Chapter 73: The Big Cat Returns and the Battle for the Top

Barcelona lost to Atletico Madrid in the league, and Eto'o, who was far away in Egypt, was also unhappy because Cameroon failed to reach the semi-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations.

Back to a day ago, on the evening of February 2006, 2, the Army Stadium in Cairo, Egypt, was filled with a derby atmosphere. Although Cameroon and Cote d'Ivoire were competing for a place in the semi-finals of the African Cup of Nations, the theme of the game was who should go to the World Cup. In the World Cup qualifiers, Cameroon defeated Cote d'Ivoire, which is also in West Africa, both at home and away, but ultimately ranked second in the group and missed the trip to Germany, so they were eager to take revenge.

In addition, this match was a confrontation between two of the most popular African shooters. Before Chelsea and Barcelona faced off in the Champions League knockout round, Drogba and Eto'o had to face off in the quarter-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations, and it was they who decided the outcome of the match. In the 1th round of the penalty shootout, Eto'o missed the goal, but Drogba scored again, sending Cote d'Ivoire into the semi-finals.

(Ricardo curled his lips: "I said, the African big cat's penalty kick is not good, and I am a bear and I have to rush to shoot... But there seems to be no way to deal with this kind of super long penalty shootout. Everyone on the field has to shoot once... It seems that I have to continue to practice penalty kicks... I don't know if Lopez has a good method...")

In the 90 minutes of the regular match, Côte d'Ivoire and Cameroon drew -.

In the second minute of extra time, Côte d'Ivoire broke the deadlock first. Arsenal defender Eboue hit the crossbar with a long shot from 2 meters away, and substitute striker Kone scored with a clever follow-up shot, giving Côte d'Ivoire a 20-1 lead.

In the 95th minute, Cameroon equalized the game with a left-foot shot by substitute Ze, sending the game into a brutal penalty shootout.

In the first round, Eto'o and Drogba both scored, and then other players on the field, including the goalkeeper, also scored.

In the 12th round, Eto'o's shot was too high, but Drogba volleyed the ball into the net.

12 to 11, this is the longest and most successful penalty shootout (24 out of 23) in the history of national team competitions (including but not limited to the African Cup of Nations, the World Cup, the European Cup, the America's Cup, etc.). The previous record was also related to Cote d'Ivoire: in the 1992 African Cup of Nations final, they defeated Ghana 11 to 10 in a penalty shootout, which was also their most recent African Cup of Nations.

(Ricardo suddenly realized: "No wonder! He is a senior player! This specialty... is really amazing... He is good at penalty shootouts, especially long rounds...")

Cameroon seemed to have bad luck with penalties: in the last round of the World Cup qualifiers, Vorm missed a penalty at the last minute, causing his team to be eliminated, and they were guaranteed to advance to the next round by the Ivory Coast. After the game, Eto'o accused Vorm of not taking his penalty kick, but Vorm hit back, saying that Eto'o refused to take the penalty kick at the time, and Vorm disappeared from the national team afterwards. Unexpectedly, less than half a year later, Eto'o also missed a crucial penalty kick...

(Ricardo couldn't help but laugh: "What's the difference? Even if you, the African big cat, take the penalty, there is still a high probability that it will not go in... Let Worm take the penalty and shirk the responsibility, how good...")

在本届非洲国家杯的小组赛中，喀麦隆3战全胜打进7球，埃托奥贡献5个进球和1次助攻。但刚从小组赛出线的喀麦隆就在1/4决赛被科特迪瓦淘汰，使埃托奥打破单届非洲杯个人进球纪录（9球）的梦想落空。

The results of the other quarter-finals were as follows: Nigeria tied Tunisia 1-4 in extra time and defeated the defending champion 1-1 in the penalty shootout. Inter Milan youngster Obinna scored a goal for Nigeria, and goalkeeper Enyama was also a hero. He first saved a penalty in the first half and blocked the opponent's shots three times in the penalty shootout.

