Chapter 143 Surprise
Pellegrini breathed a sigh of relief on the sidelines. Fino and Ronaldo had excellent teamwork in this play. Now the media can no longer say that Real Madrid only relied on their superstars to fight alone and had no teamwork.
After that goal, Real Madrid seemed to have finally opened the scoring door, and the second goal came quickly.
Guti launched a long pass from midfield. Fino withdrew from the penalty area, held off Diawara, chested the ball down, and then turned and charged into the penalty area.
This time he was more careful. After blocking Diawara's position, he used his speed to create distance between himself and the opponent, not giving Diawara a chance to pull his jersey.
Marseille's other center-back, Heinze, blocked Fino's path. Fino easily bypassed him with a simple change of direction, slowing down and then accelerating. At this point, Fino was one-on-one with the goalkeeper and was only a dozen meters away from the Marseille goal.
Marseille goalkeeper Mandanda nervously lowered his center of gravity, preparing to make a save, but Fino did not shoot immediately, instead continuing to dribble forward.
10 meters, 9 meters, 8 meters...
As Fino drew closer, Mandanda's heart pounded in his chest. He kept imagining Fino's shot trajectory in his mind, and sweat was already rolling down his temples from his hairline, but he had no time or inclination to wipe it away.
7 meters, 6 meters, 5 meters...
Fino still showed no intention of shooting, but Mandanda was tired of waiting. He decided to take the initiative, quickly lunging towards the ball at Fino's feet.
However, this was the moment Fino had been waiting for. The instant Mandanda lunged forward, Fino lifted the ball up, then took a step to the side to avoid Mandanda's body. Immediately afterward, as the ball fell back, he volleyed it over Mandanda's body and sent it into the empty net.
2-0, Real Madrid extended their lead at home.
Marseille, having conceded two goals, became anxious, and their players grew increasingly agitated, receiving two yellow cards in the next 10 minutes.
First, Mbiah fouled Pepe and received a yellow card, then Diawara tackled Ronaldo as he rushed into the penalty area and received a penalty as well.
With the yellow card he received for tripping Fino earlier, Diawara has now received two yellow cards and is sent off, forcing Marseille to play with ten men.
Cristiano Ronaldo shed tears of pain after being tackled, but he still endured the pain and took the penalty himself.
With a calm and decisive shot, Ronaldo made it 3-0 for Real Madrid.
But just a few minutes later, Ronaldo couldn't bear the pain in his right ankle any longer and was substituted by Higuain.
The score remained 3-0 until the very end.
After two rounds of Champions League group stage matches, Real Madrid has won both games and accumulated 6 points, temporarily ranking first in the group.
Since the start of the 2009/10 season, Real Madrid has played 7 matches, including 5 La Liga matches and 2 Champions League group stage matches. Real Madrid has won all 7 matches, making them the only team in Europe to maintain a perfect record.
But this did not improve Real Madrid's reputation in the media, especially the pro-Barcelona newspaper Mundo Deportivo, which seemed eager to tell the world:
Real Madrid's current victories are merely financial and star-studded wins; they don't play beautiful football or possess good teamwork. They crumble against strong teams. Especially with Ronaldo's right ankle injury, the league match against Sevilla in a few days will be the time for Real Madrid to show their true colors.
The malicious curses from Mundo Deportivo have infuriated Real Madrid fans, who are eager for the sixth round of the league match against Sevilla to arrive quickly, so they can give those media outlets that were predicting Real Madrid's downfall a good slap in the face.
But the more you fear something, the more likely it is to happen. In the away game against Sevilla, Real Madrid actually lost.
With Cristiano Ronaldo and key defensive midfielder Lass Diarra sidelined due to injury, Fino, who had started several consecutive matches, was rotated out, while captain Raul and Higuain got their first starting opportunities.
In this match, Pellegrini experimented with the 4-3-3 formation again, and Kaká was also pushed to the front line.
Pellegrini's experiment was unsuccessful. Real Madrid's midfield and attack played awkwardly. After 90 minutes, Real Madrid lost the game 1-2 away from home. Real Madrid's only goal came from a free kick combination. Guti crossed the ball and Pepe scored.
These media outlets that had been predicting Real Madrid's downfall finally celebrated, like a long-awaited downpour finally falling.
Real Madrid suffers its first defeat of the season; the seemingly strong team finally meets its match.
The drawbacks of the "superstar syndrome" become apparent as Real Madrid falters at the Pizjuán Stadium.
The second-generation Galacticos sank rapidly, marking the failure of Florentino Pérez's superstar policy.
...
Criticism flooded into Real Madrid like a tidal wave, also striking hard at the hearts of the Merengue players.
Fortunately, after the sixth round of the league, it was the international break, and the European qualifiers for the World Cup entered their final two group stage matches, quickly diverting the world's attention to the qualifiers.
In the final two rounds of matches, the Italian national team won one and drew one, ultimately qualifying as the group winner and securing their place in the South Africa World Cup.
The other eight countries that qualified for the World Cup European qualifiers as group winners are Denmark, Switzerland, Slovakia, Germany, Spain, England, Serbia, and the Netherlands.
The eight best second-placed teams from the nine groups will qualify for the playoffs, where they will be drawn into four groups for a two-legged knockout tournament. The four winning teams will then qualify for the World Cup.
In the World Cup qualifiers, the qualification situation in Group 1, where Portugal is located, is extremely complicated. Apart from Albania and Malta, who have no hope of qualifying, the other four teams all have a chance to qualify directly as the top seed.
