Chapter 505: Losing the Crown

A four-goal defeat at the Bernabeu, Real Madrid stopped in the top 16 ahead of schedule!

The defending champion advanced ahead of schedule, and Real Madrid once again defended its title in the top 16!

In an epic battle, Maradona II became a god with a hat trick!

Tottenham Hotspur showed off their prowess in the first battle and defeated the Bernabeu with four goals. Who can beat them in Europe?

The Welsh magic wing beats the Bernabeu, two assists to establish superstar status!

David Silva shines, Real Madrid abandons its most urgently needed midfield superstar!

The next day, all the major media in Europe used Tottenham Hotspur's 4-0 slaughter of Real Madrid as their front page headlines. This battle once again made Tottenham Hotspur the European champions. The favorite to win the league.

Many European mainstream media have commented that if Tottenham Hotspur last season was an upset, then Tottenham Hotspur this season has used facts to prove its strength.

Even the Spanish newspaper AS, which is close to Real Madrid, wrote a game review on the front page, saying that Tottenham Hotspur deserved their four-goal win over Real Madrid and that Real Madrid had nothing to say about the loss.

"Juande Ramos is known as the collector of cup trophies in Spanish football, because the biggest achievement of his coaching career is the domestic and European cup trophies. Interestingly, Ye Qiu is also known as Zuo is the king of cup competitions because the team he leads is best at playing in cup competitions.”

"Starting from Ajax, he has led the team to four Champions League finals and won the cup three times, including the most recent one, when he created a miraculous comeback to win the title against Manchester United at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Russia, and he reached it twice. He successfully won the UEFA Cup final, plus the domestic cup competitions in the Eredivisie and the Premier League, it is not an exaggeration to say that he is the king of cup competitions.”

"This game is not only a contest between two cup experts, but also a confrontation between the established giants and the European upstarts. Real Madrid, which has nine Champions League titles, only won one, but Tottenham, the new champion of the Champions League, Tottenham, the confrontation between the two old and new giants also makes the game full of suspense.”

"But during the game, we saw that Real Madrid, which should have been more confident and more sophisticated, did not have the calmness and experience that nine Champions League champions should have. Instead, many Real Madrid fans called it a supporter of an upstart team. Tenham Hotspur showed their outstanding technical and tactical skills at the Bernabeu Stadium.”

"Before the game, Ye Qiu said in an interview that Real Madrid had stopped in the top 16 in the past four years because they were unlucky and signed to wealthy teams. But the hidden meaning of these words was not to remind Real Madrid that you What about the poor performance in the group stage?”

"We saw that Tottenham Hotspur showed a very comprehensive and diverse offense in this game. They have both Gareth Bale's very impactful wing attack style and Messi's West and Robin van Persie's delicate small-area cooperation in the penalty area, David Silva's ball control and advancement in the middle, and Cesc Fabregas' fatal pass, coupled with the forward pressure of the two full-backs, all gave Real Madrid The defense caused huge problems.”

"Compared to Tottenham Hotspur, let's look at Real Madrid. Our offense is completely devoid of anything new. In the past few years, we have had almost nothing new. We have been repeating the same offensive routines year after year. After Juande Ramos came to power, he changed the team's tactics to 442, a tactical formation that has obviously been abandoned by all top teams. "

"Yes, Juande Ramos always said that tactics are dead and people are alive, but why is our midfielder always being crushed by Tottenham Hotspur again and again in this game? Why does our captain have to come back from the front to support the midfield again and again?”

"The nine consecutive wins in La Liga made us completely forgetful. We began to have the illusion that we had revived and that we had returned to the ranks of European strong teams. However, this 0:4 defeat reminded us , we are not yet!”

"Compared to Real Madrid, Tottenham Hotspur's game showed this team's very rare offensive and defensive balance!"

"At the beginning of the game, Juande Ramos adopted a rushing tactic. Tottenham Hotspur calmly and steadily retreated, using its own defense to block Real Madrid's attack and induce Real Madrid's wing to press forward. After two counterattacks, Gareth Bale broke through Real Madrid's defense on the left and created a threat. This is based on the solid defense of this team."

"With the team leading by two goals, Real Madrid began to panic. Juande Ramos was afraid of conceding the ball and immediately retreated the team's formation. Tottenham Hotspur seized the opportunity, pressed forward steadily, and immediately put the team's The tactics shifted from defense to attack and again produced two goals. This is the attacking side of Tottenham."

"Ye Qiu is indeed a cup expert. He knows very well that in a cup where tactics are more targeted, offense and defense must reach a balance and be able to switch at will during the game. Only in this way can we get to the end. So after experiencing After last season’s thrilling championship, he introduced Zygrinski this season to further strengthen the team’s defense.”

"Perhaps, for this game, many people will feel that Real Madrid lost unjustly, but judging from the game process, Real Madrid only lost four goals because of luck. If the luck was worse, maybe this would be a game for all Real Madrid fans. I can’t wait to commit suicide!”

