute, Kani fouled Edmilson in the backcourt.
In the 82nd minute, Larsson was pushed down by Sapatel in the middle, but the referee did not make any penalty.
In the 87th minute, Henerello, who had just come on as a substitute, fouled Deco...
Barcelona did not give up at the last moment and scored a goal in the 92nd minute. Van Bommel's shot from 16 yards on the right side of the penalty area hit Generello and deflected. Larsson flew and shot from 10 yards on the left side of the penalty area to score.
When the final whistle of the game was blown, Zaragoza deployed heavy defense and maintained the score at the cost of 29 fouls and eliminated Barcelona.
The two sides tied 2-2 in this game, but Barcelona was still eliminated with a total score of 5-6 in the two rounds. It was really not what the fans wanted, and the clash of the century in the King's Cup semi-final did not happen.
So the Copa del Rey semi-finals that Barcelona missed out on are as follows: Zaragoza vs. Real Madrid; Deportivo La Coruna vs. Espanyol.
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After the game last night, Ricardo and Sarafina, who was already sleepy, went back to their respective rooms to sleep. The next morning, after waking up, they did some simple upper body strength exercises and prepared breakfast for the little princess. Then Ricardo ate his homemade sandwich while browsing the news and forums...
"I can't explain how I feel now. We tried our best, but some things are beyond our control. People always comment on the referee, but I have never seen so many people dissatisfied with the referee as today. I can only say that we are very angry." Puyol, who rarely said anything about the referee after the game, was so excited, so you can imagine how excited the fans would be.
The red card Ronaldinho received in the first half caused Barcelona fans to flood all the chat rooms and forums. The core topic was only one - to denounce the referee Santiago. One fan said excitedly: "This referee has screwed so many teams. I never thought that Barcelona would be fooled by him today."
(Ricardo is one of those who likes to visit online chat rooms and forums, but he doesn’t like to post anything. He just likes to read the comments of various fans. There are really all kinds of talents there, which is very interesting.)
After the game, Daily Sports wrote: "Santiago kicked Barcelona out directly. This is simply a shame. Barcelona played well, but it was Santiago who turned a magical night into a nightmare..."
Even the pro-Real Madrid newspaper AS admitted: "Santiago became the real protagonist on the field."
Referee Santiago has 7 years of experience in La Liga; it is not normal for such an experienced referee to make big mistakes, but this season he has not only performed poorly in this game. In the home game between Espanyol and Real Madrid, Ramos and Campo were entangled in the penalty area. Santiago blew the whistle immediately, but Espanyol's Jarque continued to attack and scored the goal. Santiago actually forgot that the whistle had been blown and ruled that the goal was valid... After that game, there was also a referee controversy, which ended in nothing.
(When Ricardo saw the news, he thought about the fact that he had been officiating for 7 years. It seemed that he had been taught everything by the Football Association and the Referee Committee a long time ago... He is an insider!)
At the press conference after the game, coach Rijkaard personally comforted his beloved player: "I don't quite understand the red card given to Ronaldinho..." As for Santiago's penalty throughout the game, the Black Swan was reluctant to talk about it: "It's too easy to blame the referee. But if we can score two more goals, I think no one will mention the referee. Everyone has seen the game, and who is right and who is wrong will be judged by the public, so I want to thank my players and all Barcelona fans..."
(The little princess finished her breakfast and waited for her to change and put on makeup. Ricardo turned on the TV to watch the news. He happened to see the press conference after the game last night: "It seems that Rijkaard is also a wise man! He knows everything he should know... Indeed, there is no point in saying anything after the game. It is better to give up the useless King's Cup and focus on the league and the Champions League...")
Today, Sarafina first accompanied Ricardo back to school to deal with matters related to the spring semester. Tomorrow is the first class of this semester. Ricardo also tried to jog in the school playground. If he can, he can report to the club tomorrow evening for a physical examination. If everything goes well, he can participate in the training class tomorrow evening...
(After all, it was just a minor strain. Ricardo, who had been taking physiotherapy at home every day, didn’t feel anything. What’s more, he had to find an excuse to send Sarafina back to Milan to go to school… If the little princess didn’t leave, Chiara would be embarrassed to come. Ricardo had been suffocated by the beauty that he could only look at but not touch for the past two days…)
After jogging 5 kilometers at school, Ricardo, who was normal, took a simple shower in the school gymnasium and prepared to take Sarafina to La Rambla for a stroll, have lunch and then arrange indoor activities in the afternoon...
