Chapter 87: Second Spanish Derby

As soon as the Barcelona team returned to Barcelona, ​​they immediately began intensive preparations, because three days later on Saturday, Barcelona will play against Real Madrid at home, which is the second round of the Spanish derby this season.

For Barcelona, ​​the bad news is that Messi, who performed well in the last round of the century battle, can only watch from the sidelines; the good news is that captain Puyol will be lifted from the ban and return.

There is no need for pre-war encouragement before the war of the century. Everyone knows what this national derby with Real Madrid means. There are only eight rounds left in the league, and Barcelona leads Real Madrid by as many as 8 points.

If they can win this game at home, Barcelona will be 7 points ahead of Real Madrid with seven rounds left in the league, which will almost put an end to this season's championship battle.

There is no doubt that before the second round of life-and-death battle with Benfica, Barcelona needs to completely lay the foundation for winning the league title so that they can devote themselves to the battle of the Champions League without distraction.

For this reason, Rijkaard even cancelled the usual one-day break after the away game. So the whole team returned to Barcelona in the early hours of Wednesday morning and went home to rest for about 10 hours. Almost as soon as they woke up, they had to go to the training ground next to Camp Nou for training.

But no one in the team raised any objections, or even complained. Everyone knew that the team had to go all out against Real Madrid, not to mention that their opponent was not participating in the European competition this week.

The most important thing is to work hard for a few more games. All the efforts of the whole season will be rewarded, not only personal honor, but also a generous championship reward. The whole team is in a very good state. The main thing is to grit your teeth and hold on...

Ricardo is naturally enjoying it. This weekend's national derby will be Ricardo's first time to participate in what the media and fans call the battle of the century. Last season, Ricardo, who was just a young rookie, had no chance to be included in the match roster; and in the first round of this season, Barcelona, ​​with a full lineup, could only let Ricardo continue to watch TV at home...

However, this weekend, Barcelona's midfield and backcourt are short of players, and they have to play two games in a row, so they need players. Ricardo himself estimates that even if the captain returns and he loses the chance to start as a central defender, as a priority substitute, it is likely that he will come on in the second half to replace the big brothers who need rest.

Sure enough, before leaving for the airport to pick up Chiara on Friday, Ricardo learned from his boss that he finally had the opportunity to appear in the world-renowned battle of the century, and he would start as a right-back!

After hearing the good news, Ricciardo and Chiara restrained their weekend battle in the evening, changing their usual style and letting Chiara experience the style of a jockey... (For the sake of love and harmony, thousands of words are omitted...)

The next morning, Chiara went out early for a morning run and shopping to avoid the scumbag finding excuses to mess around again. So Ricardo had to return to the base early to warm up and prepare for the national derby in the evening.

2006年4月1日晚间22时，西班牙足球甲级联赛第31轮展开焦点战争夺，巴萨在诺坎普球场设擂迎战皇家马德里，这是两队之间的第229场国家德比。

在此前的228场对决中，巴萨稍占上风，取得94胜48平86负。但在149场联赛中，皇马64胜27平59负战绩更佳。双方在诺坎普的75次联赛交手中，巴萨44胜14平17负，明显占优。

Currently, Barcelona's league points are 11 points ahead of Real Madrid, and this century-long battle is also the biggest points gap between the two teams in the Nou Camp. In the four seasons that Barcelona has won the championship recently, they have maintained a perfect record against Real Madrid at home, scoring 14 goals and not conceding a single goal.

Especially in the first round of this season, thanks to Ronaldinho's brilliant performance, Barcelona defeated the Galacticos with a score of 3-0.

In this game, Rijkaard continued to use the 4-3-3 formation, and except for the defense line, it was exactly the same as the lineup in the previous Champions League knockout match. The defense line was led by Puyol who returned from suspension, partnered with No. 23 Oleguer, the left back was still No. 12 Van Bronckhorst who started in the previous game, and the right back was the energetic young man No. 66 Li Qi.

Eto'o and Ronaldinho, who scored in the first leg of the two teams' confrontation this season, teamed up again. In particular, former Real Madrid striker Cameroon Cheetah scored against his former club 8 times in 7 national derby games, making him an absolute Real Madrid killer.

The visiting Real Madrid also fielded all their main players, with a star-studded lineup that lived up to their reputation as the Galacticos. The starting lineup was arranged in 4-2-3-1;

The goalkeeper is No. 1 Casillas;

The back line from left to right is No. 3 Roberto Carlos, No. 15 Bravo, No. 4 Ramos, No. 11 Cicinho;

The double defensive midfielders are No. 8 Baptista and No. 14 Guti;

The central midfield trio is No. 3 Beckham, No. 23 Zidane and No. 5 Robinho;

The lone striker is No. 9 Ronaldo.

