Chapter 524 League Champion
The Champions League semi-finals are over, and the finalists are Real Madrid and Lyon. No matter what other teams think, it doesn't matter anymore.
Although many countries have nothing to do with this Champions League final, their media still attach great importance to this game because it will be the highest level football match in the world.
Big battles between Spain and France rarely happen. Maybe many people think that the Ligue 1 teams are not strong, but no one can deny the strength of Lyon.
Many people are not optimistic about Lyon in this final, but in fact Lyon's current situation is more favorable than Real Madrid, because they have already won the league championship, the whole team has no pressure, and they are fully preparing for the Champions League final.
At the moment, the most important thing for Real Madrid is of course to catch up with Lyon and win the Spanish La Liga championship!
This may be a blow to Barcelona, because after this period of games, Real Madrid has pulled behind Barcelona by 10 points. With four rounds left in the league, as long as Real Madrid can win the next game, they will be able to win the league championship three rounds in advance.
As Real Madrid's biggest rival, Barcelona led almost half of the league at the beginning of the season. A group of Catalan journalists have been mercilessly mocking Real Madrid, but now the situation has completely reversed. Real Madrid is 10 points ahead of Barcelona and they have no chance of catching up.
This silenced all Catalan media.
What can they say?
Now almost all Spanish media are on the side of Real Madrid, cheering and applauding them, but Catalan fans do not like the reports about Real Madrid. They do not like to see the victorious faces of the other side, so these media can only remain silent.
Maybe they are not silent. They occasionally report on Lyon's strength to tell Barcelona fans that it is not easy for the team in the capital to win the European Championship.
Yes, the hatred between the two teams is that deep.
But in fact, these are just the unique temperament of the selfish and jealous Catalans.
If Barcelona stood from Real Madrid's perspective, although Madrid's fans would be dissatisfied with Real Madrid's results, they would definitely still hope that the Spanish team would win the championship, even if that was a sworn enemy team. In any case, Barcelona and Real Madrid were only competing internally, and they were all Spanish teams, so of course they would support their own country's team.
But this does not apply to Barcelona. They even hope that Lyon will win the championship instead of Real Madrid. This is the psychological gap between the fans of the two teams.
This can also be reflected from a historical perspective - the deep-rooted hatred between Real Madrid and Barcelona was completely unilaterally instigated by Barcelona.
But no matter what Barcelona fans think, the league must continue. On May 1st, Real Madrid will face Villarreal at home.
The Spanish media gave this game another meaning. It was not just a game in which Real Madrid had a chance to win the championship in advance, but if Villarreal reached the Champions League final, it would also be a clash between the two teams before the final. So before the game, the media was very excited. They were not optimistic that Real Madrid could win easily. This was mainly because Villarreal had been eliminated from the Champions League and they put all their attention on the league.
In the league, their position is not stable. The next few league games may very well determine which team can enter the Champions League next season. Any point is extremely important for Villarreal.
“We will play as hard as we can!”
On April 30, the day before the game, Villarreal coach Pellegrini said in an interview with reporters: "They are very strong! They beat us easily last time, but they had to play in the Champions League final, so they didn't dare to fight. On the contrary, we dared to fight, and it was not easy for them to win even at the Bernabeu!"
This is what Pellegrini said, and I have to say, what he said makes a lot of sense.
Real Madrid really doesn't dare to fight hard. They don't want their players to suffer any injuries before the big game. They are now 10 points ahead of Barcelona. Even if they lose the last few games in the league, they still have a great chance of winning the league championship.
Perhaps this idea is a bit biased, but it is the fact, and Carlo also thinks so. Although he thinks it is better to win the league title at home, it is obviously not as important as the players' physical condition. If Villarreal really fights, Real Madrid will not be easy to beat, especially if a main player is injured, then it will really be a loss.
At this time, the atmosphere inside Real Madrid was very relaxed. At least before the Champions League final, they were under little pressure.
For Real Madrid, the league title has almost been booked by them. Unless a special miracle happens, Barcelona will not be able to surpass them. At this time, many players have begun to look forward to how to celebrate the league title after the game.
Under such circumstances, Real Madrid finally faced Villarreal at home.
As expected by the media, when the two teams came out, Carlo fielded a substitute lineup to deal with the game. Seeing this, the Villarreal players were of course happy. What made them happiest was that the black-haired boy No. 21 of Real Madrid sat on the bench. He did not play in the game, so their football would be much easier to play.
"...It's a pity. It seems that Carlo doesn't take the game seriously. Allen is not in the starting lineup. In fact, although this game is related to Real Madrid's league championship, they still have many opportunities and they are not afraid of failure."
