Starting With Real Madrid

(2/6)

The public opinion in La Liga has changed!

This was the deepest feeling after Real Madrid beat Barcelona 1-0 away.

The team returned to Madrid from Barcelona overnight. Thousands of fans gathered near the airport to greet them. There were many media and even TV stations broadcasting live.

The entire Capital Airport was surrounded by fans, and the treatment given to Real Madrid was like a triumphant return from an expedition.

Real Madrid's superstars were, of course, the most popular among the fans at the scene, but to Gao Shen's surprise, there were people calling his name at the scene, and it sounded like they were all female fans, which greatly satisfied Gao Shen's self-esteem.

Football is very good. Female fans are enthusiastic!

It's a pity that there were too many people at the scene, and Gao Shen couldn't tell where the shouting came from. Otherwise, he wouldn't mind meeting the fans' requests for photos and autographs.

The fans and the media held Real Madrid as heroes. Everyone in the team was in a happy mood. They walked with a bounce in their step, and as they passed the crowd of fans, there were hoarse shouts from the fans from time to time.

And this was just the beginning.

...

The next day, the media close to Real Madrid, led by AS and Marca, concentrated all their firepower on the Barcelona camp.

Especially for the challenge declaration issued by Gao Shen after the game, telling Barcelona to run faster, whether it was the media close to Real Madrid or the fans of Real Madrid, the response was very enthusiastic, thinking that this was the courage and determination that a Real Madrid coach should have.

From ten points to two points, Real Madrid should persevere to the end and reverse Barcelona.

If they do, it will be the most classic season in Real Madrid's history.

Alfredo, editor-in-chief of AS newspaper, once again praised Gao Shen in his column, believing that under Gao Shen's coaching, Real Madrid adopted a more pragmatic and targeted tactical style that helped the team win consecutive victories in the past period of time.

"The Camp Nou battle completely sounded the horn of Real Madrid's counterattack!"

"We absolutely have reason to expect that in the next seven rounds of the league, Real Madrid will go all out to chase after victory, and after losing consecutive points, it will be difficult for Barcelona to maintain the advantage of these two points."

"As Gao Shen said at the post-match press conference, Real Madrid don't have to think about their opponents, they just need to be themselves and strive to win every game. The pressure will naturally fall on the opponents."

"In the current situation, especially after the Camp Nou battle, Barcelona's morale has been greatly reduced, and mistakes must be made!"

"And this will be Real Madrid's chance!"

Marca also wrote an article in response to Gao Shen's call, arguing that Real Madrid under the coaching of Gao Shen has played with the blood and courage that Real Madrid has rarely seen in recent years, and the team's defense has become stronger and stronger.

Whether it was the previous match against Juventus in Turin or the current match against Barcelona at Camp Nou, Real Madrid defended their goal with tenacious defense, which was very rare in the past.

"More importantly, in both games, Real Madrid showed a very united atmosphere. Especially at Camp Nou, we saw Ronaldo after the goal, Guti, Ramos, and even Casillas, all rushing over to celebrate with the Brazilian. Raul and Zidane on the bench were also congratulating Ronaldo from afar."

Marca believes that the change in the atmosphere of Real Madrid's locker room, especially the reconciliation between the local gang and the Brazilian gang, is due to the effective control of the Real Madrid locker room by coach Gao Shen.

"In just one month, he has completely controlled the locker room and has won the respect and support of the vast majority of players. This is very rare and unbelievable."

Marca said that they have internal intelligence in Valdebebas. Although it is difficult to know the specific situation, it is clear that Gao Shen has almost got the support of all the superstars in the locker room.

"Since more than half a month ago, Gao Shen has been determined to promote the improvement of Real Madrid's training level, focusing on strengthening the training of players' physical confrontation and physical fitness. In the last two games, we can see obvious changes."

According to Marca's analysis, in the first game against Arsenal, Real Madrid and their opponents were not at the same level at all. Regardless of physical confrontation or physical fitness, they were lucky if they only lost one goal at home.

At Highbury Stadium, the gap between Real Madrid and their opponents was still very obvious. In the end, it was only through tenacious defense that they created a miracle from the away game and reversed Arsenal to advance.

"After these two games, the most criticism of Real Madrid by the outside world was the physical confrontation and physical fitness of the players, but what is reflected behind it is that Real Madrid's training level is very low."

"But in the two games against Juventus and Barcelona, the Real Madrid players, whether in physical confrontation or physical fitness, have improved visibly. Even at the end of the game, Guti, in a head-to-head battle with Puyol, although he lost the battle, Puyol also fell to the ground and ended up injured."

The Marca newspaper concluded that the game is only a result. Behind it is the comprehensive reflection of the team in many aspects such as locker room control and daily training, and the ability to beat Barcelona away reflects the rebirth-like transformation brought by Real Madrid under the coaching of Gao Shen.

