Chapter 220
The season is already halfway through, and the intensive competitions are also quite a burden on the players' physical condition.
Perhaps because of this, Mourinho chose a more conservative tactical plan. In several consecutive league games, although this tactical plan was not played smoothly enough, at least it did not result in losing points.
The second leg of the Copa del Rey semi-final returned to the Bernabeu, and Mourinho still chose the same tactical approach.
However, this time, this tactic did not work as well as before against Barcelona at their home ground.
The conservative pace in the first half made Real Madrid accustomed to lukewarm offense and defense. In the second half, Barcelona changed its tentativeness in the first half and suddenly accelerated the fierce offensive rhythm, catching Real Madrid's defense off guard.
Just after the second half, Barcelona scored a goal, and less than five minutes later, the second goal followed, and Barcelona completely widened the score.
Real Madrid's morale was immediately broken, and the offensive organization in the midfield became a mess.
Mourinho pursed his lips as he watched the chaos on the field. He decisively replaced the midfielder and replaced Van Nistelrooy with Bale, who had just recovered from injury.
When Van Nistelrooy saw the substitution player number plates light up on the sidelines, he curled the corners of his mouth in a mocking manner.
With a cold face, he tore off the headband that was holding his long hair and threw it heavily to the ground in the direction of Mourinho.
Seeing this, Raul called out to him and signaled Fanny to control his emotions.
No one wants to see the result of the game so far, and substitutions are a decision made by the head coach that cannot be questioned or rejected. It is obviously not a wise move for Van Nistelrooy to take his emotions out on Mourinho.
Van Nistelrooy shook his hand away. He heard what Raul said, but he did not respond. He just took a deep breath and strode towards the edge of the court.
Cristiano was panting on the side of the court, taking advantage of the substitution to adjust his breathing. When Van Nistelrooy approached, he quickly grabbed the man's arm and whispered, "Luther!"
Van Nistelrooy paused for two seconds, then he met Cristiano's eyes as he looked up at him. The obvious worry and advice in the boy's eyes made him a little irritated, but he still held back his temper and did not shake off Cristiano's hand.
Cristiano didn't say anything when he saw this. He knew that no matter what he said at this moment, it would only upset people. He quickly moved forward and gave Van Nistelrooy a gentle hug, and kissed the side of Van Nistelrooy's neck in a soothing manner, just like Keane and Ferdinand always did when they were in Manchester.
Van Nistelrooy was silent for a moment, then he patted Cristiano's waist inconspicuously.
The next second he was released by the boy, and Cristiano understood that this was his sign that everything was okay.
Van Nistelrooy walked to the sidelines, glanced at Bale who replaced him, and reluctantly but still raised his hands to high-five him.
"Mourinho replaced Van Nistelrooy! He was replaced by Gareth Bale, the new foreign aid introduced this season! When Van Nistelrooy was injured and absent some time ago, Bale played as a main player in the starting lineup for a while and his results were pretty good!" said the commentator.
His partner checked the time and said, "There are still 20 minutes left in the game. Is Mourinho's substitution for Van Nistelrooy's newly recovered physical condition, or does he really think that the new foreign aid can bring a greater impact to the team than the king of the penalty area?"
"Or maybe they just hope to bring some new changes? Real Madrid really lacked something in this game, which has a lot to do with the state they entered in the first half. Using all the substitutions to change the team's blood may be a hope to break the bad rhythm that continued from the first half."
Bale was indeed very active after coming on the pitch, but Real Madrid was like a bus that was already halfway outside the cliff, leaning further and further down the cliff, and the game was already over.
It was not until the last injury time that Cristiano broke through the opponent's defense with his own ability, and then broke the opponent's goalkeeper's defense with an unexpected long shot, which prevented his team from being shut out at home.
"Cristiano's world-class long-range shot!! The score has been narrowed!! There are less than two minutes of injury time left in the game, can he create another miracle?!" The commentator slammed the table excitedly. This goal was so beautiful, the ultimate power and angle pursuit, the perfect stretch of the body were like a mechanical art painting.
However, it is still too difficult to create a miracle of scoring two goals or even more in just a few minutes of injury time. Even Cristiano cannot always perform such a miracle.
