Chapter 56: I love the Fourteenth Master tonight!
On the evening of March 19th, at the Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid.
In the 28th round of La Liga, Real Madrid will face Real Betis at home.
In the first half, the game entered the injury time and the score was still 0-0.
In the stands of the Bernabeu Stadium, Real Madrid fans could no longer bear it, especially some radical fans in the south stand, who had even started booing the team, especially the head coach Gao Shen.
Many fans once again launched critical and even insulting slogans and slogans.
They are venting their inner dissatisfaction.
But just when all the fans' patience was about to run out, the Real Madrid midfielder suddenly completed an interception.
After Gravesen intercepted the ball, he quickly passed it to Guti in front.
After stopping the ball, the Golden Wolf, who replaced Zidane in the starting lineup, took two steps forward and sent a sharp through ball, accurately to the left side of the Real Betis small penalty area.
Negredo pulled away the defender, and Raul cleverly moved forward from behind and kicked the ball before the defender got into position. The ball hit the bottom of the left post and went into the Real Betis goal.
In an instant, the entire Bernabeu Stadium was boiling!
Raul also turned around excitedly and rushed out of the stadium, running all over the field amid the cheers of Real Madrid fans.
Since Gao Shen took office, he has been entrusted with important tasks, especially after Negredo was arranged in front to share the defensive pressure with him, Raul has been completely liberated, scoring goals one after another, surpassing Ronaldo and becoming Real Madrid's top scorer this season.
Tonight, it was Raul's decisive goal at the crucial moment that gave Real Madrid the lead in the first half.
…
Gao Shen was standing on the sidelines, and when he saw Raul score a goal, he jumped up with excitement.
After landing, he turned around and high-fived Lucas, Maqueda and others one by one, then reached out to Buenaventura. When the physical trainer shook hands with him, he pulled hard and gave the other person a warm hug.
All that reached Buenaventura's ears was deafening cheers mixed with high-pitched laughter.
Raul's goal was hard-earned.
Or it should be said that every goal scored by Real Madrid at this stage is hard-earned.
After letting go of Buenaventura, Gao Shen turned around, exhaled heavily, and roared loudly, venting all the tension and pressure.
Tonight, Real Madrid's starting lineup did not include Zidane and Beckham, and the Frenchman was not even included in the roster.
When the 18-man roster was announced, many people thought that after banning Ronaldo and Carlos, Gao Shen turned his knife to Zidane. Little did they know that the main reason was that Zidane participated in the national team's game in the middle of the week.
Beckham's situation is different from Zidane's. Putting him on the bench or even not letting him play was mainly Buenaventura's idea. He gave the advice based on Beckham's physical condition.
So tonight, Real Madrid's formation is 4-2-3-1, with Casillas as the goalkeeper, Felipe, Woodgate, Ramos and Arbeloa as the defense, Gravesen and Borja as the double defensive midfielders, Raul, Guti and Cassano in front, and Negredo as the forward.
Apart from anything else, the team has fielded such a lineup at home, and the fact that the team has been adjusting its training plan according to Buenaventura's plan over the past few days, the players are still working hard to adapt and adjust.
The downturn is obvious.
In fact, Gao Shen was already mentally prepared for a draw at home.
Guti's deadly through ball was delivered at just the right time, and Raul's follow-up move was also very coordinated.
This made Gao Shen feel greatly relieved.
"I love the Fourteenth Master tonight!" Gao Shen laughed loudly with excitement.
Everyone knows that Guti is a real nervous person and his biggest weakness is instability.
But Gao Shen has let him start for two consecutive games, and let him play in the attacking midfielder position where Zidane is, fully controlling the overall situation. He does not need to participate in defense, trying to maximize Guti's offense and creativity.
In the last game against Valencia, Guti's diagonal pass led to Callejon's cross from the bottom. This time it was even more straightforward, with a surgical pass that allowed Raul to score.
How can one not love such a Guti?
…
In the end, Real Madrid beat Real Betis 1-0 at the Bernabeu with Guti assisting Raul's goal.
Although the game was won, there was still booing at the final whistle.
Real Madrid fans are still very dissatisfied with this kind of game because it was too boring and ugly.
Real Madrid did not gain much offensive advantage throughout the game, and even had six shots less than Real Betis. Real Madrid had thirteen shots and Real Betis had nineteen. No matter how you look at it, Real Madrid was at a disadvantage.
Real Madrid had the advantage in ball possession with 60% to 40%, but they were at a disadvantage in terms of shots. How could the fans accept this?
If they played like this at home against a team in the relegation zone, how can they compete with Barcelona?
Also, why didn't Zidane and Beckham play? Did Ronaldo and Carlos really have to stay in the stands?
After the game, the Spanish media were also dissatisfied with Real Madrid's performance, especially Gao Shen's absence from the pre-match and post-match press conferences, and criticized him for being unprofessional.