Las Ramblas is a boulevard lined with plane trees that connects Plaza Catalunya to the Mediterranean Sea. There are many boutiques and specialty restaurants on both sides. There are also stalls selling souvenirs and flowers on the boulevard. At the end of the boulevard is the Mediterranean Sea, where the Columbus Memorial Tower stands, allowing people to look back on the glorious Age of Discovery.
I had taken the little princess to see the Columbus Memorial and the beach before our summer trip to Asia. Although spring had already arrived, the seaside was still quite cold. After eating a seafood dinner, Ricardo took Sarafina to see a movie in the afternoon - "Underworld: Evolution".
This is a fantasy film. It tells the story of the cold and beautiful female vampire Selina and the handsome werewolf-vampire hybrid Michael, who fall in love and hate each other. Then, like the story of Romeo and Juliet, they solve the mystery of the bloodline of the two tribes, and then resolve the new and old hatreds that have accumulated for centuries...
The plot is average, but the special effects and action are good. The traditional European girl Sarafina likes this kind of Western romantic bloody setting very much, while Ricardo thinks that the female lead played by Kate Beckinsale is very sexy in a leather jacket...
Why did we watch a movie in the afternoon? Because we had plans to visit the nearby Palau de la Música Catalana in the evening, and there was a flamenco performance at 9pm.
The Palau de la Música Catalana was included in the list of World Cultural Heritage by UNESCO last year. Built between 1905 and 1908, the Palau de la Música is the work of modernist architect Mondanel and one of the most stunning modernist buildings in Barcelona. Its colorful sculptures and ceramic mosaics are its outstanding features...
The tour was originally scheduled for the afternoon, but Ricardo bought tickets for the evening show, so they went in to visit in the evening. Ricardo doesn't have much artistic talent, he has always been tone-deaf and can't recognize paintings... He basically just accompanied the little princess to visit. The little princess has a good artistic talent and a strong foundation. She knows most of the exhibits and stories in detail and doesn't need a guide to explain them.
After being tired from shopping, the two of them took a short break in the café of the concert hall while waiting for the performance to start; the café has outdoor seats, where you can drink coffee while enjoying the scenery on the street. The two of them chatted about the future development of the economic situation - there is no way, Ricardo really doesn't understand art (old Li Qi knows nothing about it either), he can't even be called a pretentious person, he is just a cow chewing on a peony...
……
On Friday, February 2006, 2, it was drizzling in Barcelona in the morning, so Sarafina did not go out. She had to stay at home to watch how the professional housekeeping team cleaned up the traces...
"This little girl really won't let go of any clues. It will be hard to hide it in the future. Why not just lie to her directly? She seems to be quite open-minded anyway... But who knows if she is deliberately luring the snake out of its hole?" Ricardo was struggling as he went back to school for class.
After class, I came back to pick up the little princess for lunch, and then sent her to the airport to return to Milan. The excuse was that she had a physical examination in the afternoon and training in the evening, so she would be very busy... And Sarafina would also start school next week, so she had to go back in advance to prepare. Although the university admission was settled, she still had to herd sheep...
……
After sending off the little princess who should have established close contact with the housekeeping team in the afternoon, Ricardo, who returned to the club for a physical examination in the afternoon, was still having a headache: "I can't change it. If I change it, Sarafina will definitely know... If I don't change it, they will definitely follow the domineering, majestic and elegant housewife, and then I will be sold out completely... I still have to discuss it with their supervisor and change a different team every week, and I will pay more!"
Well, this way, even if it is exposed, it won’t be so thorough and frequent… Consider it a win if you lose less, just like the next league game between Barcelona and Atletico Madrid in two days.
Barcelona has Ronaldinho and Edmilson suspended, Eto'o absent from the national team, Xavi and Motta are chronically ill, Marcos also had some muscle discomfort after the last game, and it needs to be confirmed before the game: most of the team's main players are not there, and the bench may not be able to gather 7 first-team players...
……
As expected, Ricardo, who had just passed the physical examination, was praised by the team doctor for his youth and quick recovery, and was immediately put on the bench by Rijkaard... He didn't even check his training status. After all, including Ricardo, there were only 6 first-team players on the bench, because Belletti was also injured in training yesterday...
Damn, Belletti is so unlucky. He is the only proper right-back this season. When he is not injured, he basically starts and plays the whole game. Barcelona's style of play requires high running ability of the full-backs, which leads to excessive muscle fatigue. He has been injured twice in previous games, and this time he was injured in training, and this time at a time when personnel are most scarce... It's really raining cats and dogs. It's fate!
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