On the day they won the Copa del Rey, Real Madrid once again hung the championship scarf on the statue of the Goddess of Harvest to show the glory of Real Madrid's championship to the city.
The Real Madrid fans in the city were so excited that they could not sleep, and the revelry lasted until early morning.
But the Real Madrid players had to rest, because in a week's time, their last battle of the season, the Champions League, would start.
On the weekend, Real Madrid won the Copa del Rey. In the 33rd round of the league tournament, the substitutes defeated Santander 2: 0 in the away game.
In the second half of the season, the substitutes' appearances increased, and Real Madrid's results gradually stabilized.
In particular, the performance of the frontline player, Higuaín, began to be recognized by the outside world. Finally, the Argentinian smoker was included in the list of Real Madrid's future frontline successors.
Two days later, Real Madrid parachuted into Liverpool!
The headline in The Times's pre-match preview report was: After Real Madrid swept the defending champions and the champions from two years ago, can Liverpool, the champions from three years ago, compete with Real Madrid?
Looking back at Real Madrid's Champions League journey this season, the group stage was indeed smooth sailing, and no strong opponents appeared.
But since entering the knockout stage, the difficulty seemed to have increased several times, and it was directly bursting!
First, it was the 2006 Champions League champion, followed by the 2007 Champions League champion.
Now, the 2005 Champions League champion and 2007 Champions League runner-up, Liverpool, was blocking in front of Real Madrid!
First of all, this showed that Real Madrid did not have any element of luck or fluke in the process of the knockout stage. They deserved to win, and after advancing, it was very convincing!
Real Madrid calmly prepared for the first leg of the Champions League semi-final after arriving at Liverpool.
The day before the game, Bosque attended a press conference with Qin Xiong.
A reporter asked, "After eliminating Arsenal and AC Milan, Real Madrid met Liverpool again. Does this mean that Real Madrid's luck is a bit bad? After all, these three opponents happen to be the champions of the Champions League in the past three years! "
Bosque shook his head slightly and said faintly, "This has nothing to do with luck. The game is not a gamble. We can't pray that the opponents we meet are weak teams. In fact, only by defeating strong opponents can we hope to go further. After all, in the Champions League quarter-finals and semi-finals, no opponent is a weak team."
The reporters turned their focus to Qin Xiong.
"You've played against Liverpool several times when you were playing for Arsenal, and you've left behind wonderful memories at Anfield. You should be very confident about tomorrow's game and can easily win, right?"
Qin Xiong shook his head and calmly said, "I've heard this many times, and there are always similar contents in the news. But in reality? History was history, and the present was the present. Could the Real Madrid of last year be the same as the Real Madrid of today? A team's fighting power can change dramatically in a span of a month, let alone a year or two? Especially in the Champions League semi-finals, we don't know what kind of fighting power Liverpool will erupt. But we know that the final is right in front of us. Liverpool will certainly not give away the victory easily. My teammates and I need to pay attention to this point and not underestimate the enemy in the slightest. "
.....
The Liverpool manager, Benítez, expressed his respect for Bosque before the game.
"I'm excited to play against Real Madrid. Bosque led Real Madrid to play with an unprecedented momentum. They can always score, score a lot of goals, and win a lot of games. Real Madrid has not lost a game so far this season, which will put a certain psychological pressure on us. But I also hope that Liverpool can put a lot of pressure on Real Madrid at Anfield, because this is Anfield!"
Neither team's managers talked about skills and tactics, as if there was no need.
The media, on the other hand, hailed this game as a battle between master and apprentice!
It was different from the master-apprentice relationship between Capello and Flores last season, which was between a manager and a player.
Bosque and Benítez were a true master-apprentice relationship between a manager and a coach.
When Benítez was still working at Real Madrid, the manager he assisted was Bosque. When Bosque went to the First Team to put out the fire, it was Benítez who served as Bosque's assistant manager.
But everyone had their own ambitions. Benítez quickly chose to go solo, but he learned a lot from Bosque.
On the night of April 23, Liverpool City was brightly lit, and Anfield was noisy!
When the Real Madrid and Liverpool players walked into the stadium, the stadium still echoed with the Liverpool fans singing "You'll Never Walk Alone" in unison!
The entire stadium's stands seemed to be dyed red, especially the scene of the Red Army fans holding up their scarves and singing the team song was spectacular.
This naturally put some mental pressure on the Real Madrid players.
It was as if they had stepped into an unusual battlefield.
Qin Xiong's lips curled into a smile.
In fact, he appreciated and loved the unique fan culture in the English game.
Because it was a tradition and a unique culture.
It was rare to see it in other parts of Europe, and the English fan culture was also popular and would be imitated by many fans around the world.
"Welcome to Anfield! The first leg of the 2007-2008 UEFA Champions League semi-final is about to start here.
The Premier League powerhouse Liverpool is at home to face Real Madrid, who has already won the Double in Spain!
In terms of the pressure of preparing for the game, Real Madrid was definitely more relaxed than Liverpool.
Liverpool had no hope of winning the Premier League title, but they still had to keep their place in the top four in the league to ensure that they could enter the next season's Champions League.
Benítez's big rotation policy in the Premier League this season was a failure. It was completely unworkable. In fact, based on the rotation strategy implemented by the Premier League champions in the past few years, Benítez should have foreseen that Arsenal and Manchester United, the two biggest winners in the Premier League, would not let big rotations become the norm during the season. Maybe it would be done once in a while, but if it was done in the long run, the team's results would definitely be greatly affected.
Real Madrid had already won the La Liga title and the Copa del Rey. They could concentrate on preparing for this game, and even the next round of the game.
Could the energetic Real Madrid make waves at Anfield? We'll find out soon.
Liverpool's starting lineup today is 4-231.
Goalkeeper: Reina.
Defenders: Arbeloa, Carragher, Hyypia, Riise.
Midfielders: Kuyt, Alonso, Gerard, Mascherano, Benayoun.
Striker: Torres.
Real Madrid's starting lineup is 4-442.
Goalkeeper: Casillas.
Defenders: Ramos, Pepe, Cannavaro, Heinze.
Midfielders: Robben, Diarra, Guti, Snede.
Strikers: Qin Xiong, Raúl.
The battle for Anfield begins now! "
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