The moment the football rolled into Real Madrid's goal, the Bernabéu crowd had the same look in their eyes as Casillas, who fell to the ground in front of the goal line.
Flabbergasted!
They never thought that Liverpool's free kick would fly so directly into the goal!
Casillas, who had always been steady and known as "Saint Casillas," made a mistake this time!
His position in front of the goal was obviously problematic, which gave the Red Army a chance to take the lead again.
"Oh my God! Oh my God! Aurelio scored with a direct free kick!
Real Madrid's defense of the free kick this time was like opening the door for the opponent to shoot. All the players were concentrated in the left half of the penalty area. The empty right half was unstoppable after the football flew in. Casillas's position was also problematic. He did not block the near corner immediately. This mistake should not have been made!
Liverpool gets their second away goal at the Bernabéu and leads Real Madrid 2: 1! "
While Aurelio was celebrating, all the Real Madrid fans who were watching the game completely dispelled their optimism.
Looking at the nearly 70-minute game, Real Madrid's offense was overshadowed, while Liverpool played well in quick attacks. Real Madrid had a lot of chances to shoot, but most of them were long shots from outside the penalty area. The threat was mediocre.
Liverpool, on the other hand, created more threatening attacks.
After the problems were exposed one after another, it was clear at a glance when they were put together.
That was the Spanish media. The European media had tirelessly repeated the problem countless times: Real Madrid's lineup structure was unbalanced!
Guti was old and there was no suitable successor.
Cannavaro was also old and there was no replacement that could be counted on. What about Metzelder? It would be a miracle if he could stay healthy for two months!
Marcelo was strong in offense but weak in defense and was immature. Las Diarra was still integrating into the team and was more than enough to cope with most leagues. But in the top game of the Battle of Las Vegas, one wrong move could lead to a complete loss.
Real Madrid's many problems were rooted in the recruitment work.
Shouldn't Calderón resign?
He was not wronged at all.
Real Madrid's players seemed to have a big stone in their hearts.
In this match, they understood one fact: it was impossible to return to last season!
At the very least, it would be impossible for him to recover his strength from last season. It would be difficult for him to recover even 80% of his strength!
If the rear defense was not stable, how could they attack?
How could he fight for hegemony in the world if the midfield was unstable?
Many teams in La Liga did not let Real Madrid's problems be exposed so obviously and dealt a painful blow to Real Madrid.
But the Premier League leaders, Liverpool, did it at the Bernabéu!
Bosque walked to the sidelines and made a substitution.
Raúl was taken off the field and replaced by Van Der Vaart!
It was a substitution that the Bernabéu fans could not understand.
However, Bosque had his own way of thinking.
Van Der Vaart came onto the field with tactical instructions. He ran to Qin Xiong and said, "You play as the striker. I'll play as the attacking midfielder."
Qin Xiong nodded and instantly understood the old manager's intention to make a substitution.
Raúl was old after all. The former golden boy of Spain had reached the end of his career at the age of thirty-one.
Van Der Vaart came on as the organizational attacking midfielder. Bosque wanted Qin Xiong to return to the front line and let Real Madrid's offense shine.
However, Liverpool's adjustments came quickly. Benítez made the team's formation shrink. Getting a score of 2: 1 at the Bernabéu was actually a very ideal result.
He did not need to pursue a massacre at the Bernabéu. After all, this was the Bernabéu, the temple of football, and not Anfield, the Red Army's territory!
There were only a few teams that could win. Winning was already the most ideal result.
Qin Xiong went to the front line. The number of times he touched the ball began to decrease significantly.
Van Der Vaart needed a period of adaptation. At the same time, because Liverpool had shrunk their formation, Real Madrid's midfield organization was smooth. However, it was more difficult to feed the ball to the striker.
Qin Xiong looked isolated and helpless under the heavy encirclement.
Seeing the time ticking away, Qin Xiong simply gestured to his teammates.
Create chaos!
Shoot long shots!
Anyway, they could not play fancy passes anymore. It was better to do something simple and crude!
In the 72nd minute of the game, Van Der Vaart fired the anti-aircraft gun from the periphery.
A minute later, Torres broke through alone. He dribbled past Las Diarra and was successfully intercepted by Ramos.
In the 75th minute of the game, Snede came to the middle to play a triangle with Van Der Vaart and Guti. However, Qin Xiong's anti-offside movement did not form a tacit understanding with his teammates. Qin Xiong, who was playing as the center forward, was still not used to it.
After all, a shadow striker and a center forward were two different concepts. The latter encountered more defensive pressure, while the former had teammates to cover for him.
Bosque's tactical adjustment may not be completely correct, but it was a desperate gamble.
There was not much point in considering whether it was right or wrong. He just wanted to see the effect.
Qin Xiong could only play to his own characteristics of running actively and moving flexibly. Other than that, he had no other way. In the encirclement, once he stopped the ball in place, he would face at least three players' encirclement. When he played as the center forward, he understood how important and difficult Raúl's kick was most of the time in this position!
After seeing Qin Xiong fall into the offside trap, Snede directly kicked the goal. The football was blocked by Reina, and Alonso kicked the ball out of the sideline for insurance.
Robben passed the ball in place after Ramos kicked the ball out of the sideline.
The pass was unexpected. Qin Xiong also caught the football's landing point. He jumped high between Agger and Carragher and swung his head to the goal. Reina took a step forward and expanded the defensive area. The football was hit by his two fists just as it flew out!
Qin Xiong immediately turned his head and ran back after he landed. He continued to wait for a good opportunity.
Benítez was on tenterhooks on the sidelines.
He realized that he seemed to have made another mistake.
He was able to calmly analyze the overall strength and competitive state of Real Madrid today.
But deep down, he was still afraid of Real Madrid. After all, Real Madrid last season was too frightening!
At this moment, he understood why many La Liga teams did not notice Real Madrid's weakness. It might not be that they did not think of it, but they were too afraid!
When fear reached the extreme, they would lose their rationality.
And Benítez's tactical adjustment went back to the dead end that he had long understood.
He could not let Real Madrid's midfield run smoothly!
But the military order had been issued and could not be changed in a short period of time. Otherwise, the team would be in chaos.
Especially now that Real Madrid's attacks had significantly increased, the Liverpool players were bound to be nervous.
In order to make up for his small mistake in adjustment, Benítez immediately made a substitution.
He replaced the side midfielder, Riera, with the defensive midfielder, Lucas.
Since he chose to defend, then he would defend to the end!
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