After eight rounds of qualifying, Denmark leads the group with 18 points, Sweden is second with 15 points, and Portugal and Hungary are tied for third with 13 points each.
During this international break, Cristiano Ronaldo risked playing with an injury in an effort to secure Portugal's World Cup qualification, but he had to leave the field after just 25 minutes because he could not continue.
After two World Cup qualifying matches, Portugal finished second in their group and qualified for the playoffs, keeping their hopes of reaching the World Cup alive.
However, Ronaldo's post-match medical examination results were not optimistic; his right ankle injury had worsened, requiring 3 to 4 weeks of rest. During his recovery, his injury fluctuated, and his return to play was repeatedly postponed until the end of November.
On October 21, the third round of the Champions League group stage officially kicked off, with Real Madrid hosting AC Milan, the former club of Fino and Kaká.
Fino and Kaka had been excited for days.
Alonso patted Fino's hair, then put his arm around his shoulder and asked in a low voice, "Are you that excited to play against Milan?"
Fino's face was beaming with a smile, his eyes shining with anticipation: "I haven't seen Seedorf and Pato in a long time, and Oddo too. Oddo came back from Bayern this season."
Kaka nodded vigorously: "Me too, me too! I miss Paulo, Pippo and Sandro so much! I can see them when Fini plays at home for the national team, but I can only wait for the Champions League match."
“Italian players are all homebodies. Ricardo has been in Serie A for so long that he’s become just like an Italian.” At this moment, Casillas walked over, patted Kaká on the shoulder, and continued, “When Cannavaro was at Real Madrid, he talked to me about Italy every day. I was so tired of hearing it.”
Guti, a staunch Real Madrid player, overheard their conversation, but he wasn't angry that Fino and Kaká missed Milan. He understood all too well the players' attachment to their parent clubs. If possible, who wouldn't want to be like Maldini, a player who only played for one club?
When the day of the match finally arrived, as both teams waited to enter the pitch in the players' tunnel, Fino and Kaká were instantly surrounded by Milan players, receiving kisses, hugs, and hair pats—the familiar "one-stop service" was immediately arranged for the two.
"Are you staying overnight in Madrid? Come to my place!" Fino invited Pirlo and his companions.
The Champions League group stage match was scheduled for 8:45 pm. It would be quite late after the match, and returning to Milan overnight would be too tiring. Fino guessed that Milan would stay overnight in Madrid.
Ambrosini shook his head: "The domestic league is a big task, we have to return to Italy tonight."
Fino was somewhat surprised. He had been paying close attention to Milan's matches, but Milan's next league game was in four days. Was there really such a rush?
Pirlo leaned close to his ear and covered his mouth to explain, "To save costs, we try to return overnight when playing away games now."
Fino looked at Ambrosini, who clearly already knew what Pirlo had said, and nodded helplessly.
After selling Fino and Kaká, Milan did receive a large sum of money instantly, but this does not mean that Milan's financial situation immediately became more comfortable.
Running a club is a very complex issue, and there's never enough money.
The transfer fees for Fino and Kaká need to be used to fill Milan's financial deficit, deal with the Italian Football Federation's audit, repair Milanello, buy players, and pay player and staff salaries...
Moreover, after the transfers of Fino and Kaká and the retirement of Maldini, Milan's commercial development, which had been progressing very smoothly last season, immediately came to a standstill, and revenue also declined significantly. Not only did jerseys and other merchandise not sell well, but many sponsors who came for Fino and Kaká also switched to Real Madrid.
Berlusconi is currently overwhelmed by the escalating scandals, which have even affected the Berlusconi family's businesses. Under these circumstances, Berlusconi is not only unlikely to inject funds into Milan, but may even have to take money from Milan's accounts.
Galliani is a genius in club management. Given the current situation, he must plan ahead. If revenue generation is hampered, then he should cut costs.
He first pushed for veteran players to take pay cuts, then cut costs in operations, and even spent little in the summer transfer market.
...
The match ended in victory for Milan.
Despite losing two key players in the summer, the defending champions are still a force to be reckoned with.
After three rounds of group matches, Milan and Real Madrid both have 6 points, but Milan is temporarily in first place in the group due to their head-to-head advantage.
After the match, Fino was surrounded by Milan players as he entered the away locker room, where they took out birthday gifts for him from their backpacks and stuffed them into his arms.
Yes, in three days, on October 24th, Fino will celebrate her 21st birthday.
"Happy birthday in advance, Fino!" Nesta patted Fino on the shoulder.
There was no cake, no candles, no fancy meal; in the simple away team locker room at the Bernabéu, former teammates sang "Happy Birthday" to Fino.
Fino's eyes welled up with tears, his heart overflowing with happiness. He knew he would never forget what had happened that night.
However, the surprises he received tonight were not limited to these.
When he saw off his teammates from his parent team and returned to the home team's locker room, only the staff were waiting for him.
"Fino, the club bus has already left. Kaka asked me to tell you to go directly to the Bernabéu parking lot, and someone will take you home."
Fino nodded, packed her personal belongings, picked up two large bags of birthday gifts, and headed to the parking lot.
When he entered the parking lot, he discovered that it wasn't a club staff member waiting for him, but Maldini, who was leaning against his sports car and smiling at him.
The lights enveloped Maldini in a soft, hazy glow.
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Author's Note: Thank you everyone for your support~ [Let me see...]
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