Chapter 36 Chapter 36 Victory
In the 12th round of the Spanish Second Division, Castilla played against Alianza Salamanca at home. Bueno scored a goal in the 17th minute. In the second half, Negredo received a pass from Parejo and shot in front of the goal, expanding the score to 2-0. Cheers often rang out on the sidelines of the Di Stefano stadium.
The match against Alaves in the 13th round was not so smooth. The two sides fought for 90 minutes, and several shots made Castilla's defense break out in a cold sweat. How intense the game was can be seen from the final score of 1-4.
In this match, Arbeloa is expected to rest for three weeks due to a muscle strain in the previous round. In addition, Redondo arranged for Bueno to rest.
Alaves has suffered consecutive defeats since the beginning of the season and currently has only 8 points after 12 games, hovering in the relegation zone. Facing such an opponent, Castilla must snatch precious points from them.
It was originally just an ordinary league game, but the chairman of Alaves asked their head coach Luna before the game that he must win at the Mendizorroza Stadium today, otherwise the team would terminate his contract.
Although Alaves is a small team, it carried out a large-scale cleanup when it was promoted to La Liga two years ago, sending away 11 players who did not meet the team's requirements and signing 12 young men in succession in an attempt to make a difference. However, not only did the team get relegated back to the Spanish Second Division in the 05/06 season, it has now taken a few big steps and directly fallen into the relegation zone. If they are not careful, they may even be relegated this season.
Not only does the head coach have a heavy burden, but the players on the field also have a lot of psychological pressure. Athletes all rely on their youth to make a living. Although they know that their talents cannot support them to gain a foothold in the top leagues and top clubs, if the team's performance keeps declining, no scouts will pay attention to them anymore. Instead of sinking, it is better to have a good game with Castilla, the most popular team in the Spanish Second Division. If they have a bright moment, maybe a scout will be willing to give them the opportunity to play football elsewhere.
As the youth team of Real Madrid, Castilla was not treated very well when going to away challenges when they set sail from the Galacticos. During those years, the first team was ridiculed in every game, saying that they were the stars on the field, and Castilla was just an incidental target of anger.
For a full 30 minutes, Castilla was suppressed in its own half by Alaves, who were holding their breath. Alaves had a possession rate of 65% in this half hour.
13 shots, 5 on target.
In the 7th minute, their No. 10 faked a shot on the flank and passed the ball to Castilla's defender, who passed the ball to Bodipo, who carried Nacho and shot, but the angle was too straight and was caught in Leandri's arms.
In the 12th minute, Callejon made a mistake in passing the ball, which was intercepted by the opponent's defender. The ball was directly transferred to Aloisi who was active on the offside line in the half court. His shot was predicted by Leandri who was well prepared and was blocked out of the baseline.
Leandri, who was directing the team, had no idea about the twists and turns in the Alaves team and was still wondering how these guys, who were so powerful, had put themselves in the relegation zone.
As the corner kick was taken, the player standing at the back point headed the ball, but the ball did not reach the point of force completely. Nacho jumped towards the ball and headed it out of the penalty area again.
In the 30th minute, Alaves rushed forward again, and the cooperation between several players was so smooth. Xavi Garcia was directly broken through by several passes from the opponent, and the big central defender also began to block their forward route.
"Right! Watch out to the right!" Leandri, standing behind, alertly noticed that someone else was moving forward.
Sure enough, the player who was advancing saw that his space was blocked, so he gritted his teeth and passed the ball to the player who was running forward. After receiving the ball, the opponent shot hard, but unfortunately it was caught by Leandri who was prepared.
Seeing that most of the Alaves players were in their own half, Leandri kicked the ball to Juan Mata who was reaching out for the ball.
Uncle Mata was running wildly along the sidelines as if he was on Hot Wheels, which made everyone in Alaves feel nervous.
Their central defender Juanito gritted his teeth and tried to tackle the ball.
Mata was not in a hurry. He used a few tricks to dizzy his center of gravity and then made a cross.
Negredo, who had already run into the penalty area and was unguarded, jumped up easily. In front of him was the goalkeeper who was too late to rush out and snatch the ball away.
Negredo hit the ball hard with his forehead, and immediately ripples appeared in the goal.
Mata jumped onto Negredo's back with a few steps. The strong man carried Mata on his back and ran back to celebrate with his friends.
Redondo clapped his hands on the sidelines, then turned to talk to the assistant coach, "The team's defensive flexibility is pretty good right now."
The assistant coach also nodded, "And Leandri's offense is also gradually developing. He just saw the right time for this ball."
The bearded assistant coach looked at the other side of the command seat in confusion, "What happened to them today? If they had played like this at the beginning of the season, they would probably be ranked very high in the league."
After pressing the opponent for half an hour, they still let them take the lead. Alaves attacked even more fiercely now.