In another match, Egypt defeated the Democratic Republic of Congo 4-1; in the last match, Senegal reversed Guinea, which had won all the group matches, 3-2 and will compete with Egypt for a place in the final.

But with Cameroon eliminated and Eto'o about to return to the team, Ricardo is no longer interested in the remaining matches and results of the African Cup of Nations...

Barcelona lost to Atletico Madrid at home, and their 14-game winning streak in the league came to an abrupt end; Ronaldinho was suspended for one round due to a red card, and Messi will be absent for 10 days due to injury. Coupled with a large number of injuries before, Barcelona fans are looking forward to Eto'o, who has ended his journey in the Africa Cup of Nations, to return soon and catch up with the fierce away battle with Valencia on Sunday.

Eto'o is also eager to return home; according to the current plan, he will arrive in Barcelona on Wednesday, February 2, and resume training with the team on Thursday, February 8. Before the match against Valencia, Eto'o, who just missed a penalty in the African Cup, will have a total of 2 days to adjust his preparations, regroup and polish his boots.

However, it is still unknown whether Rijkaard will let Eto'o take this risk, because after more than two hours of high-intensity training every day, four African Cup games and five hours of flight during this period, Eto'o's physical fitness and condition cannot be guaranteed.

Moreover, Barcelona has a huge advantage in the La Liga standings, and is more than 7 points ahead of the second tier. In addition, the Champions League knockout match against Chelsea will be held in late February, and Rijkaard also needs to consider the overall situation instead of just focusing on the immediate interests. It may be a better choice to let Eto'o rest for a few days to recover his form and resolve the psychological shadow of missing the penalty kick...

(But Ricardo doesn't see it that way: "Given the competitive nature of the African big cat, he will definitely ask for a fight when he comes back. He also has the goal of breaking the La Liga goal record and expanding his advantage as the best scorer of the 21st century... In addition, Eto'o has long been accustomed to the fact that he missed a penalty kick. What else needs to be resolved?")

At present, Rijkaard has not confirmed that Eto'o will play in the match against Valencia. However, despite this, the duel between Eto'o and Villa, the current top scorer in La Liga, has long been a hot topic in the newspapers.

Although the Cameroonians only had three days to prepare, looking back at the records, in 3, Eto'o helped Mallorca win the King's Cup within 2003 hours, and then played for Cameroon in the Confederations Cup... With the precedent, Ricardo concluded that his dream of starting in the attacking line would definitely be ruined by Eto'o...

Sure enough, on the second day after Eto'o resumed team training, Rijkaard announced the roster for the weekend game. Eto'o returned to the starting lineup as center forward as he wished after missing 5 games, while Ricardo could only wait on the bench.

In addition, Ronaldinho is suspended for Barcelona, ​​Deco, Messi, Motta and Xavi are injured, Marcos' minor injury has little impact, and Belletti has also returned to the team after recovering from injury.

So Barcelona's starting lineup returned to 4-3-3:

The goalkeeper is No. 1 Valdés;

The back line from left to right is No. 12 Van Bronckhorst, No. 4 Marcos, No. 5 Puyol, No. 23 Oleguer;

This game was also Marcos' 100th appearance for Barcelona;

The iron triangle in the midfield is No. 15 Edmilson, No. 17 Van Bommel and No. 24 Iniesta;

The forward trident is led by the returning center forward No. 9 Eto'o, the right winger is No. 8 Giuly, and the left winger is No. 14 Esquero.

Lined up on the bench were second goalkeeper Holkera, Belletti, Larsson, Li Qi, Sylvinho and Gabriel.

Looking at the opponent, the media also gave Valencia's lineup information the day before the game.

Although Ayala, Vicente and Kluivert were injured for the Bats, the impact was not significant; the team's top scorer Villa, attacker Aimar and two defensive midfielders Albelda and Baraja were all in good shape.

