Chapter 341 Barcelona is out of money!
In the tenth round of La Liga, Barcelona reversed again!
Why say again?
Because I don’t know how many times this has happened.
After returning from the Champions League, the team faced Deportivo La Coruna at home. Irueta's team took the initiative at the start and launched a wave of attacks. In just seven minutes, Munitis broke through on the right and made a cross. The defensive players in the middle failed to clear the ball in time. The Spanish left winger Fran stopped the ball with his chest and shot into the far corner.
When Fran stopped the ball and shot, there was no defensive player around him.
Where is Marcos? He went to fill in the gaps left by the central defenders and fight for the ball's landing point.
What about the two central defenders?
Puyol pressed forward to grab the ball, but Oleguer left the position vacant.
I don't know how many times such mistakes have occurred this season.
…
Just five minutes after Deportivo La Coruña scored, Barcelona's attack began to gain momentum.
Ronaldinho made a straight pass from the left, Sudong made a high-speed diagonal run to the left side of the penalty area, dribbled past center back Romero and shot with his left foot, successfully equalizing the score for Barcelona.
Subsequently, Barcelona launched a fierce attack on Villarreal.
In the 38th minute, Ronaldinho made another straight pass in a quick counterattack, Su Dong broke into the left side of the penalty area after offside and shot hard. After the ball was saved by goalkeeper Molina, the right winger Giuly followed up in time and easily pushed the ball into the empty goal.
Two to one!
Another reversal!
This score remained until the end of the game.
Thanks to goals from Sudon and Giuly, Barcelona defeated Deportivo La Coruna 2-1.
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Although they got the precious three points, the outside world's evaluation of Barcelona was quite contradictory.
Mundo Deportivo was full of praise for Barcelona's attack.
"Barcelona's powerful attack caused Deportivo La Coruna to constantly reveal their weaknesses. In the end, they had to adopt a strict defensive strategy, which was how they managed to keep the goal."
"Barcelona are playing great football!"
Mundo Deportivo believes that whether it is a flash of inspiration from a superstar or a gorgeous combination like mercury flowing on the ground, Barcelona's offensive system has reached a point where it is hard to defend against, and scoring goals is easy to come by, making all opponents shudder.
But Mundo Deportivo also said, "Defense has become the biggest obstacle to Barcelona's continued progress!"
This Barcelona mouthpiece enumerated the various problems Barcelona has faced in defense this season and believed that it is necessary for the team to strengthen its recruitment during the winter break, especially the introduction of defensive players in the midfield and backcourt, so as to ensure that the team can go further in the Champions League.
…
With the national derby just around the corner, Real Madrid's mouthpiece AS also spoke highly of Barcelona's attack, believing that the front trident composed of Sudon, Ronaldinho and Giuly is no less offensive than Real Madrid's superstar lineup.
"Judging from the performance in the last two rounds, Barcelona's biggest problem is on the defensive end."
AS analyzed Barcelona's two games against Athletic Bilbao and Deportivo La Coruna. In both games, Barcelona lost the ball first and then reversed the situation through strong attacks. This was also the case when they faced Juventus in the Champions League.
“That would pose a huge risk.”
"With the continuous goals scored by Su Dong, who is in great form, and Ronaldinho's flashes of brilliance, Barcelona can make up for the mistakes in the back line through continuous goals in offense. But once Su Dong can't score and Ronaldinho is not effective, what can Barcelona rely on to reverse the opponent?"
AS believes that the weak defense makes the current Barcelona look strong but actually very vulnerable.
On the other hand, Real Madrid, after the turmoil of coaching change, has conceded no goals in the last three rounds and scored five goals, showing a very stable performance.
"We have every reason to believe that in the upcoming Camp Nou national derby, Real Madrid will have the opportunity to knock Barcelona to the ground and interrupt Barcelona's winning streak this season!"
The national derby will be held at Camp Nou in the twelfth round.
…
Not only Mundo Deportivo and AS, but even Barcelona godfather Cruyff fiercely criticized Barcelona's defense in his column.
"With this defensive intensity, I can hardly imagine how far they can go in the Champions League knockout stage!"
Cruyff was very dissatisfied with the team's defense. He said that if Barcelona was determined to achieve results in the Champions League and win the La Liga, it must introduce defensive players during the winter break to strengthen the team's defense.
Cruyff's judgment is not without reason.
In the column, the godfather of Barcelona produced a piece of data, indicating that the player with the most steals in Barcelona this season is actually Deco.
"This reflects two aspects of the problem. First, Barcelona does have a group of players who are both offensive and defensive, and have outstanding strength, such as Deco and Xavi, who are both very good."
"Secondly, under the banner of offensive football, the team's key defensive areas are pushed forward, and Deco and Xavi have become the team's main defensive barriers in the midfield."