On the contrary, Alfredo, editor-in-chief of AS, took the initiative to defend Gao Shen in his column, believing that Real Madrid has been improving, especially on the defensive end, where the progress is very obvious and they have not conceded a goal in three consecutive league rounds.
"Although Real Betis had 19 shots, they only had one shot on target, which means that Casillas only faced one shot threat in the entire game, which was unbelievable in the past."
Alfredo said that the improvement in Real Madrid's defensive level is obvious to all, but the price paid is the weakening of offensive capabilities.
"According to the information we got from Real Madrid, Gao Shen had told the president Martin and technical director Butragueno . He even thought the team was likely to be tied because Real Madrid had been working on their physical fitness during this period."
They will face Real Betis at home this weekend, Zaragoza away next week, Deportivo La Coruna at home next weekend, the midweek of the week after next is the Champions League quarter-final against Juventus, and the weekend of the week after next is the national derby against Barcelona.
Alfredo listed Real Madrid's devilish schedule in his column, "If Barcelona's devilish schedule is in February, then Real Madrid's devilish schedule is in March and early April."
"Gao Shen believes that Real Madrid must keep enough ammunition for the devil's schedule."
But Alfredo's rational voice did not receive much response amid the overwhelming boos and questioning.
Especially after Barcelona defeated Real Sociedad 2-0 away, it caused panic among Real Madrid fans.
The end of the season is getting closer.
…
Amidst the doubts, Gao Shen was most concerned about a piece of news from AS.
In an interview with AS, Ronaldo said that he had no plans to transfer to Serie A and he still wanted to stay at Real Madrid.
The Brazilian alien clarified that he had not authorized his agent to contact the Serie A team and had not received any invitation.
This is the first time Ronaldo has publicly refuted the rumors after they spread.
Gao Shen paid attention to this news more because he felt it was a signal.
Ronaldo's attitude changed.
In fact, it’s not surprising. In the past four games, he wasn’t even on the roster. How could he bear it?
Besides, Raul has scored more goals than him now, can he tolerate it?
Real Madrid has won four consecutive games. If they continue like this, Ronaldo will have no chance in Real Madrid.
He was arrogant before because he felt the team needed his offense and his goals.
But what about now?
Gao Shen would rather play ugly, conservatively, and score fewer goals in order to suppress him and marginalize him.
Ronaldo has only two choices: either continue to be marginalized and wait for his fate after the end of this season, or give in.
However, if he continues to fight hard, Ronaldo's position in the Brazilian national team will be in jeopardy during the summer World Cup in Germany.
…
…
The overwhelming doubts from the outside world did not disrupt the sophisticated deployment and rhythm.
On March 22nd, Real Madrid will once again visit Zaragoza's La Romareda Stadium.
The last time Real Madrid came to this stadium was in the King's Cup, where they suffered a crushing defeat of 1-6. Now they are making a comeback. Zaragoza has no desire and played very patiently at home.
Gao Shen has learned lessons from the disastrous defeat in the King's Cup. In addition, the team is still in the process of adjustment and continues to make major rotations. This time, Raul, Gravesen, Negredo and others were included in the rest list. Beckham replaced them in the starting lineup and Zidane was included in the roster.
Both sides played patiently, but the game was indeed dull.
Gao Shen did not want to leave Zaragoza any space for counterattack and attached great importance to oppression and pressing, which also curbed Zaragoza's attack.
The most threatening attacks of the entire game occurred in the stoppage time.
In the first half, Zaragoza launched a counterattack. Former Real Madrid midfielder Celades made a straight pass, Everton made a cross, and Diego Milito, who followed up in the middle, shot in front of the goal.
Woodgate made a defensive move at the critical moment, blocking Diego Milito's shot with his foot, changing the direction of the ball. Casillas then steadily saved the ball and resolved the crisis of scoring.
In the second half stoppage time, Real Madrid created the most threatening attack of the game.
Beckham made a diagonal pass to the front of the goal from the right, and Zidane, who came on as a substitute, quickly inserted himself. Former Real Madrid goalkeeper Cesar decisively left the goal to attack, but he collided with Zidane and neither of them could hold the ball.
In the penalty area, Soldado, with his keen sense of smell, kicked the ball into the Zaragoza goal before anyone else.
One to zero!
Real Madrid finally defeated Zaragoza 1-0 with Soldado's goal in stoppage time.
The game was still dull, Real Madrid's play was still ugly, and the fans and media were still dissatisfied as usual.
Especially in another game that was played at the same time, Barcelona defeated Getafe 3-1 at home with Eto'o's two goals, and continued to maintain its leading advantage.
On one side, the game was unstoppable and exciting; on the other side, the game was full of dangers and dull.
Not to mention that the media and neutral fans sided with Barcelona, even many Real Madrid fans criticized the team, believing that Gao Shen played too conservatively and was simply pursuing Italy's one-to-zero doctrine, which seriously violated Real Madrid's tradition.
Gao Shen declined to comment on this .
not the right time yet.