Valencia used a 4-2-3-1 formation, with many internationals and famous players in the team:

The goalkeeper is No. 1 Cañizares;

The back line from left to right is No. 24 Moretti, No. 33 Albiol, No. 17 Navarro, No. 2 Miguel;

The double defensive midfielders are Baraja and Albelda who are in good form;

The forward line is a talented and powerful trio, Angulo, Aimar and Regueiro;

The striker is the Spanish striker Villa, who is currently second in the scorer list.

……

Having just finished studying the starting lineups of both teams through the sports newspapers in the airport bookstore on Saturday morning, Ricardo couldn't help but feel a little worried. Barcelona, ​​playing away from home, really didn't have the upper hand in this game...

"It would be great if I could shrink back and do something dirty... Unfortunately, the boss won't allow it..." Ricardo, who was wearing sunglasses and worrying about everything, suddenly spotted the protagonist he was going to pick up at the airport.

Ice beauty Julian walked out of the airport in a business casual outfit, a khaki women's suit jacket with a black V-neck sweater underneath, a silver-gray Gucci cashmere scarf around her neck that must have been a gift from Ricardo, versatile black straight wide-leg women's trousers, and beige thick-heeled Martin boots... Her hairstyle should also be a newly permed wavy hair with a shawl and side parting: it's such an intellectual, business-like and energetic outfit!

Yes, this weekend is Chiara's period, so she is taking a week off in Milan. Sarafina is also in high school and cannot go far away on weekends. So Julian, who is in her last semester of undergraduate studies, came to Barcelona to interview for an internship...

In fact, both of them knew that Julian was here to spend the Chinese Lantern Festival on Sunday and Valentine's Day next Tuesday with Ricardo! If they were not looking for a biopharmaceutical internship, they would definitely not come to Barcelona... Top students like Julian would either go to New Jersey or Illinois in the United States, or stay in Europe to the European Bio Valley located in the Upper Rhine River Basin, including Alsace in France, northwestern Switzerland, and South Baden in Germany.

Regardless of the motive, as long as the Ice Goddess comes to Barcelona, ​​Ricardo, who has no other tasks, will naturally pick her up and send her off, and warm her bed...

After picking up Julian and settling her down at the apartment, Ricardo conquered the ice goddess' stomach with the dumplings he had prepared early in the morning, and then obediently returned to the club to prepare for the evening training session.

Julian, who has a good foundation in human anatomy, sports and medicine, naturally knows the reason why Ricardo was injured last time - it was because of her, so Julian naturally stopped Ricardo's ridiculous request for daytime sex. He still had to train in the afternoon, so he could talk about it in the evening...

(For the sake of love and peace, I will omit thousands of words about the battle at night...)

February 2006, 2, Sunday, was the Lantern Festival in China and the match day of the 12rd round of the 05/06 Spanish Football League, when Barcelona played away against Valencia. In the morning, Ricardo and Julian ate glutinous rice balls together, and then went out to the club to gather and prepare to take the train to Valencia together; Julian stayed in Barcelona, ​​shopping, reading, or organizing graduation thesis.

In order to make its best efforts to contribute to environmental protection, Barcelona will choose to take the train for short trips whenever conditions permit. The total length of the train line from Barcelona to Valencia is about 302 kilometers, and the journey takes less than 3 hours. The train departs at around 10 am, takes a break, and arrives at the destination before 13: noon to prepare for the game...

Valencia Football Club (ValenciaCF) is located in Valencia, the third largest city in southeastern Spain. The city is also the second largest seaport in Spain. It is bordered by the sea to the east and backed by a vast plain. It has evergreen all year round and a pleasant climate. It is known as the "Sunshine City" in Europe and is also known as "a pearl on the west coast of the Mediterranean."

Founded on March 1919, 3, Valencia is also a long-established team with a long history. The number of members is the third largest in Spain. In the early days, the team wore white shirts and white shorts, so it was called the "White Ghost" in Spain; however, because of the team logo, more fans still call it the Bat Army.

Speaking of the history of the Valencia team, it is worth mentioning that Valencia won the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1980; then, Valencia defeated England's Nottingham Forest in the European Super Cup, which was also the first time a Spanish team won the European Super Cup.