Tarragona was not a challenging opponent, especially in Bernabéu. No one was surprised by Real Madrid's victory.
Bosque's victory in his first game improved the team's atmosphere and eased the tension in the hearts of many players.
Even though Barcelona slaughtered Real Madrid in the away game with the momentum after their victory in the El Clásico and maintained a one-point lead over Real Madrid, Real Madrid did not feel too much pressure internally.
Compared to the ups and downs of Capello's era, Bosque's arrival calmed the team down.
Even after Carlos did not renew his contract with Real Madrid and settled on Turkey's Fenerbahçe as his next club, neither the Madrid media nor the Real Madrid Club stirred up a storm of public opinion. Instead, everyone gave their heartfelt blessings to the old veteran with ten years of meritorious service.
Real Madrid's schedule after the El Clásico was more relaxed, continuously facing teams in the relegation zone.
In April, the atmosphere on Real Madrid's training ground became very good. Teammates would joke with each other during training, and reporters would often capture interesting scenes of teammates playing games with each other.
Bosque was like a loyal elder watching the team get better little by little. Sometimes they could not even feel his presence.
On April 2, Real Madrid was the guest to challenge Celta, the third-last team in the league.
Bosque's only change in the starting lineup was to make Reyes the substitute and Robinho the starter.
During Capello's era, Robinho was a little angry from being suppressed. His situation at Bernabéu also became a little awkward because he would often take the initiative to provoke Real Madrid fans after performing well in games. For example, he would hug his compatriot Emerson. This was a scene that Real Madrid fans did not want to see, because everyone did not like Emerson or despised him for slowing down the team's offensive rhythm.
However, after Bosque took over, Robinho's impulsiveness turned into normal.
In the game against Celta, he frequently played exquisite coordination with Qin Xiong in the front field, using his individual ability to attack Celta's defensive zone in the front field. Qin Xiong was also happy to create opportunities for Robinho.
Real Madrid scored three goals in the first 60 minutes. Robinho, Qin Xiong, and van Nistelrooy each scored a goal.
However, 30 minutes after the game, Celta made a huge impact on Real Madrid's defensive line. In the 78th minute of the game, Celta made an anti-offside single ball effect through a counter-attack. Casillas was helpless and could not maintain a clean record in the game.
3:1
Real Madrid's away victory, but behind the victory, Bosque fell into deep thought.
During his time as coach of Real Madrid, Real Madrid's defense could not be said to be superb, but at least they had the concept of attaching importance to defensive midfielders. Back then, it was the defensive master Makelele who propped up the midfield defensive line alone. Who could be counted on now?
Emerson's performance was sometimes good and sometimes bad. Diarra might be closer to Makelele's role.
Barcelona also won in the same round of the game.
During the time when Eto 'o and Messi were absent, Ronaldinho carried Barcelona forward alone. He had tied the individual single-season league scoring record, but people still asked: What happened to Ronaldinho?
His form fluctuated significantly. When he was good, he was killing everywhere. When he was bad, he was mediocre. On the contrary, the young Messi's performance continued to be steady and his rise was outstanding. He was becoming the new king of Camp Nou.
In the 29th round of training for La Liga, Bosque focused on training Qin Xiong and Guti in a small group.
He would not hide his thoughts and let the players guess or let their imaginations run wild.
In the weekend game, Real Madrid had a new lineup change at the Bernabéu stadium.
Emerson was made a substitute by Bosque, and Guti entered the starting lineup, partnering with Qin Xiong and Diarra in the midfield.
Qin Xiong was in front, and Guti was the defensive midfielder in a position close to the center midfielder.
The opponent visiting the Bernabéu was not strong. It was still a team in the bottom of the table: Osasuna.
Bosque's lineup change of replacing Emerson with Guti strengthened Real Madrid's control of the midfield.
Although he did not say it, Qin Xiong might be able to understand his thinking.
With Guti behind him, Qin Xiong's offensive ability could be further activated.
The most intuitive understanding was that Qin Xiong did not have to attack most of the time. He started to organize, push, and plug in from the backfield.
With Guti behind him, Qin Xiong's offensive starting position could be moved forward to the front field, and then he would be closer to the opponent's goal when he carried out the next step, greatly increasing his efficiency.
This approach was similar to Qin Xiong's time at Arsenal with Fàbregas behind him. It was just that Guti's ability to control the rhythm was not outstanding.
Real Madrid played a wonderful game at the Bernabéu.
Attack, attack, endless attack.
Ramos and Carlos shuttled back and forth on the two flanks to participate in the attack. Helguera was on the central axis, and Guti passed the ball to the front field.
Qin Xiong was the core in the front field to connect the organization to create opportunities.
Real Madrid's fans had not seen the football they wanted for a long time.
In the first half of the game, Qin Xiong sent out two assists, Raúl scored twice, and Guti plugged in from the back and also scored a goal.
Real Madrid, who locked in the victory in the first half, was unforgiving in the second half. They still launched a fierce offensive to attack Osasuna's defense.
Because Real Madrid had not played so freely for a long time, they completely followed the club's football philosophy in the game.
Qin Xiong cut into the penalty area in the 61st minute of the second half, and after receiving Guti's straight pass, he completed a volley shot from a tight angle to expand the score to 4: 0.
In the 73rd minute of the game, Beckham, who came on as a substitute, sent a precise pass to van Nistelrooy, and van Nistelrooy scored with a header to make the score 5: 0.
Bosque would also make substitutions, but he would not change Real Madrid's attitude.
Anyway, it was already a big victory. Letting the players enjoy the game on the field and finish the game with a more flamboyant winner's attitude was more in line with the image the team pursued.
In the end, Real Madrid massacred Osasuna at home with a score of 5: 0.
Bosque was low-key and humble. After learning that Barcelona unexpectedly lost 0: 1 to Barcelona in the away game after the game, he still said, "Although Real Madrid is now back at the top of the table, we are only two points ahead of Barcelona. If we make a mistake in a game, we may be reversed by Barcelona again. Now we have to face every game with a more peaceful mentality and pursue a better performance, instead of staring at whether the competitors are making mistakes. That's not right."
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