"On the other hand, from the first question, we can see that Deco and Xavi have to be too distracted by the team's defense and cannot focus on offense and organization. From the second question, we can see that the players in the Barcelona team are very clear that once they get through the defense of Deco and Xavi, it will be easy for the opponent to shoot and even score a goal, which is very dangerous."
Cruyff said that Barcelona is the team with the weakest lineup in La Liga. The three fronts are very long and the schedule is very dense, which is not conducive to maintaining the players' condition and there will definitely be ups and downs.
Once the frontcourt attack is not going well, what will happen to the back line? If other teams seize this weakness of Barcelona, will Barcelona still be able to attack?
Isn’t this the problem with the Galacticos Real Madrid?
Finally, Cruyff affirmed Barcelona's achievements this season, including its football style and the best offensive firepower in La Liga, as well as being one of the teams with the fewest goals conceded, but he said that the data could not truly reflect the full picture of the game.
"Especially in the last few games, as the season progresses, it's clear that Barcelona's defense is becoming more and more of a problem."
…
From the media to the legends, from the head coach to the players, almost everyone knows that Barcelona needs to strengthen its defense.
Club president Laporta and vice-president Rosell also came forward to say that Barcelona is formulating a winter break recruitment plan, with the top priority being to strengthen recruitment in the midfield and backcourt.
Rijkaard also said in an interview with the media that he hopes the team can introduce a defensive midfielder during the winter break.
"This will allow Marcos to return to the back line and partner with Puyol."
It was obvious that Rijkaard was not satisfied with Oleguer's performance.
Edmilson and Motta are both injured, which leaves Barcelona with no one in the defensive midfield position, so they have to push Marcos up, but this creates problems with the defense again.
There were previous reports that Barcelona wanted to sign Zaragoza center back Gabriel Milito, but the transfer has been delayed.
Now, following the calls from the mouthpiece and Cruyff, Barcelona has also begun to consider strengthening the midfield and backcourt, with the first being the deep-lying midfielder that Rijkaard wants, which can solve two problems at once.
The main reason is that it is difficult to find a central defender, especially one that meets Barcelona's requirements and can both take the ball and pass the ball. There are really not many of them.
But it is also difficult to find someone in the defensive midfield position.
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"According to the information I received, Barcelona's contacts with Roma and Lazio have all failed."
Mendes brought the latest news to Su Dong.
This is also a recent rumor from the outside world. It is said that Barcelona wants to sign Roma midfielder Dacourt.
The veteran's performance in Rome is not ideal, but Barcelona believes that his strength is still there. The most important thing is that it doesn't matter if his performance is not good, and the transfer fee is not expensive.
"Barcelona also has another target, that is Albertini from Atalanta, who has performed well this season."
Sudon is still very grateful to Albertini, and he would be very happy if he came to Barcelona.
But we have to admit that the Italian midfielder is really old, he is already 33 years old.
Su Dong shook his head and smiled bitterly, "Why are they all veterans?"
Mendes smiled and nodded, "Barca is out of money!"
Su Dong was slightly stunned, but soon understood the reason.
After joining Barcelona, he gradually learned more inside information, such as the money Barcelona used to sign him was paid in installments, because the share of the profit Valencia gave him was also paid in installments, and part of the down payment was borrowed from a bank loan, and the other part was raised from selling players.
This is why Barcelona, a La Liga giant, has the weakest first-team lineup among the 20 La Liga teams.
"I originally wanted to recommend Maniche." Mendes seemed a little bored. "You know, everyone else has left, and Maniche is very tempted to stay in Porto. He also wants to leave. If possible, I hope he can join Barcelona, but after contacting Laporta and Rosell today..."
Mendes shook his head. “They can’t afford Maniche!”
Su Dong smiled bitterly. Who would believe this? But he didn't need to worry about this kind of thing.
He is just a professional player, and the club management matters will naturally be taken care of by Laporta and others.
"I guess they still hope to rent or buy out cheaper players first, preferably those for one or two million euros. But where in the world can we find such cheap and good players?" Mendes couldn't help laughing.
If you really have any, pack ten for me and I’ll sell as many as I can!
Su Dong was also quite helpless about this. He knew in his heart that Cruyff was right. If they continued like this, it would be very difficult for Barcelona to enter the knockout stage of the Champions League because the targeted tactics would be stronger at that time.
When that time really comes, the team will continue to be distracted by La Liga and the Champions League, and its results will definitely be greatly affected.
Recruiting players is necessary, but the problem is that there is no money now.
Su Dong could imagine how overwhelmed the Barcelona management was at this moment.
At this moment, a person suddenly flashed through Su Dong's mind. He had left a deep impression on him before. He had just seen him in the media not long ago and was said to be not valued.
Su Dong immediately took out the laptop, searched it, and quickly found it.
"Jorge, what do you think of this player?"
Sorry, there are too many things to do during the Spring Festival! I will continue to work hard to keep the update time fixed. Thank you for your understanding.
(End of this chapter)
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