Finally, AS also said that the game has been lost and Real Madrid has once again stopped in the top 16 of the Champions League. Real Madrid should not feel pain and sadness now, but should reorganize morale, adjust the players' condition, better prepare for the La Liga, and strive to reverse Barcelona and win the championship. This is the top priority at present.

Compared with the more moderate statement of AS and the cynicism of the Barcelona media, the comments of German Bild seem more neutral. They believe that the final score of this game may not be regarded as the real gap between the two teams' strength, but it definitely reflects the role of the head coach in the team.

Bild believes that "compared to Juande Ramos's arrogance before the game, Ye Qiu also adopted a verbal war tactic of stimulating speech, but it is obvious that Ye Qiu, who has been engaged in verbal wars with Ferguson, Mourinho, Wenger and others for a long time, is stronger in words. He knows very well that verbal wars cannot defeat opponents, so he made more thorough preparations before the game."

"If we carefully study and analyze the factors that caused Real Madrid to perform poorly in this game, it is not difficult to find that Tottenham Hotspur has studied Real Madrid very thoroughly. Marcelo almost froze Robben. The Brazilian full-back has always given people the impression of unstable defense, but in this game, Robben was almost not allowed to play at all. The reason is very simple. Ye Qiu knows Robben too well."

"When defending the right side, Tottenham Hotspur is more likely to let Robben go to the bottom and use inside defense to prevent Robben from Cutting inside to seek cooperation, cutting off the connection between the wing and the two forwards, while Robben, who could not play the greatest threat in the attack and could only be forced to cross the ball from the right, was almost useless. "

"Compared to the left, on the right, Alves and Messi jointly suppressed the combination of Heinze and Vargas. Through this suppression, the entire midfield and backcourt of Real Madrid felt the pressure from the wing at any time and anywhere. Coupled with the joint suppression of the three midfielders, Real Madrid had almost no room for resistance. "

"Compared to Ye Qiu's focused preparations in details, Juande Ramos was obviously blinded by the nine consecutive victories before the game, and was also disturbed by the pre-match war of words. He wanted to use the rush to suppress Tottenham, but once the rush failed, he did not immediately withdraw from the attack. "

"Yes, Ferguson said that playing Tottenham Hotspur, a team with momentum, should not be allowed to play freely, but should be suppressed. However, it must be noted that Manchester United has also used opening attacks to attack Tottenham Hotspur many times, but Ferguson's attacks never lasted more than ten minutes, and many times he would come back after four or five minutes, because he knew very well that Tottenham Hotspur could not be allowed to counterattack! "

"Juande Ramos's clumsiness and his blind confidence in the team made him still indulge in attacking even when the opening attack was unfavorable. He idealistically believed that Real Madrid's attack would definitely suppress Tottenham Hotspur, but two counterattacks were the most powerful weapons. "

"But after losing two goals, Juande Ramos showed another clumsy aspect of himself, which was his conservatism and his inherent fear of the strong and the weak. When he fell behind by two goals, he was completely confused. Maybe he had not played before the game. He had never thought that he would lose two goals, so after losing two goals, he had no idea what to do. The first thing he considered was defense, but what if he couldn't defend? Keep defending! "

"I think this should be seen in the Luzhniki Stadium in the Champions League final last season. Ye Qiu lost three goals in the first half, but he resolutely chose to continue to attack with all his strength during the halftime break. At the same time, he found Manchester United's Achilles' heel and fought desperately, and finally created a miracle. "

"Compared with the two, Juande Ramos's failure is not difficult to predict! "

"This battle not only made Real Madrid lose the right to advance, but also made Juande Ramos completely lose the bargaining chip for renewal. At least in the eyes of many fans who watched this game, Juande Ramos should be more suitable to coach a non-giant team like Sevilla, not Real Madrid! ”

After defeating Real Madrid, almost all European media sang praises to Tottenham Hotspur, especially Messi, who scored a hat trick in this game, and Gareth Bale, who attacked twice and performed very well on the wing. They all became famous because of this game.

But many Spanish media felt sorry for Raul and Casillas, believing that both players had made enough efforts and showed enough strength, but in the end they were unable to save Real Madrid from the big defeat. This is indeed a regrettable thing.

At the same time, many Spanish media The media believes that it is actually Real Madrid's stupid transfer policy that has led to the team's current collapse, because David Silva was originally supposed to be a player of Real Madrid. Whether he was rejected when he came to Real Madrid's youth training camp for a trial, or he expressed his wish to join Real Madrid many times in Valencia.

Moreover, as a Spanish international midfielder, David Silva is also the most scarce player type in Real Madrid's midfield at present, because they lack the ability to advance in the middle, and David Silva's ability to control the ball and advance has been fully demonstrated in this game, so Real Madrid missed him, which is equivalent to weakening itself and strengthening the opponent.