皇马在上轮4比0大胜拉科鲁尼亚，主帅卡罗也派出了相同的首发阵容。此前11年29场世纪大战全部首发并且攻入13球的劳尔首次坐上替补席。

As the only representative teams of the Spanish Super League, the stories and grievances between the two teams can't be told for days and nights. For example, in the last game, Barcelona let Real Madrid concede 3 goals away from home and shaved their heads. Real Madrid is full of anger and wants to avenge the previous shame.

So without further ado, the whistle blew and the two teams started fighting directly. There was no need to test each other because they were all familiar with each other anyway...

Barcelona created a threat in the 3rd minute of the game. Ronaldinho made a straight pass after creating a gap in the middle of the midfield. Roberto Carlos was taken away by Li Qi and his position was delayed, so Van Bommel successfully made an offside. Then, facing the attacking Casillas at the edge of the penalty area, he calmly shot the ball. Unfortunately, his footwork was not good and the ball hit the left post and went out of the bottom line.

After that, the two teams entered into a fast-paced offensive and defensive battle. However, it was obvious that Barcelona was superior in both technical and tactical aspects as well as on-the-spot state. In addition, they were playing at home, so they quickly took the initiative in the game. Real Madrid could only continue to block Barcelona's advancement by fouling and threaten Barcelona's goal through counterattacks and set pieces.

In this game, Li Qi faced off against the Brazilian cycling sensation Robinho and the Brazilian cannon Roberto Carlos.

However, the former's soft style of play and flashy dribbling skills did not give him any advantage in front of Li Qi. In the early stages of the game, he was completely crushed by Li Qi. His two attempts to dribble were all intercepted by Li Qi without any damage. His two forward passes were also intercepted by Li Qi in advance because of his hesitation and delay...

So the veteran Roberto Carlos had to face the constant attacks of the young man Li Qi. In addition, the Cameroonian cheetah on the right wing saw that there was an opportunity to take advantage of the wing, so he pulled to the side several times and played tricks on the 33-year-old former left-wing master...

So in the 22nd minute of the game, Barcelona opened a gap in Real Madrid's left defense.

Iniesta passed the ball to Van Bommel, who passed it to Eto'o. The Cameroonian attacked with the ball on the left, looking for a chance to break through or cross the ball.

Then Li Qi made a high-speed forward move to support the opponent, but Robinho did not follow him and retreated. Just when the defensive midfielder Guti had not yet come to defend, Li Qi and Eto'o formed a 2-on-1 situation on the wing.

Pimenta was in the office, processing the contract documents of the newly signed players while watching the broadcast of the century battle on the big TV on the wall. He only heard the TV commentator's excited and rapid-fire explanation:

"Iniesta... Van Bommel... it's Eto'o's turn again..."

"Eto'o was one-on-one with Carlos on the right side, both of them are fast!"

"Li Qi is coming up! Eto'o passes the ball..."

"Li Qi passes it back to Eto'o... Eto'o passes it straight again!"

"A wonderful close-range marble-like short pass! Carlos had no time to react at all!"

"Li Qi has passed! Carlos can only use the tackle!"

"A foul in the penalty area! Penalty! Definitely a penalty!"

"Carlos tackled from the side and back, but Li Qi was tall and had long legs, so he had already passed him completely..."

"Carlos didn't touch the ball at all, he just knocked Li Qi down!"

"The referee Cantalejo was not far away and saw it clearly. He decisively awarded a penalty and showed a yellow card to Carlos!"

"Guti was too slow to come over to defend. It's unwise to come over and make trouble with the referee now... As expected, the referee gave Guti another yellow card..."

"Li Qi was fine. Instead, he excitedly high-fived Eto'o and Ronaldinho after successfully creating a penalty..."

"This penalty was taken by Ronaldinho, the first penalty taker in the Barcelona team..."

"Ronaldinho has the ball ready...Casillas looks serious..."

"Oh, Casillas also pointed to the lower right corner of the goal. He was playing a psychological game with Ronaldinho, trying to interfere with him... Will he succeed?"

"Ronaldinho took a long breath and started running..."

"Shoot!"

"Gooooaaal! Gooooaaal! Goal!"

"Ronaldinho fooled Casillas and shot low into the lower right corner of the goal, but Casillas missed the ball in the opposite direction..."