"However, I think Real Madrid fans would like to see Real Madrid win the league title at home. I hope Villarreal will lose..."
"But it looks like Villarreal is doing well, they..."
Just as the commentator imagined, as if specially designed to create suspense for the championship, Villarreal performed extremely strongly against Real Madrid's substitute lineup and scored a goal against Real Madrid right after the start of the game, which is rare at the Bernabeu Stadium.
"Oh my God! The ball goes in! It's Diego Forlan, Villarreal's star player who scored a goal for the team!"
'Never underestimate Diego Forlan', this is a phrase that Villarreal fans often say now!
Diego Forlan is a Uruguayan player. He was born into a football family. His grandfather Juan Carlos Collazo played for Argentina's Independiente and was a midfield star in the 1930s. His father Pablo Forlan was a member of the Uruguayan national football team that participated in the 1974 World Cup and played for Sao Paulo and Peñarol. His two uncles are also idol stars who play for major Argentine teams.
With this background, Fran grew up in a football environment, but in three seasons at Manchester United, he only scored 10 goals, which made the Manchester media call him a waste. However, after coming to Spain, he scored 25 goals in his first season at Villarreal, surpassing Eto'o to become the La Liga top scorer!
It turns out that Fran is more adapted to La Liga and he is a genius.
There have always been intersections in the growth processes of Fran and Wang Li, and the two of them also have some mutual admiration. When Wang Li was in the Wolverhampton youth team, Fran was in the Manchester United youth team. In the first game since Wang Li debuted, he had a "confrontation" with Fran.
In the same season, Wang Li joined the Premier League and Fran was also promoted to Manchester United's first team, and the two had another "confrontation".
Now, Wang Li has come to Spain. Fran arrived a year earlier than him, but this does not prevent the two from competing.
Although Wang Li was not on the court, when Fran celebrated the goal, he still looked at him. Wang Li also smiled and waved at him, saying hello and congratulating him on his goal.
Now they are opponents on the court, but to Wang Li, these details don’t matter at all. Real Madrid and Villarreal have no hatred. Even if the opponent scores a goal, it doesn’t matter, right?
Besides, he wasn't there either, so it had nothing to do with him.
After this little episode, the game started again. Perhaps because of the disadvantage just now, the Real Madrid players were dissatisfied. They felt that the gap between their performance and that of the main team was too big. For the team's victory and the championship after the game, their performance became better and better, and they showed a daring and fighting spirit, which eroded Villarreal's advantage bit by bit.
Soon, as Real Madrid's mistakes decreased, the two teams started a level offensive battle on the field!
The game gradually became exciting. Before the half-time break, although neither team scored any more goals, the fans in the audience were fascinated by the game. Such a stalemate and all-out attacking game is indeed rare, especially for Real Madrid now. When Wang Li came on the court, the opponents almost all defended with all their strength, and the game became a one-sided offensive drill.
Although Wang Li's performance has always been the highlight of the game, in fact, the overall viewing quality of the game has declined.
And now, the offensive and defensive battle between the two teams on the field is indeed worthy of the tickets in the hands of the fans. Until the half-time break, they were still talking about the opportunities in the first half, the performance of the players, etc.
During the halftime break, Carlo did not give much instructions, but just asked the players to perform well and strive to win for the team, while Wang Li still sat on the bench waiting for his chance.
However, Wang Li felt that if the substitute team did not score again, Carlo would probably send him on the field.
The importance of this match to Real Madrid can be imagined. Although Carlo does not want anyone on the team to get injured, victory is of course what Real Madrid wants to see. Now the full substitute lineup is on the field. If the team is unilaterally suppressed and Villarreal scores 2 or 3 goals in the first half, then Real Madrid will directly give up hope of winning and wait for the next league game.
But Real Madrid was only one goal behind. If the situation remained the same in the second half, Wang Li could score two goals after coming on and the team would win and get the league championship trophy.
That's what Carlo thought.
"Just score two goals at random" This seemed incredible to other players, but Carlo felt that as long as this black-haired boy was on the field, the chances of scoring goals were very high. Even if they could not beat Villarreal, it would be no problem to tie the score.
I wonder what Wang Li would think if he knew that the head coach had so much confidence in him. In fact, even he himself did not have such strong confidence. After all, he needed opportunities to score goals. Without opportunities, no matter how he kicked, he would not be able to score.
The second half of the game began.
The development of the situation was beyond everyone's expectations, at least beyond Carlo's expectations.
The game had just begun when Villarreal launched a massive attack, looking like they were trying to widen the score gap. Obviously, they were also afraid that Real Madrid would send other main players to the field to change the game. Only by widening the score gap first can they have a better chance of winning.
