The first time Real Madrid played a defensive strategy at home this season was in the 30th round of the league tournament.
Bosque sent half of the team's substitutes and half of the team's main players to play.
The opponent was Sevilla, who was competing for the Champions League spot in the league tournament.
Considering that Real Madrid would play AC Milan at home in the following midweek, Bosque had to give the main players more time to rest and not overexert themselves in the league tournament.
Therefore, he let the main offensive players sit on the substitutes' bench, let the defensive players play in the game, and then let the attacking players of the substitute lineup play in the game.
The tactic was to play a defensive counterattack!
For the demanding Real Madrid fans, they would not accept the team's playing style.
However, Bosque had been leading the team and coaching until now, and he had always made the Real Madrid fans happy.
Considering the importance of the Champions League game, the fans also understood the team's choice at this time.
Sevilla came to Bernabéu with a humble heart, but after seeing Real Madrid's starting lineup of half the team's substitutes, their ambition suddenly swelled.
They wanted to take away the victory here!
But the process of this game was unexpected.
There was a strange phenomenon in Bernabéu this season, that was, the targets on Real Madrid's acquisition list always had a chance to appear in this stadium, and these players also played very well at Bernabéu. Of course, excluding the results of the game, it was only based on the players' individual performances.
Werder Bremen's Diego and Valencia's Villa had both made their debuts at the Bernabéu. Furthermore, they had both performed well individually. Obviously, these players wanted to use their most dazzling performances to conquer Real Madrid's president, Ramón Calderón, general manager Mijatović, and manager Vicente del Bosque.
This time, Real Madrid simply welcomed a large group of targets to visit.
Alves, Poulsen, Capello, Keita, and Luiz Fabiano were all on Real Madrid's acquisition list. The Catalan media satirized that Real Madrid seemed to want to move half of the Sevilla team to Bernabéu.
Among these targets, Real Madrid was the most interested in Alves, Poulsen, and Fabiano. They wanted to buy all three of them this summer. However, after this game, the Real Madrid executives seemed to have to reconsider such an acquisition. At least, they could no longer casually agree to the other party's high demands in terms of price.
In this match, Seville's performance was terrible. The Madrid media ridiculed Sevilla for appearing timid, childish, and unfamiliar. It was reasonable for them to lose the game because Real Madrid had seized all their weaknesses.
Sevilla could neither control the space nor put pressure on Real Madrid. The Real Madrid players moved freely and pushed Real Madrid forward at full speed.
This was Sevilla's worst performance in the Bernabéu in recent years. Their offense was weak and their defense was full of holes. If not for the outstanding performance of the goalkeeper, Palop, Sevilla would have left the Bernabéu with more goals conceded.
3:0
Through continuous counterattacks, Real Madrid seemed to easily and happily push Seville into the abyss!
Bosque became the subject of praise from the Spanish media.
He was praised for his ability to strategize and win battles from a thousand miles away. It was under his control that all aspects of Real Madrid operated normally, and even on the eve of a crucial battle, they were able to achieve the most glorious victory with the least cost!
However, there were still some unpleasant things that happened after this match.
People rarely saw Van Nistelrooy leave Real Madrid's Valdebebas Sports City in a bad mood. When the Dutchman finished training, he often had a smile on his face. Sometimes, he would give himself a thumbs up to show that he was fine.
However, in recent weeks, the Real Madrid players had noticed that Van Nistelrooy no longer had a smile on his face. He looked depressed.
The 31-year-old Van Nistelrooy had been suffering from synovitis in his right ankle for nearly a month. The inflammation in his ankle made it difficult for him to walk, let alone play football.
Real Madrid's team doctor insisted on conservative treatment for Van Nistelrooy: recuperation, anti-inflammatory, and rehabilitation.
Van Nistelrooy received this conservative treatment for three weeks, but his condition did not improve.
In the end, Van Nistelrooy decided to undergo surgery to solve the problem.
The whole thing did not seem strange. The conservative treatment did not work, and the UEFA European Championship was only two months away. The Real Madrid striker was determined to cure his ankle injury.
The problem was that it was all Van Nistelrooy's decision. Moreover, he did not choose to let the Real Madrid team doctor operate on him, nor did he have the operation at Loewen International Hospital in Madrid. Instead, he quietly flew back to Amsterdam in the Netherlands one by one to find the Dutch national team doctor, Van Dijk, to operate on him. The latter was an expert in ankle injuries.
Van Nistelrooy's return for treatment was very mysterious. On Friday, Van Nistelrooy's teammates, who had dinner with him at the club, did not know that he had made a decision. The Real Madrid coaches did not know that Van Nistelrooy would choose to have surgery.
"We know that his injury is a bit complicated, but we never said that he would have surgery," said his teammate, Soldado.
Real Madrid's team doctors refused to comment.
Real Madrid's president, Calderón, also did not want to speak.
The Real Madrid club issued an official announcement, which said that Van Nistelrooy made the decision after discussing it with the Real Madrid team doctors. However, the official announcement was a full three hours later than the media news.
Moreover, the officials did not explain why Van Nistelrooy returned to Amsterdam alone on Saturday without a Real Madrid team doctor following him.
The Madrid media said that such an operation could be performed at Loewen International Hospital in Madrid, but Van Nistelrooy chose to let Van Dijk do the operation, which showed Van Nistelrooy's distrust of the Real Madrid team doctors.
There were rumors that Van Nistelrooy did discuss it with the Real Madrid team doctors before the operation, but the team doctors still advised him not to have the operation and to choose to play in a closed game. However, Van Nistelrooy refused to play in a closed game, saying that he had never played in a closed game and that it was best to choose the operation.
On Monday, Van Nistelrooy returned to Madrid to begin his rehabilitation process. He needed at least six weeks of rehabilitation. Whether he could make it in time for the match of the century between Real Madrid and Barcelona on May 7 was still unknown. However, he certainly would not miss the UEFA European Championship.
Van Nistelrooy's approach made the Real Madrid executives very unhappy. His refusal to follow the club's doctor's approach also annoyed the Real Madrid medical affairs team.
The public immediately discussed the topic of whether Van Nistelrooy only wanted to play in the UEFA European Championship when he decided to have the operation and did not consider Real Madrid's interests at all.
Bosque also had to come forward to put out the fire and play Tai Chi in the middle. He did not want any problems in the team's locker room as the season was about to enter the final stage. Even the relationship between the team doctors and the players was extremely important in the eyes of the manager!
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