Leandri, Nacho and others were so busy that it was only the first half and their jerseys were dripping with water. You have to know that it is late November now and the weather in Spain has started to get cooler.
But Castilla is also very brave when playing against such opponents.
Alaves' pass was again intercepted by Nacho and went directly to Parejo who was constantly looking for opportunities in the midfield.
After conceding a goal, Alaves was particularly active in their defense. As soon as Parejo got the ball, a player came up to squeeze his position, and Parejo had no choice but to move to the side.
He had no way to advance any further as the opponent was sticking to him like a plaster. However, Parejo was famous for his skills in Castilla. He made a few fake moves on the spot, then took advantage of the moment when the opponent's center of gravity was unstable and immediately raised his foot to pass the ball to the middle.
Negredo, who received the ball in the penalty area, successfully won the header.
The opposing goalkeeper Bonanno flew to save the ball, but unfortunately he was a step too late. When the ball crossed the goal line, he was able to keep it with both hands. The referee saw it clearly and the goal was valid.
I thought that the two goals would allow Alaves to play more steadily, but the opponent fought even more aggressively and actually gave them opportunities.
At the end of the first half, the opponent's No. 8 made a long shot for them, and the stoppage time was about to end. This was their last chance in the first half.
As the corner kick was taken, Bodibo ran from the penalty spot towards the goal, and the ball really found him accurately!
Bodibo leaned sideways and kicked the ball hard with his left foot, but he used too much force and hit the crossbar and bounced back.
The penalty area was in chaos at this time. No one from the opposing team stayed in the second half, and all of them were here trying to find the right moment to score a goal.
The ball was touched by Nacho and an Alaves player at the same time. Although neither side used their full strength, the ball still changed its position again.
No. 10, who had already run from the corner area, happened to appear on the path of the ball's refraction.
Shoot without hesitation!
By the time Leandri reacted and turned sideways to save the ball, it was too late. The ball went into the net from under his waist.
The people of Castilla were also speechless. They originally thought it was just an ordinary league game, but the opponent's form suddenly exploded and it was like a crucial match for both sides.
Well, it is indeed crucial. If we lose this game, Luna, who is sitting in the command seat on the opposite side, will be unemployed.
Back in the locker room, Redondo didn't say much about the final goal, and it was difficult to blame any player. No one expected the opponent's sudden burst of power. Castilla was able to withstand the pressure at the beginning of the game without conceding a goal, and also found the right time to launch two precise counterattacks to score goals. The team's performance today was already very good.
For the last corner kick, their goalkeeper ran to the midline. There were only people and feet in the penalty area, and everyone's vision was blocked. No one could say anything about this goal that was scored with a bit of luck.
Redondo did not make any personnel changes. He asked everyone to drink water and change jerseys as soon as possible. He also told everyone not to save their strength in the second half. In the summer, Redondo retained a lot of capable players. Now Castilla's bench is much thicker than the opponent's.
The two sides changed sides in the second half.
Castilla did not make any substitutions. Alaves replaced a defender with another attacking midfielder. At this time, their formation had become 352.
At this moment they would rather weaken the defense and try to score a goal. Anyway, Alaves is now 1-2 behind at home. In this case, it doesn’t matter whether they lose one goal or two. Winning the game is what they want most.
But the problem is that they were unable to defend against Castilla's attack in the first place, and now they had to sacrifice a defender on the field to defend, which made it easier for Castilla to seize the opportunity to expand the score.
Sure enough, in the 62nd minute of the second half, Alaves' attack was intercepted again.
Nacho made a tackle to snatch the ball away from the opponent, Leandri hurried forward to control the ball under his feet, and then passed it to Xavi Garcia who retreated to receive the ball.
Next to Garcia, the Alaves players had no time to block him, so he had a lot of space to pass the ball.
He made a few lateral passes and found Parejo again, while Granero and Negredo were both running towards the opponent's goal.
Leandri was in the backcourt watching the three players in the frontcourt launching an attack towards the opposite side at full speed. There were only two people in their backcourt, and the other defender had just stepped forward to join the attack and had just started to shift into reverse gear!
Leandri had already clenched his fists tightly. It was three against two in the frontcourt, and sure enough, he punched in front of the goal the next second!
Granero scored another goal with a lob.
They were full of energy at the first, but then it weakened and finally they were exhausted. They were trying hard to get a chance, but the opponent widened the score again. Looking at the numbers on the scoreboard, the anger in the hearts of the Alaves players began to dissipate.
Even the shooting began to lose its power. Leandri jumped high and directly took the ball. The moment he landed, he roared in their direction!
Don't even think about scoring another goal!
Sure enough, the opponent's morale was almost destroyed, and they even accidentally scored an own goal while defending. The opponent's defender wanted to block Mata's shot, but the ball hit his waist and bounced into the net. 1-4, Castilla won a big victory away from home!
Human sorrows and joys are not the same, and only the winners can reap the fruits of happiness.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