However, football matches are not fixed, and Villarreal's massive attack does not mean they will definitely score.
So, just 7 minutes into the second half, taking advantage of a free kick, Roberto Carlos equalized the score for Real Madrid with a powerful long shot!
"gooooooooooooal!!!Robert~~~Carlos!!!!!!"
This goal made all the Real Madrid fans in the Bernabeu cheer, because they saw the hope of Real Madrid's victory.
And head coach Carlo did not disappoint the fans' expectations. A smile finally appeared on his gloomy face. He also saw the hope of victory, so he turned to look at Wang Li and motioned him to play.
Obviously, Carlo wanted to take advantage of the scoring opportunity to widen the score.
This sudden change in the situation on the field made Villarreal completely unable to adapt. Just now, they wanted to widen the score gap and achieve an absolute victory, but it seemed that Real Madrid was about to launch a massive attack!
The black-haired boy number 21 is on the court!!
This scene made Villarreal's head coach Pellegrini so depressed that he almost vomited blood. Just now, he thought that Villarreal would win the game easily, but looking at Real Madrid, they also looked like they were sure to win---
"What should we do next?"
Pellegrini was not sure at all. He had not thought about this issue before the game because he felt that Wang Li would not play. But now that Wang Li played, he immediately became confused.
"Attack! Attack!"
Pellegrini was standing on the sidelines waving his hands and saying this, but in fact, the game had not started yet, Real Madrid was still celebrating the goal, and even Wang Li had not been allowed to play. Pellegrini waved his hands twice before he realized the problem. He walked back to the coaching seat somewhat embarrassedly, and was met with puzzled looks from a group of substitute players.
Wang Li did not disappoint the fans' expectations. When Villarreal was in disarray, he used a powerful long shot in just the third minute to help Real Madrid overtake the score.
The commentator shouted: "Alan! Alan! He is the king of the Bernabeu. He can score goals as soon as he comes on the court!"
"This is his 46th goal in La Liga this season. He is undoubtedly the league's top scorer! You know, Alan didn't even play in the first 16 rounds of the league!!"
"It is Alan's goals that lead Real Madrid to victory. I think when evaluating the performance of this half season, we can add the word 'great' in front of Alan's name, and no one will question this!!"
Although the commentator's words were very exciting and the fans cheered loudly, Wang Li didn't feel much. This kind of goal didn't mean much. It was just a league goal and there was nothing to celebrate.
However, seeing the fans celebrating so vigorously, he couldn't act too casual, so he raised his hand and waved towards the stands, and then hugged his teammates to celebrate.
2:1, Real Madrid is leading.
Just when the game just restarted, there was a sudden cheer from the Bernabeu Stadium. The cheers immediately became louder and louder. Riquelme, who had just got the ball, felt a little puzzled. Could it be that the Real Madrid fans would cheer for him?
Of course that's impossible.
The fans were cheering because in the game between Barcelona and Celta which was going on at the same time, Celta scored a goal and the score became 1:0, with Barcelona falling behind by one goal away from home!
What does this mean?
If Barcelona lost, even if Real Madrid lost the game, they could still win the league title, which was indeed something worth celebrating. Soon, the players on the field also knew about it, because during an out-of-bounds ball, some fans loudly talked about it with Wang Li.
"Don't think about that, just play the game well."
Barcelona's fall behind made the Real Madrid players breathe a sigh of relief. Now everything is favorable for Real Madrid and they have reason to relax. However, Wang Li still reminded everyone to play well. No matter how Barcelona plays, as long as we win the game, the championship will be ours.
If he lost the championship after a loss, it might be a bit regrettable. Wang Li didn't want that, so he worked even harder in the subsequent games.
This resulted in Villarreal being hit by waves of fierce attacks.
As a result, Villarreal's attack could no longer be launched. In the 77th and 79th minutes of the game, Wang Li made two consecutive long shots, both of which scored, changing the score to 4:1. Three goals were scored with three long shots. In this game, the fans also saw the power of the black-haired boy's long shots on the field.
Although Villarreal scored a goal before the end of the game, it could not change their fate of losing.
When the referee blew the whistle to end the game, all Real Madrid players jumped up and cheered for victory. They had reason to do so because the league championship already belonged to Real Madrid.
This is their second heavyweight title of the season and Real Madrid's 30th La Liga title.
"The 30th League Championship!!"
After cheering for victory, in the Real Madrid dressing room, Carlo said to the players: "This is the 30th league title, which is very meaningful. You must be very excited, but what I want to say is that we should look to the next championship! The treble is what we are pursuing!"