After the end of the first half of the La Liga season, the European media came to a conclusion after a vertical inventory of the top European leagues: Real Madrid not only became the absolute leader that left all the La Liga teams in the dust, but also became the team with the biggest lead over the second place in the top European leagues!
Although they were proud of Europe and La Liga, no one in the Real Madrid Club, including the president, Calderón, who was often self-satisfied and liked to celebrate victories in advance, was willing to say that Real Madrid had already won the La Liga title.
The most common sentence that Real Madrid's top management now said was "we are on the right track."
But no one was willing to take things for granted because they knew that the football world was changing rapidly. No one could be happy too early before they won the title in theory.
"We know very well that if you can't do your best on a spiritual level, then any team can cause trouble for you."
A member of Real Madrid's top management reminded the team not to be too optimistic.
At the beginning of January, Real Madrid's holiday ended and the players came to the training base to report for the second half of the season.
After Christmas, the Real Madrid players, who were physically and mentally happy, talked and laughed on the training ground. The team atmosphere was more relaxed. Del Bosque occasionally chatted with the players and asked them how they spent their holidays.
On January 4, the second leg of the Copa del Rey 116 final was played at the Bernabéu.
Real Madrid led Alicante by a total score of 2: 0. In the second leg, Bosque sent most of the substitutes to play and took the opponent by a score of 2: 1 at home. They advanced to the top 16 of the Copa del Rey with a total score of 4: 1.
After this victory, Real Madrid had achieved a terrifying 27-game winning streak in all competitions in the new season!
On January 7, the second half of the La Liga season opened. Real Madrid continued to play at the home ground of the Bernabéu against the relegation team, Real Zaragoza.
Real Madrid's full main force played a reduced degree of cooperation in the game. The state of many players needed to be adjusted in the game. Their technical play was naturally affected, including Qin Xiong.
The mistakes in the game were significantly higher than the average data in the first half of the league.
However, Zaragoza's strength was limited. Real Madrid eventually defeated Zaragoza by a score of 2: 0 with Raúl and Snede's goals.
They achieved 18 consecutive league wins this season!
They broke the record of 17 consecutive league wins set by Inter Milan.
Bosque had recently focused on adjusting the state of the team. He needed the team to return to the invincible state of the first half of the league tournament before mid-February. Only then could they face the knockout stage of the Champions League with more certainty.
January 10th.
Real Madrid ushered in the first round of the Copa del Rey 18 finals. Real Madrid, who challenged Mallorca as a guest, ended their winning streak in all competitions this season. They were forced to a 1: 1 draw at Mallorca's home ground.
Three days later, the 19th round of the La Liga would begin. Real Madrid would challenge Levante, who was ranked last in the league.
Originally, the outside world thought that this was a game that was in the bag. However, when Levante completely set up the bus formation and used killing tactics crazily, Real Madrid encountered tenacious resistance in the away game. In the end, they were forced into a 0: 0 draw with their opponents in 90 minutes.
Their winning streak in the league ended.
Recently, with two games a week, Bosque has been trying to maintain the balance of the team's state to avoid excessive consumption, which has caused Real Madrid's results to fluctuate.
January 17th, Real Madrid played the second round of the Copa del Rey 18 finals at home.
Real Madrid, who had originally sent in their substitutes, fell behind early on at home and could not equalize the score before the end of the first half.
Bosque decisively brought on Qin Xiong, van Nistelrooy, and Snede during the halftime interval.
After the substitution, Real Madrid scored two goals in a row in the second half and thrillingly overtook Mallorca at home by 2: 1. They advanced to the quarterfinals of the Copa del Rey with a total score of 3: 2.
Four days later, Real Madrid ushered in the second half of the league tournament, the Madrid Derby!
Bosque announced in the team that he would send in substitutes in the first round of the Copa del Rey, but in the second round, he would choose whether to send in the full main lineup according to the situation.
As the defending champion of the Copa del Rey, Bosque could not easily give up this battle line. Real Madrid was also not a club that had to use the domestic cup to train their players. The glory of the trophy was more tangible.
However, in view of the thrilling process of the second round of the Copa del Rey finals, Bosque just wanted to let the main lineup rest more and conserve their energy for the huge physical exertion pressure of the team fighting in three fronts after the start of the Champions League knockout stage.
Bosque sent in the full main lineup for the game at the Vicente Calderón Stadium.
Atlético Madrid obviously could not compete with Real Madrid this season. If there was a team that retained the hope of competing with Real Madrid for the title, it was only Villarreal. Yellow Submarine was now second in the league, ranked higher than Barcelona.
But the hope that Yellow Submarine retained for the title was also very slim.
At the Vicente Calderón Stadium, Atlético Madrid also adopted the extreme defensive tactics that Sevilla had used.
But the direction of the game was unexpected.
In the first minute of the game, Qin Xiong attracted the defensive attention of many Atlético Madrid players as he ran forward. He did not touch the ball at all, but he made a great contribution to the team's offense.
Robinho dribbled past Ibañez on the flank and then crossed. Raúl, the "Nemesis of Atlético Madrid," ran diagonally in front of the running position and shot at a small angle to break the goal!
It was only 32 seconds into the game!
The reaction of the Atlético Madrid players after losing the ball was to look strangely at Qin Xiong.
Qin Xiong felt inexplicable.
I haven't done anything yet, and the team scored!
Then why are you looking at me?
I didn't assist, I didn't score, and I couldn't even run to receive Robinho's pass.
It could be said that there was no threat.
But it could not be said that he did not contribute.
After all, he held the attention of at least three Atlético Madrid defenders.
Atlético Madrid's tactical arrangement could be thrown into the trash can less than a minute after the start of the game!
Due to the recent physical exhaustion of the team, Bosque gestured on the sidelines after the goal and asked the team to control the pace of the game to avoid giving Atlético Madrid a chance to speed up the pace.
Qin Xiong took the initiative to retreat and joined forces with Snede and Guti to control the field and shape the game to ensure the efficiency of the ball control. When the opportunity was right, they would make another wave of threatening attacks. Most of the time, they were wearing down Atlético Madrid.
Atlético Madrid's mentality for the game had become a little cautious.
They did not dare to rush wildly for fear of exposing gaps behind them.
Real Madrid had too many players who could pass the threatening ball!
Qin Xiong, Guti, Snede!
But if they just defended, the score would be behind!
In a state of hesitation and uncertainty, Atlético Madrid lost 0: 2 to Real Madrid at home. They were defeated by Real Madrid in this season's league!
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