"This is the Brazilian Elf's 15th league goal this season! Barcelona scored the first goal at home and leads Real Madrid 1-0!"

……

The bad guys in Barcelona's frontcourt saw that Real Madrid's left wing had loopholes in this game. After taking the lead from the penalty kick, they took turns to the right wing to cooperate with Eto'o and Li Qi, bullying Carlos, the old hero who was in his twilight years...

Carlos was also very angry. After all, the Brazilian kid in front of him was not very reliable and did not make any achievements in this game. Guti, who was close to his side as a midfielder, although physically fit, was not good at defensive skills. When he teamed up with him to defend the left wing, he kept failing.

So Real Madrid suffered another critical hit in the 25th minute...

This time, it was Roberto Carlos who pulled down Larsson who had switched positions and was bullying him with the opponent's No. 66 outside the penalty area. Then, the Brazilian hero, who was powerless, was dissatisfied with the penalty and kept talking rudely to the referee, resulting in him receiving the second yellow gem card and being asked to leave the field...

Many Real Madrid players came over to persuade the home referee to change his mind, but it was of no avail. Carlos could only leave the field with a helpless look on his face. Before leaving, he looked back at the seemingly harmless but actually malicious No. 66 and said, "If I were a few years younger, I would beat you to death..."

Li Qi looked at the unwilling Robert Carlos, especially his iconic thick thigh muscles, and felt guilty: "Brother, I'm sorry, each has his own master... In addition, brother, every wrong has its perpetrator, and the one who got you down is Brother Larson. He has a bald head like you, so he is easy to recognize. Don't make the mistake of taking revenge..."

So Real Madrid replaced the youth training player Alvaro Messia to fill the left-back vacancy, replacing the future Guangzhou Evergrande star Robinho who was poorly defended by Li Qi in this game; and arranged for Baptista and Guti to swap positions, relying on the muscular man to provide more backup defense to limit Eto'o and Li Qi.

Real Madrid had to play with one less player for the remaining 75 minutes of regular time... As a result, Real Madrid's midfield lost further power and they could hardly control the ball in the midfield, while Barcelona surrounded Real Madrid's defensive zone 3 and besieged it even more.

But what makes football games so fascinating is that there are often unexpected surprises, such as...

Real Madrid seized the only chance to equalize the score in the 37th minute!

Barcelona made a mistake in passing the ball in the frontcourt. The ball that Van Bommel passed to Deco was intercepted by Baptista, who then made a direct pass over the top. Ronaldo started instantly, successfully made an offside, and got rid of Oleger with one acceleration. Then he broke into the penalty area on the right side and faced the attacking Valdes 12 yards away, and scored with a light lob.

Although he has gained weight, the alien's starting power, explosive power and single-blade skills are still top-notch on this planet. Once he breaks through the defense, it is basically certain that a goal will be scored.

This was Ronaldo's 13th league goal this season, and it also helped Real Madrid score in an extremely passive situation. This was also Real Madrid's second shot in this game and the first shot on target. This was really the only shot on target in the entire game...

Li Qi watched Real Madrid players enthusiastically celebrate the goal despite being at a disadvantage, and couldn't help but sigh: "There was really only one chance, and he scored the winning goal with one strike. Ronaldo is worthy of it... If he was half a second or one second later, he would have been caught up by me and Puyol, and might have missed the chance to score."

Barcelona kicked off, the game resumed, and then the story of Chang Wei beating Lai Fu began...

However, Barcelona obviously did not have Chang Wei's ability and had no way to shoot the ball in. In the last 10 minutes of the first half, Ronaldinho tried three times, but missed all three times.

In the final injury time, Van Bommel half-volleyed Ronaldinho's cross from 25 yards on the right and the game entered halftime.

Judging from the first half of the game, Barcelona's advantage was already very obvious, with a ball possession rate of 62% and a shot ratio of 13 to 2, far ahead - but Real Madrid only scored one goal with two shots, who can they complain to?

In terms of passing accuracy, Barcelona is also significantly higher than Real Madrid, with 84% and 71% respectively. In terms of interception success rate, Barcelona is 100%, while Real Madrid is 75%.

But don't be surprised, because in the second half, Barcelona's advantage became more obvious. With one more player, Barcelona increased the speed of passing and cutting and increased the intensity of attack. Puyol and Li Qi were almost the only ones left in the backcourt to defend Ronaldo against counterattacks. All the players crossed the half court to participate in the beating. Oh no, it was to besiege the Galactic Fleet...

……