The Bernabéu was noisy. The fans of Real Madrid and Barcelona were cheering enthusiastically in the stands. Reporters from nearly two hundred countries or regions around the world were eager to record today's El Clásico.
It was the arrival of another football feast.
The players of Real Madrid and Barcelona walked into the stadium with their heads held high and chests puffed out.
"Welcome to the Bernabéu. The most anticipated game of the La Liga season is finally about to begin!
The defending champion, Real Madrid, is at home against their arch-rival, Barcelona. The El Clásico is about to begin!
Barcelona had been at the top of the table for a long time, and Real Madrid was struggling to catch up. They were once behind Barcelona by a huge gap of 11 points. With five rounds left in the league, Real Madrid shortened the gap to four points.
In order to successfully defend their title, Real Madrid had to win at home. Otherwise, they would be left with nothing this season!
For Barcelona, the bad news of the game was that the defender, Márquez, was seriously injured in the last round of the league and announced that he would be out for the season. Piqué replaced Márquez. Piqué's development after returning to Barcelona from Manchester United was satisfactory. His improvement was obvious, but it was the first time he started in such a heavyweight game. In other words, it was his first time participating in the El Clásico in his career. Hopefully, he would not become a hidden danger in Barcelona's defense.
Let's introduce the starting lineups of both sides.
Real Madrid's starting lineup: 451.
Goalkeeper: Casillas.
Defenders: Ramos, Metzelder, Cannavaro, Marcelo.
Midfielders: Robben, Qin Xiong, Diarra, Van Der Vaart, Snede.
Striker: Raúl.
In the last round of the league, Real Madrid's center back, Pepe, was shockingly violent towards Perotti. After the game, the disciplinary committee issued a penalty for excessive weight and suspended Pepe for 10 games!
As a result, Pepe said goodbye to the season and could go on vacation.
The hidden dangers in Real Madrid's defensive line today were naturally the glass man Metzelder and the full-back Marcelo, who was strong in offense but weak in defense.
The Italian Robben Kanawha's inconsistent form this season was also a hidden danger. We couldn't blame Bosque for his line-up because he didn't have any better cards in his hands.
Barcelona Starting 433.
Goalkeeper: Valdés
Defenders: Alves, Puyol, Pique, Abidal.
Midfielders: Touré, Xavi, Iniesta.
Forwards: Messi, Eto 'o, Bojan.
Alright, the match is about to begin. Let's wait and see. I hope that today's El Clásico will also become a classic battle! "
Bosque sat motionless in the coach's seat, while Guardiola stood on the sidelines with his hands in his pockets. The second confrontation between the two managers had officially begun.
On the field, Real Madrid would be the first to kick off. Today, Bosque's 4-5-1 lineup leaned towards the control type.
Qin Xiong, Robben, Snede, and Van Der Vaart were the four ball control masters in the midfield. As for how to restrain Barcelona at home, it would depend on how the game developed.
At the beginning of the game, Qin Xiong and Van Der Vaart made consecutive one-two passes in the midfield. Qin Xiong suddenly changed positions with Snede. This offensive change caught Barcelona off guard.
They always thought that Qin Xiong had completely returned to the middle of the midfield, but in fact, Bosque's adjustments to the midfield were "disorderly and free."
In this game, Real Madrid's midfield technical players had to frantically change positions and roles. Only in this way could they completely disrupt Barcelona's defense and catch the opponent off guard.
Snede passed the ball in front of Xavi to the left flank. Qin Xiong directly accelerated forward after receiving the ball. Alves slightly retracted into the penalty area to form a joint defense with Puyol. He did not dare to single-handedly engage in an offensive and defensive game with Qin Xiong. It was simply too risky.
Qin Xiong saw that Alves did not come out to take the initiative to snatch the ball. Barcelona's midfield line was extremely fast. He passed the ball at a 45-degree angle on the flank.
Raúl rushed into the penalty area and looked at the football flying over his head. There was no possibility of a successful snatch the ball.
Barcelona's players were also surprised.
Wasn't Qin Xiong's pass too wide?
And it was an outside spin ball!
Following the trajectory of the football, Barcelona's players suddenly woke up.
Wait!
An outside spin ball!
That was not a pass at all!
The football made a big arc in Barcelona's penalty area and spun outside the penalty area to the right side of the penalty area.
There, Robben used his chest to stop the ball and immediately cut across the middle of the penalty area.
It was indeed not a pass, but a wide area cross transfer!
Guardiola's heart swayed as he watched on the sidelines.
Even he had to applaud Qin Xiong's imagination.
He used the pass as a cover to hide his true intention of passing the ball, causing the opponent to make a mistake in the first moment of their prediction!
A player with such unimaginable creativity is definitely hard to come by!
After witnessing Robben cut across the penalty area and then knock the ball horizontally to create a chance for Snede to plug in for a long shot, Guardiola's heart tightened.
Fortunately, Valdés was well prepared and did not panic. He calmly held the ball in his arms and Guardiola breathed a sigh of relief.
At the same time, an idea uncontrollably sprouted in his mind.
It was already May. The club must be preparing for the summer transfer period.
Barcelona's list of signings had always been the topic of hype in Catalonia.
But there was a player's name that Barcelona wanted that did not appear in the newspapers.
Only people with real decision-making power in Barcelona knew, and they buried it in the bottom of their hearts.
That name was Qin Xiong!
Guardiola wanted Qin Xiong. He believed that if Qin Xiong could join Barcelona, then the whole team's fighting power would rise to another level.
Barcelona would be a dream, a perfect, and a giant existence in the European football world!
In the past, Qin Xiong's name could not be mentioned because it was simply impossible. Real Madrid would not sell Qin Xiong to Barcelona.
And Qin Xiong's liquidated damages were as high as 150 million euros. It was said that the contract that Calderón provided to Qin Xiong increased the liquidated damages to one billion euros!
The liquidated damages were just a number. The real turning point was that Qin Xiong had not renewed his contract with Real Madrid. Qin Xiong's contract with Real Madrid would only have one year left in the summer.
Barcelona was also unlikely to directly take Qin Xiong away from Bernabéu through a transfer at this time.
But what if Qin Xiong continued to stay at Real Madrid until next summer?
By then, Qin Xiong might be able to join Barcelona through a free transfer!
Guardiola planned to find an opportunity to contact Qin Xiong this summer to see if they could create a more ideal and stronger lineup.
That would be the true king of the European football world!
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