El Madrigal Stadium.
The Villarreal players were celebrating the hard-won victory.
2:0
The Barcelona players seemed to have lost their souls. The one who suffered the biggest blow was Messi, who had recently risen in popularity in the global football world.
He could not perform a miracle in the game. He felt powerless and even helpless.
It was not that he had a problem, but in Barcelona, he was still not the king!
Eto 'o and Ronaldinho received far more support from the team than he did!
That naturally made it impossible for him to play to his full strength in the game.
Now, he could only watch the team lose. He was powerless. He could only look at the Bernabéu and watch Real Madrid lead Barcelona by five points with seven rounds left in the league!
It was a very dangerous score. Barcelona's rule might be overturned in advance!
With reluctance and helplessness, Messi bowed his head slightly and left the El Madrigal Stadium. In the players' tunnel, the thin back may look sad, but the expression hidden on that clean face was the ambition to become a king and fight for the first place in the world!
.....
Real Madrid defeated Valencia at home.
Barcelona lost the El Madrigal Stadium.
The Spanish media believed that the results of these two games would be a watershed in the competition for the league title!
In particular, Rijkaard gradually lost control of the team. The contradictions in the locker room had surfaced, which made the media even less optimistic about Barcelona's prospects.
After the loss to Villarreal, Rijkaard vaguely criticized Ronaldinho and Eto 'o after the game. He believed that the two players did not take advantage of the two one-on-one opportunities when the score was still tied and missed the goal. They missed the opportunity to lead the opponent, which led to the passivity in the second half and the bad result of losing the game.
On the other hand, Real Madrid's manager, Bosque, was also asked by reporters after the game about Real Madrid's rear defensive line. After all, Real Madrid won, but for Real Madrid, the outside world would always nitpick.
Win? They deserved to win!
Winning beautifully and achieving perfection was the ultimate pursuit.
Bosque casually replied to the media's questioning, "Even the best defensive team in the world can't guarantee that they won't concede a goal in every game. Real Madrid's defense isn't perfect, but I think the players are playing well. I'll talk to the players about the goal concede in the game in the next training, but we don't have to panic and find a sinner to criticize. The overall performance of the team is good. We'll work hard to perform better in the next game. We're confident about that."
After all, the old manager had been through a lot and was smarter than Rijkaard. Rijkaard would throw the responsibility to the players under heavy pressure, but Bosque would not. This was one of the important reasons why Bosque was respected by the Real Madrid players and fans.
The atmosphere in the Real Madrid team was very good. Now, after training almost every day, the teammates would get together to chat and occasionally joke. They truly understood and tolerated each other.
In preparation for the 32nd round of La Liga, Bosque further developed the tactic of moving Qin Xiong forward as the core of the offense.
Reyes probably knew his fate. Real Madrid would not buy him out, which hurt him a little. It was not that his performance was not good enough, but Real Madrid needed to create a sensation in the transfer market. A player who was first rented and then bought was neither fresh nor unexpected. Naturally, he would not be Real Madrid's first choice.
Beckham's days in Real Madrid entered the countdown. He and Carlos were like rookies in training. They were exceptionally serious, which earned them more respect from the team.
For those who were leaving, the teammates still gave their blessings with grace, hoping to give the victory of every game as a gift to those destined to leave.
In the 32nd round of La Liga, Real Madrid was the guest of the Basque lions, Athletic Bilbao.
As a special team that only brought in players of Basque descent, Athletic Bilbao's competitiveness had plummeted this season. It was common for talent to be cut off.
Now they were near the relegation zone and were likely to be relegated to Serie B next season.
The Basque lions did not admit defeat at home. They played the game with a lot of blood, but the more radical they were and the faster they wanted to destroy Real Madrid with offense, the faster they died.
Qin Xiong partnered with Robinho and van Nistelrooy in the front line in this game. Raúl took a rest.
In the first half, Qin Xiong scored twice, assisted by Robinho and Beckham.
Van Nistelrooy scored at the start of the game. Real Madrid only took 45 minutes to lock in the victory of the game.
Athletic Bilbao restrained themselves in the second half, as if they had recognized the reality that they could not compete with the powerful White Army.
Real Madrid still did not change their offensive posture in the second half. Their offense was like a tide that constantly attacked Athletic Bilbao's goal. In the 71st minute of the game, Robinho, van Nistelrooy, and Qin Xiong's three consecutive shots were blocked by Athletic Bilbao's players. Beckham, who followed up from behind, used a full moon scimitar to send the ball into Athletic Bilbao's goal, causing a wave of sighs in the stands.
The Basque people felt a huge loss.
Real Madrid won 4: 0 in the away game against Athletic Bilbao. After Bosque took over, Real Madrid's winning streak could not stop!
In the same round of the game, Barcelona only won 1: 0 against Levante at home. There were still six rounds left in La Liga, and the gap between the two La Liga giants was still five points.
The Spanish media began a big discussion about Bosque's practice of placing Qin Xiong in the shadow striker position.
Most people thought that Bosque's finishing touch was to transform Qin Xiong from an offensive engine to a goalscoring machine!
But there were also football commentators who were cautious.
Qin Xiong, in such a position close to the danger zone, could play better in a top-level confrontation? The answer had to be given through actual combat.
For example, no matter where Qin Xiong played in the front field, if the opponent was weak, then Qin Xiong would not have a big gap no matter how he played.
But what if the opponent was strong?
What if the technical and tactical strength, the defensive and targeted restrictions were more in place?
Things might have to be different now.
Before the 33rd round of La Liga arrived, Marca published a pre-game preview report with such a headline.
"Real Madrid's final battle to win the throne! Break through Seville's obstruction and overthrow the Baza dynasty! "
In the last six rounds of the game, the strongest opponent Real Madrid faced was Seville, who was ranked third in the league.
May 6, 2007.
Real Madrid's generals were in Bernabéu, waiting for Seville to attack!
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