The European arena entered February. Real Madrid and Barcelona were still in the same competitive storyline of "sweeping away all the heroes."
On February 1st, Real Madrid defeated Numancia in an away game with a 2: 0 victory.
Barcelona overtook Santander in an away game with a 2: 1 reversal.
Messi and Qin Xiong were on the headlines of their respective camps' media.
The soul of both teams played a key role in the game and led the team forward with their heads held high.
On February 8th, the 22nd round of La Liga, Real Madrid took the lead.
The Bernabéu welcomed a mid-tier team, Santander. Although Real Madrid's offense was fierce in this game, they repeatedly missed the best opportunities in front of the goal. It was not until the 75th minute of the game that Qin Xiong scored directly with a free kick in front of the penalty area to bring the team a precious three points.
Real Madrid shortened the point gap to five points in the first game.
A day later, Camp Nou was almost full.
Even if the opponent was an unknown team, Sporting Gijon, the team's continuous winning streak made the fans willing to come to the stadium to support Barcelona.
Although Messi did not score in the game, he repeatedly created opportunities for his teammates. Eto 'o scored twice and Alves was the icing on the cake. They defeated Sporting Gijon with a 3: 1 victory!
At the end of the game, Camp Nou erupted in applause and cheers for a long time.
Barcelona's fans were naturally in high spirits. At the beginning of 2009, Real Madrid became a big joke in the transfer market. Then the scandal broke out and eventually led to the resignation of the president.
Now Barcelona was still eight points ahead of Real Madrid and did not give Real Madrid the slightest chance to catch up. This was simply wonderful!
Barcelona's players thanked the fans together at the end of the game. Every player was in high spirits. They told themselves firmly in their hearts that they would never give Real Madrid any chance!
The suspense of the La Liga title race continued, especially with Real Madrid's comeback after the New Year, which overturned all the predictions of the experts. No one could guarantee what would happen if Barcelona lost two games in the title race!
At least now it was difficult for Barcelona and Real Madrid to lose!
February's FIFA match day arrived.
Qin Xiong reluctantly left Madrid. He had to leave his children and wife for a while and return to Asia to participate in the world's top ten qualifiers.
The China team was in a difficult situation in the world preliminaries.
They only got 5 points in the first four matches, and the top two in the group were South Korea and North Korea.
When Qin Xiong arrived at Beijing International Airport, China's football media shouted, "Captain Qin is back!"
The Chinese fans were anxiously waiting for the return of Qin Xiong.
And when he appeared at the Xianghe National Men's Football Training Base, all the China fans seemed to have taken a calming pill, even the China team.
His teammates' moods changed from heavy to optimistic and positive. Under Qin Xiong's meticulous work attitude, not only did the team become quiet, but they also became more motivated.
On February 11th, China welcomed Bahrain to their home ground in Tianjin.
Under the leadership of Qin Xiong, China defeated their opponent with a score of 2: 0 after 90 minutes of the game.
After five games, they had eight points and were still behind South Korea and North Korea.
China's football media analyzed that China did not need to compete with South Korea for the first place in the group. The more pragmatic idea was to beat North Korea!
China, which was only one point behind North Korea, would face North Korea next month. That game was defined as a battle of life and death for China's team!
Qin Xiong waved goodbye to his teammates and rushed back to Madrid to prepare for the 23rd round of La Liga.
Under the influence of the FIFA virus, Barcelona was forced to a 2: 2 draw with Real Betis in the 23rd round of La Liga, which started first!
Real Madrid was encouraged, even though there was the negative impact of Robben's injury before the game, which made people worry about whether Real Madrid's offense would be fatally affected.
But when Real Madrid defeated Sporting Gijón in the away game with a score of 5: 0, the game critics described the game as Real Madrid's best game of the season!
Bosque said faintly after the game, "As the defending champions, we have been a little slow to get into the zone this season. But now Real Madrid has recovered at least 70% of their fighting power from last season. We pursued victory and did not give up. When many people declared that we had no hope of successfully defending our title and gave us a death notice, Real Madrid withstood the pressure and used victory after victory to declare that we will not easily let Barcelona win the league title."
Qin Xiong, who scored a hat-trick in the game, said in an interview after the game, "In the past two months, the team's offense and defense have changed a lot. We have returned to the rhythm we are familiar with. Yes, we have shortened the point gap with Barcelona, but six points is still a relatively obvious gap in the championship. We can't be blinded by the current good momentum. We still have to pay more to reverse Barcelona!"
The media's tone immediately changed.
In the context of 15 rounds of the league, six points seemed to be a lot, but in reality?
Maybe in a month's time, the situation in the standings would be turned upside down.
Marca published the game report and commented, "The Real Madrid team has narrowed the point gap between them and the leader, Barcelona, but they are still six points behind Barça.
Real Madrid will never let their old rival, Barcelona, win the league title easily this season.
In recent times, Real Madrid and Barcelona's form in the league was surprisingly good. The former had won eight consecutive rounds of the league, while the latter had achieved the same amazing seven consecutive wins before this round of the league.
However, this past weekend, Barcelona ended their winning streak and drew with Real Betis 2: 2 in the away game.
The second-ranked Real Madrid defeated Sporting Gijón 5: 0 and took the opportunity to narrow the point gap between them and Barcelona.
Despite this, the point gap between the two teams was still as much as six points, so Barcelona did not panic. They knew that as long as their team played steadily, their opponent, Real Madrid, had no chance to overtake them.
As for Real Madrid, the club has not given up on the competition for the league title. They are waiting for Barcelona to have more and bigger slips in order to further narrow the gap between the two teams.
The knockout stage of the Champions League is coming, which will undoubtedly increase the uncertainty of the La Liga championship. We are looking forward to Real Madrid and Barcelona being able to leave more suspense in this battle for the king. It would be best if they are still in a stalemate before the second round of the El Clásico. Then, this season of La Liga will undoubtedly be the most exciting season in recent years! "
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