"The game is over! Real Madrid unfortunately lost 1-2 to Barcelona at their home ground and withdrew from the battle for the King's Cup championship." The commentator sighed regretfully.
Cristiano pursed his lips and reluctantly thanked the fans along with Kaka, Raul and others - those fans probably didn't want to see them that much, because when they faced the stands, mineral water bottles and paper balls were thrown in front of them like a heavy rain.
Cristiano was hit in the corner of his eye by a mineral water bottle cap. Kaka quickly pulled him behind him, turned around and held up Cristiano's face to look into his eyes. He saw that the corner of Cristiano's eye had quickly turned red, but fortunately it was nothing serious, it was just wiped away and not even the skin was broken.
Seeing this, Ramos immediately stepped forward, pointed at the area where the fans were throwing garbage in the stands, and walked forward a few steps angrily, but was quickly stopped by Raul and Casillas.
"Okay Sergio! Don't get into trouble!" Raul grabbed him and growled.
Ramos pursed his lips reluctantly and was pulled back by Raul and dragged into the player tunnel.
Kaka took a deep breath and calmed down after hearing the movement from Ramos's side. He knew that what he needed most at the moment was these reckless conflicts. No matter what they did, everything in the end would be blamed on his boy, even if Cristiano did nothing.
He grabbed Cristiano's hand and strode off the court with Chris. Cristiano didn't say anything and didn't even raise his head, giving Kaka the illusion that he was holding Junior or Luca's hand, like a quiet child.
They returned to the locker room, and Ramos came over and looked up at Cristiano's face without saying a word.
The area at the corner of Cristiano's eye became even redder, and the sensitive skin that was scratched swelled up and left a scratch.
Seeing this, Ruud made a sound of "tsk tsk", pushed Ramos aside, and lifted Cristiano's face to examine it from left to right: "Is this the only part that was hit?"
"Is it too little?" Cristiano was forced to pout his lips and asked jokingly in a muffled voice.
Ruud glared at him and let go of his hand: "I told you to stay away from the fans' stands."
"When did I say that?" Cristiano retorted, and then he sat on the bench, pursed his lips in frustration, and supported his knees with his hands.
"In Manchester, I dare say most people warned you," said Van Nistelrooy.
He rolled his eyes. The poodle made people worry. If Keane were here, he would take Cristiano away from home when they lost the game. Although the fans in England like Cristiano, some crazy guys are not vegetarians either.
However, those people will definitely be held accountable by Ferguson, and they will not be able to enter the stadium to watch the game within a year.
If he had not been substituted by Mourinho, he would definitely have pulled Cristiano back immediately.
He glanced at Kaka veiledly and deducted points, big points.
Kaka pursed his lips. Of course he noticed Van Nistelrooy's gaze. He did not notice how carefully Cristiano was protected and cared for at Manchester United. In comparison, his carelessness seemed particularly intolerable.
He unconsciously clenched his hands hanging by his side, and Cristiano's red and swollen eyes became even more glaring.
Cristiano sniffed. He hated the feeling of not having fun playing. If they were really in poor form, or were not as good as Barcelona, then they would have lost and they could have rested and played again. But the fact was that they lost before the game.
When they decided to play the game in such a conservative way, they were doomed to lose, no matter how hard they tried.
Cristiano wiped his face heavily, said nothing, and went straight into the bathroom.
Benzema hesitated for a moment when he saw this, then stood up and followed Cristiano, like a tail, quietly and silently.
Just as the two of them walked into the bathroom, Mourinho opened the locker room door and walked in, forcing Kaka to give up his plan to follow him into the bathroom.
They turned on the faucet, and slightly scalding steam rose up instantly, opening all their pores and bringing up the pain from being kicked down countless times on the field.
Cristiano leaned against the tile without saying a word, the water flowing across his handsome nose, his chin, and his collarbone. The water seemed to be the best cover. He covered his eyes with his arms.
I don't know how long it took, but the sound of water on Cristiano's end finally stopped. Benzema noticed the movement over there and tightened the faucet as well.
Cristiano turned his head to look at Benzema who was walking forward. He smiled familiarly and whispered to Benzema: "Hey, Karim."
