Chapter 146 El Clásico
After the match started, Barcelona quickly gained the upper hand with their well-coordinated passing and receiving, leaving Real Madrid's players with no choice but to passively press and surround them.
Just four minutes later, Barcelona created a dangerous opportunity on the right flank. Alves, through a combination with Messi, broke through the left flank guarded by Arbeloa and Marcelo, and directly entered Real Madrid's backfield.
Alves crossed from the byline, but to the anticipation of tens of thousands of fans at Camp Nou, he fired a shot that went high into the air, soaring over the goal and heading towards the stands.
This elicited a collective sigh from the fans at the stadium.
After receiving a rude awakening, Real Madrid immediately retaliated.
After Casillas took the goal kick, the ball was passed between Pepe and Albiol and then passed to Alonso.
At this moment, Alonso was positioned near the halfway line in Real Madrid's half, with Busquets and Keita both pressing him. Alonso remained calm and launched a long pass, the ball sailing over Keita's head and heading straight for the right flank, where Kaká was already waiting.
With no one marking him, Kaká calmly controlled the ball and dribbled towards the Barcelona penalty area.
Abidal immediately stepped forward to interfere, but Kaká passed the ball first before he met Abidal head-on, sending it straight into the Barcelona penalty area.
At this moment, Fino was standing outside the Barcelona penalty area, with his back to the Barcelona goal, taking small steps backward, waiting to receive Kaká.
Seeing Kaká take a shot, Fino leaned on Pique, who was marking him, and skillfully turned and entered the penalty area, leaving Pique behind.
As Fino sprinted, he looked up to judge where the ball would land. Seeing that the ball was not falling and he knew he couldn't reach it, he realized that Kaka's shot was not a pass, but a goal.
But this shot went a bit too high; it's highly likely to be a miss.
Sure enough, the ball sailed over Fino's head and headed straight for the Barcelona goal. Just as it was about to graz the crossbar and go out of bounds, it was caught by Barcelona's goalkeeper Valdes.
The offensive and defensive dynamics on the field shifted.
Barcelona's attack started with Valdes. When the ball was passed to Puyol, Fino and Ronaldo both pressed forward to press, but Barcelona's short passes were extremely well-coordinated. Through layers of passing by Puyol, Pique, Xavi, and others, the ball quickly penetrated into Real Madrid's backfield.
The defensive line formed by Lass Diarra and Alonso was quickly broken through, and Iniesta passed the ball across to Messi before Pepe could block it. Messi dribbled the ball from the left flank into the Real Madrid penalty area.
Albiol came up to meet him, but Messi easily beat him with a simple shoulder drop and change of pace, then shot inside the penalty area, the ball heading straight for the far corner of the goal.
However, a focused goalkeeper was standing in front of Real Madrid's goal. As soon as Messi took the shot, Casillas jumped up and dived towards the far post, swatting the ball back into the penalty area with one hand. Pepe passed the ball to Ramos before Henry could follow up, and Real Madrid's counter-attack began again.
Kaka received a pass from the backfield near the center circle, dodged Busquets' sliding tackle, and dribbled forward.
After Ronaldo made a run to the left sideline, Kaká passed the ball from the middle to the left, where Ronaldo dribbled and broke through from the left.
Puyol immediately squeezed in from the left flank to pressure Ronaldo, but Ronaldo used his speed to get past Puyol and made a run down the left flank unchallenged. Puyol chased hard behind Ronaldo, and Alves also came out of the penalty area, ready to join Puyol in double-teaming Ronaldo.
At this moment, Marcelo had already run to the vicinity of the penalty arc. Upon seeing this, Fino chose to hold off Pique and Abidal on the right side of the penalty area, giving Marcelo space. Directly in front of Marcelo were only Keita, who had retreated to the penalty area, and goalkeeper Valdes.
Before Alves and Puyol could double-team him, Ronaldo quickly passed the ball back to Marcelo. Alves and Puyol immediately turned and ran towards the center, joining Keita in double-teaming Marcelo.
At that moment, Xavi closed in from behind Marcelo. In a panic, Marcelo raised his foot and shot, but the ball went high and wide. Valdes didn't even make a save and watched the ball fly into the stands.
Real Madrid's counterattack ended in failure once again.
Ronaldo was so angry he stomped his feet. There were no Barcelona defenders around him at that point, so why didn't Marcelo pass the ball to him?
Marcelo touched his nose and gave an awkward smile.
Fino walked over and patted Ronaldo on the shoulder, and together they stepped out of the penalty area to wait for Valdes to take the goal kick.
Barcelona's attack came again, with Messi dribbling the ball from the center towards Real Madrid's half, while Henry and Iniesta switched positions to the left and right flanks. Barcelona's attacking trident launched a three-pronged attack, penetrating deep into Real Madrid's territory.
After entering Real Madrid's half, Lass Diarra, Alonso, and Arbeloa teamed up to surround Messi, but he easily broke through. As Messi approached the penalty area, Pepe and Albiol joined forces to block him, while Arbeloa turned to chase him from behind. Instead of continuing his forward run, Messi passed the ball to Henry on the left wing.
Henry dribbled the ball diagonally into the penalty area, and Iniesta also entered the Real Madrid penalty area from the right wing, running towards the left side of the penalty area to support Henry.