"It's not just David Silva. Look at Arbeloa in Tottenham Hotspur. He performed very well in Tottenham Hotspur. He was once the captain of our second team and was patiently waiting for the call of the first team. But we gave up on him, and then we had to spend a huge amount of money to introduce Vargas. This is quite unbelievable."

"And Juan Mata, who is now performing very well in Valencia, was given to Valencia by us unconditionally by this former Castilla super rookie. Then we had no one on the left and had to push Vargas to the midfield. Isn't this a very sad thing?"

For this big defeat, more Spanish media felt that Real Madrid had reached the time when it must seriously think and summarize. The team must calmly sort out what path to take in the future, instead of continuing the muddle of the past few years.

Tottenham Hotspur returned triumphantly from Spain, and the 4:0 victory over Real Madrid made the North London team unanimously recognized and appreciated by English fans, but in the Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur is waiting for a very intensive devil's schedule.

The first leg of the Champions League round of 16 was held on the evening of February 25th. After the match, the team rushed back to London overnight.

But on February 27th, the team will go to the away game to challenge Sunderland in the 27th round of the Premier League.

And on March 1st, the team will play in the League Cup final at Wembley Stadium, and the opponent is Manchester United.

On March 4th, they will face Middlesbrough at home, which is the 28th round of the Premier League.

Starting from the first leg of the Champions League round of 16, Tottenham Hotspur will play a total of four games in just eight days, and three of them are away games, either the Champions League, the Premier League, or the League Cup final. The difficulty can be imagined.

Originally, Tottenham Hotspur hoped to adjust the schedule or reschedule, but as the schedule is coming to an end, it is very troublesome to reschedule, and there is no suitable period afterwards. The League Cup final has already been scheduled, so in the end, the FA and the Premier League did not agree to Tottenham Hotspur's rescheduling application.

After returning to London from Spain, the team immediately carried out recovery training and adjustments, and then went to the away game to challenge the Black Cat Sunderland. This time Ye Qiu had to make a large-scale rotation, while the Black Cat Sunderland, who played at home, adopted a defensive tactic and finally tied Tottenham Hotspur 0:0 at home.

Manchester United's situation is similar to Tottenham Hotspur. Ferguson's team also has to fight continuously, but they played the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 earlier than Tottenham Hotspur, so they had an extra day of rest, and they played at home, so they defeated Portsmouth 2:0.

After the 27th round of the Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur returned to London, rested for a day, and the next day they immediately ushered in the League Cup final with Manchester United.

Both teams were obviously not in their best condition in this final. Although both sides tried their best, the game was quite ugly. No one could find an effective way to defeat the opponent. In the end, the two sides tied 0:0 and entered the penalty shootout. Manchester United narrowly defeated Tottenham Hotspur 5:3.

This was also related to the fact that Ye Qiu finally replaced three main players. Because in the last 20 minutes of the second half, including Messi, Alves and others, they were obviously unable to run. At this time, Ye Qiu had to make substitutions, and Ferguson did the same. The difficulties of both sides were similar.

But Manchester United replaced Giggs and other veterans, while Tottenham Hotspur replaced young players. In the end, it entered a penalty shootout. Young players Ramsey and Eden Hazard missed the penalty kick, causing Tottenham Hotspur to miss the League Cup championship!

After winning the League Cup, Ferguson said in a high-profile interview with the media that this was not just a League Cup title, but also a clarion call for Manchester United to counterattack against Tottenham Hotspur, because Manchester United has won 11 games in a row so far, and he feels that Manchester United has every hope of continuing this winning streak.

"I have said many times that we are a second-half team. Falling behind in the first half is not a problem for us. We are always used to exerting our strength in the second half, so we have won eleven games in a row so far, and in the League Cup final, we have withstood huge psychological and physical pressure, defeated Tottenham Hotspur, and won the League Cup. This is a great encouragement to us!"

"I believe that Tottenham Hotspur has reached its limit. Their 27-round unbeaten streak will most likely end during this period, and our winning streak will continue. We will replace Tottenham Hotspur and become the leader in the Premier League standings before the end of the season!"

Ferguson also did not forget to further attack his opponent, "This season we have eliminated Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup and League Cup. I firmly believe that we will also eliminate our opponents in the league and the Champions League!"

Ye Qiu regretted that the team lost the League Cup, but he said that no one should be responsible for this defeat.

"I am proud of the young players in the team. I know this is a very difficult schedule. We are in trouble both mentally and physically, but I believe that as long as we grit our teeth, we will be able to get through it."

Ye Qiu showed understanding and consideration for Eden Hazard and Ramsey's missed penalties, and said he would continue to reuse the two players, because he firmly believed that after this brutal penalty shootout, they would become more mature.

"Everyone grows up from failure, I believe they will learn from experience!"

But Ye Qiu's remarks did not resolve the outside world's concerns about Tottenham Hotspur. After all, in the past so many seasons, there have been precedents of losing the League Cup and causing the team's morale to plummet, and then losing points in the league.