"Hey, Cristiano." Benzema also responded softly.
He was not good at speaking, and in front of Cristiano, he always had a lot to say -
For example, he wanted to comfort Cristiano for the loss of this game, and he wanted to tell him that they had done everything in this game...
But when the words came to his lips, he felt that the words were too pale. He could not say anything and only a few dry words came out.
He scratched his cheek in annoyance, and then he saw Cristiano flash a fleeting smile, as if he liked his answer very much.
Benzema thought this must be his illusion. Who would like a person who doesn't know what to say? What's more, Cristiano is a person who loves excitement and noise.
But Cristiano turned his head and smiled at Benzema.
He clenched his fist and gently hit Benzema's shoulder: "Karim, thank you."
He looked at Benzema through the steam, as if he was looking at another good friend. Cristiano's voice was so soft that it sounded like he was talking to himself: "This feeling makes me feel like I'm back in the old days."
Benzema blinked. Even though Cristiano's voice was barely audible, he still heard it.
He was a little confused, but soon he found an answer that made sense to himself - Manchester United?
By the time Cristiano and Benzema came out of the bathroom, Mourinho had finished what he was going to say and left the locker room.
The others also went into the bathroom without saying much. They tidied themselves up briefly and then went to accept the annoying post-interview.
The journalists who interviewed the team focused on the obvious reason for the defeat. Everyone could see that Real Madrid's star player was not happy at all. They pointed the microphone at Cristiano:
"Cristiano, are you satisfied with the way Real Madrid is playing now?"
Mourinho had a blank expression.
Cristiano took the microphone. He did not intend to hide his dissatisfaction, especially since he had already talked with Mourinho many times about tactical differences.
"I'm not happy with it, but I have to adapt to the tactical needs, that's it, because we have an established tactic," he said.
Mourinho still had a blank expression on his face, while Raul and Casillas on the side quickly exchanged glances and frowned slightly.
After Cristiano finished speaking, he stood up and left, while Kaka still sat in his seat.
Someone noticed that Cristiano's eyes were swollen. Kaka took the microphone and answered the question: "I'm sorry we lost, but the stadium is not a place to vent violence and emotions."
"This is a sacred place for players to compete, not a garbage dump."
"I am sad that some fans tried to vent their frustration about losing by attacking the players, but it does not help."
Kaka said calmly, he glanced at the reporters in front of him with a cold look, and then handed over the microphone.
Raul and Casillas exchanged glances quietly again. The entire post-interview kept them busy in private.
One or two little boys who are both troublesome.
I don’t know if it was because of Cristiano’s remarks, but in the next league match against Zaragoza, Cristiano was not included in the starting lineup.
He sat quietly on the bench, with no emotion on his face.
However, the commentator gasped in surprise when he saw the roster: "Cristiano is not on the match roster!! Could it be that Mourinho kicked him out of the starting roster because of his dissatisfaction with the tactics last time?!"
"No, I don't think so. Cristiano's importance to the team is self-evident. Even Mourinho will consider the importance of him." His partner thought calmly, "I think it's just a coincidence of rotation. After all, the competition is halfway through, Cristiano has been in full attendance for a long time and needs a rest. This is also in line with Mourinho's core idea of tactical selection in recent times."
The commentator nodded and said, "You have some truth in what you said, but the timing is too coincidental. I'm afraid there are many people who will think the same way as I did at first."
"Anyway, let's see what the result of this game will be without Cristiano Ronaldo! We saw Bale replace Cristiano in the starting lineup..."
The result was not unexpected, but it was certainly not satisfactory.
Real Madrid suffered another defeat, losing 2-3 to Zaragoza. Kaka and Benzema each scored a goal, but still failed to win the game.
"It turns out that Real Madrid really can't do without Cristiano! It's a pity that Real Madrid lost the league again and didn't get any points!"
And in the five consecutive games following this game, Cristiano returned to the starting lineup.
A five-game winning streak, including a victory by the only goal in a Champions League knockout match, happened to Cristiano like an incredible script.
It was like a silent announcement to everyone - he was indeed unshakable, he was Real Madrid.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