...

Different from the media close to Real Madrid, which frantically touted Real Madrid and Gao Shen, the Catalan media close to Barcelona expressed their dissatisfaction with the game.

The Daily Sports Daily believes that Real Madrid stole a victory from Camp Nou in a very bad way that stifled football creativity, which is nothing to be proud of.

"Once upon a time, Real Madrid played hearty offensive football, but now, they have become ugly and extremely conservative."

It was absolutely embarrassing to have only a miserable six shots in the entire game.

Regarding the provocative declaration given by Gao Shen at the post-match press conference, the Daily Sports Daily responded that Barcelona would not give Real Madrid such a chance, because in the next seven games, Barcelona has the ability and confidence to win.

"In contrast, Real Madrid's opponents are obviously stronger, and their Champions League opponents are also stronger."

Barcelona's opponent is Benfica, while Real Madrid's opponent is Juventus.

Judging from the schedule, Barcelona really has the advantage.

Cruyff also commented in his newspaper column. He first criticized Rijkaard's formation, thinking that his on-the-spot command in the game was not decisive enough. "In the face of tit-for-tat substitutions, one must not live by oneself."

"After replacing Van Bommel with Giuly, Barcelona's idea was to attack and adopted a two-forward tactic of four-four-two, but at this time, Real Madrid made a substitution, replaced Raul with Ronaldo, and changed to four-three-one-two, which caused some trouble."

"Rijkaard obviously thinks that Oleg suffers from turning and agility, so he wants to use Thiago Motta to guard Ronaldo. In fact, that's what Barcelona trained before the game, but the problem is, who do you want to replace?"

"For the sake of comprehensive consideration, we should replace Belletti and let Oleg play on the right because Belletti has started many consecutive games and consumes a lot of physical energy. But in this case, after replacing Giuly just now, it created a situation where Rijkaard is clearly unwilling to make such a swift decision."

"So he replaced Oleg and left the captain Puyol, who had just returned from injury, on the pitch. But it was clear that Puyol was not in good shape until the second half of the game. And Thiago Motta is also a midfielder and doesn't adapt to the central defender position, which led to that fatal error in the end."

Cruyff refused to say that it was a tit-for-tat substitution that forced Rijkaard's adjustment. He said that Rijkaard was not decisive enough and lacked courage.

However, at the end of the column, Cruyff still expressed his optimism about Barcelona's prospects.

The godfather of Barcelona said that whether it was against Benfica or Real Madrid, zero goals showed that there were some problems in Barcelona's offense. He believed that the team should play more aggressively, more directly, and more threateningly.

"I even think that our team can pass the ball directly near the opponent's back line, because such a pass is very threatening and can easily cause mistakes by the opponent's players, and this is our attacking opportunity."

Cruyff believes that Barcelona has such players, like Ronaldinho and Iniesta, who have such strength and can make the team play more aggressively.

"Finally, and most importantly, I think Rijkaard should make his team forget about Real Madrid and forget about this loss. It's hard, but it has to be done."

"In the league, Barcelona has a two-point advantage. As long as Barcelona does not make mistakes, the championship must belong to Barcelona. Real Madrid has no chance at all."

Cruyff also mentioned Gao Shen. He believes that Gao Shen has brought earth-shaking changes after coaching Real Madrid. This is worthy of recognition, but his football style is destined that he will not be at Real Madrid for long.

"His coaching style is nothing like Real Madrid!"

As for the provocative declaration after the game, Cruyff thought it was psychological warfare.

"This is also the reason why I hope Rijkaard and Barcelona players ignore Real Madrid. Paying too much attention to their opponents is easy to lose themselves and bring more unnecessary psychological pressure."

"I want Rijkaard and his players to know that in the history of La Liga, the greatest comeback miracle was created by us, Barcelona. In the history of La Liga, no team has ever managed to come back from such a rare circumstance to win the championship."

"Real Madrid can't be successful this season!"

...

It's really rare for the two major Spanish media camps to attack each other so fiercely.

In contrast, European media with a more objective stance generally praised Real Madrid. After all, it was an away game, they were trailing, and their strength was not as good as that of their opponents. Such a Real Madrid is more worthy of admiration.

However, major authoritative media outlets still basically believe that it is very difficult for Real Madrid to overtake Barcelona.

This not only requires Real Madrid to maintain good form but also depends on whether Barcelona makes mistakes.

More importantly, Real Madrid is also distracted by the Champions League, especially with the upcoming match against Juventus.

Since March, the continuous hard struggle has been a huge drain and test for Real Madrid.

But as L'Equipe said, "When Real Madrid went from being ten points behind to two points behind, and they beat Barcelona at Camp Nou, everything is possible for such a tenacious team."

"No one knows what will happen in the future, but this season's La Liga is destined to become a classic!"