At this moment, Marcelo and Ramos also dropped back, and eight Real Madrid players and three Barcelona players instantly squeezed into the Real Madrid penalty area. The referee put his whistle in his mouth and stared nervously at the ball to prevent a misjudgment.
After Henry entered the penalty area, Pepe closed in. Henry made a decisive move and took a shot. It was a low shot that went straight for the center of the goal at high speed. Pepe stretched out his leg to block it but failed, but Casillas was already prepared.
The instant the ball came, Casillas swiftly dove to the ground and easily caught it.
Seeing his teammates standing densely in front of him, Casillas felt a sense of relief. This was one of the few times he felt safe, even though in the end he still had to rely on himself.
Fino had already retreated to the center circle area and witnessed firsthand how Messi broke through the three-man blockade. Real Madrid's defensive coordination was unable to effectively contain Messi, who had improved since last season's Champions League final.
Fino had been teammates with Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Kaká, and Cristiano Ronaldo, so he knew how difficult it was to defend against top stars when they broke through, and he wasn't too worried.
He felt that the more pressing issue at the moment was the problems that Real Madrid had exposed.
When pressing all players failed to break down Barcelona's passing and combination play, the idea of launching quick counter-attacks was correct, but Real Madrid's defense was not solid and they repeatedly wasted opportunities during counter-attacks.
It looks like the two sides are evenly matched right now, but in reality, Barcelona has always been very coordinated in both attack and defense, like a machine with tightly meshed gears. Real Madrid's style of play is also clearly more physically demanding than Barcelona's.
If this continues, if Real Madrid's defense fails to drop back in time after making forward runs, Barcelona will launch a counter-attack. Even Casillas, no matter how great, gets tired eventually; Barcelona scoring is only a matter of time.
He turned to look at Pellegrini on the sidelines, hoping for some instructions, but Pellegrini simply applauded Real Madrid for defusing the crisis and didn't seem to be planning to say anything.
Fino was somewhat disappointed. At that moment, Casillas had already served the ball, and Fino's attention returned to the game.
In the next ten minutes or so, the offensive and defensive transitions between the two sides remained rapid. The players chased the ball like dogs, running from one end of the field to the other and then back again, much to the delight of the fans watching the game.
Half an hour of the first half passed quickly. The game was very exciting, but no goals were scored.
As time went on, Real Madrid's counter-attacking strategy became increasingly difficult, while Barcelona's operations became smoother and their control of the game further improved.
Real Madrid players could only try to stop Barcelona's attack by committing more fouls. Soon after, Arbeloa received a yellow card for defending Messi, and Albiol was also shown a yellow card for handball.
By the end of the first half, the game had gradually fallen into Barcelona's rhythm.
During halftime, Real Madrid's players remained silent, awaiting the coach's instructions.
Although the score was still 0-0, it was clear to everyone that Real Madrid had begun to fall behind and needed to make changes in the second half.
Pellegrini merely repeated platitudes about solid defense and quick counter-attacks, emphasizing tactical discipline, without making any effective arrangements or changes to the lineup or playing style.
The away game locker room was so quiet you could hear everyone breathing.
At this time, Raul was outside warming up to confuse Barcelona, Guti was not included in the squad for this match, and the captain's armband was worn on Casillas' left arm.
Fino glanced at Casillas out of the corner of his eye. Casillas was calmly adjusting his socks, and he didn't seem to be planning to say anything.
Fino hesitated for a moment, and was just about to offer some advice when someone grabbed her hand.
Numbers 8, 9, and 10, Kaka, Ronaldo, and Fino were standing close together.
Cristiano Ronaldo gently shook his head at Fino.
Pellegrini's frequent changes to formations and mediocre coaching ability have not only drawn criticism from the outside world, but there are also distrustful voices within the Real Madrid dressing room. However, he has the support of the Spanish contingent, except for Guti.
Even when they were upset by a third-division team in the Copa del Rey and suffered a humiliating exit, Raul, Casillas and others firmly supported Pellegrini. Only Guti stood up and questioned Pellegrini's rotation policy.
Milan's dressing room has always been relatively harmonious under Maldini's management, while Manchester United's dressing room has Ferguson above them. There may be some undercurrents, but they are all minor squabbles.
Real Madrid is different.
Ramos, Alonso, Arbeloa… the Spaniards all seem like sunny, cheerful young men on the surface, but they all seem quite shrewd behind the scenes. Captains Raul and Guti are locked in a power struggle with the club's management, while Casillas appears to be a nice guy, but he's also a hopeless romantic, telling everything to his new journalist girlfriend.
Ronaldo is unsure about the current situation, and he's worried that the younger Fino might be at a disadvantage.
After all, the Real Madrid dressing room is like a sieve, leaking air everywhere. Under such circumstances, even if Fino is just making a normal suggestion, it may be over-interpreted.
Cristiano Ronaldo himself has suffered too much from being over-interpreted (scratch that) and spread rumors by the media.
Therefore, it's best for these foreign players to play it safe for now.
Fino instantly understood what Ronaldo meant, and he knew that Ronaldo meant well.
He sighed inwardly, then turned and grasped Ronaldo's hand, remaining silent as well.
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Author's note: Thank you everyone for your support! [cheering emoji]
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