Football: Starting from the 05 World Youth Championship

Real Madrid fans' emotions were like a rollercoaster ride. One minute they were overjoyed because Lin Feng won the Ballon d'Or, and the next minute they were so angry about their team's performance that they felt like they were going to vomit blood.

On November 8, the 14th round of La Liga kicked off.

Real Madrid suffered a shock defeat at home, losing 3-4 to Sevilla, who had just been humiliated by Barcelona in the previous round.

This was Real Madrid's first away defeat to Sevilla, while Sevilla's victory broke their 43-year winless streak against both Barcelona and Real Madrid.

After the match, Sevilla players celebrated wildly at the Bernabéu, while Real Madrid fans were denouncing their own manager.

Lin Feng was in excellent form in this match, scoring twice in the first half to help Real Madrid take an early lead.

However, at the start of the second half, Real Madrid's key defensive midfielder Mascherano was sent off for a foul and received a red card.

His red card caused the game to take a sharp turn for the worse and can be considered the root cause of Real Madrid's crushing defeat.

But the second reason is Mourinho's conservatism. Seeing that the team was leading, he wanted to retreat and defend to hold onto the victory.

To this end, he did not hesitate to sacrifice Lin Feng's attacking power, pulling him back to the defensive midfield position, just like making a top-of-the-line supercar do the work of a taxi.

Lin Feng can indeed fill the midfield void left by Mascherano's red card.

However, the attacking force in the frontcourt lost its power after he was gone, making it difficult to exert sustained pressure on Sevilla. As a result, the opponent took advantage of their numerical superiority in the second half and launched a reckless attack on Real Madrid.

In the 55th minute, Sevilla created chaos during a corner kick tactic and scored a goal in the ensuing scramble in the penalty area, leveling the score.

In the 69th minute, a Real Madrid player committed a foul in the penalty area, conceding another penalty to the opponent...

When the game reached the 70th minute of the second half, the score had become 2-3, with Sevilla scoring two goals in quick succession to reverse the score.

Mourinho finally realized things were going badly, but it was too late to make adjustments.

In the final moments of the match, Real Madrid launched a major counter-attack, attempting to equalize the score.

However, due to a numerical disadvantage and their formation being pushed too far forward, the opponent scored again on a counterattack, making the score 2-4.
Although Lin Feng completed his hat-trick with a free kick in stoppage time, giving Real Madrid fans a glimmer of hope.

But they had too little time, and Real Madrid failed to capitalize on the final few minutes to change the score again.

The final score of the match was 3-4, marking Real Madrid's third defeat of the season. If the Champions League is included, Real Madrid has now lost five matches this season.

There is a five-game rule among the top five European football leagues.

If a team wants to win the title in one of the top five European leagues, they cannot lose more than five games in a season.

Apart from the Bundesliga, the other four major leagues have 38 rounds of matches per season. Losing five matches means that their points cap is only 99.

With this points cap, even a few draws can cause the points to drop below 90.

The champions of the top five leagues are likely to have more than 90 points, so losing five games makes it extremely difficult to win the championship, and very few teams can do it.

For Real Madrid this season, the situation is even more challenging.

Given their current form, expecting them to lose only two games in the remaining 24 league matches is simply a pipe dream.

Don't forget, the two El Clásico matches in La Liga this season haven't been played yet!

Given Real Madrid's current form, the outside world is quite pessimistic about their chances against Barcelona.

Real Madrid's schedule is practically mirroring Barcelona's; they're playing against teams Barcelona just played in the previous round. Barcelona wins these matches with ease and confidence, while Real Madrid struggles and barely scrapes by!

Yes, everyone says Barcelona's style of play works well against weaker teams, but not necessarily against stronger ones. But the problem is, Real Madrid can't even beat weaker teams, so isn't that an even bigger issue?

Real Madrid has lost far too many games this season, and there are probably problems within the team. I saw that even the fans at the Bernabéu were starting to boo their own players and coach during this match!

Mourinho definitely deserves to be booed. Coming to a top club like Real Madrid, he's still clinging to his old, passive counter-attacking style of play. Isn't that just plain disgusting?

When he arrived last year, Real Madrid was eager to win their tenth Champions League title and was able to tolerate him. The club gave him strong support, and the players followed his instructions. But this year, Real Madrid is completely different. The club has fulfilled its wish and can no longer give him the same level of support. They may even reject him because his playing style is not attractive.

As for the players, they are all veterans, their mentality is satisfied, their desire for honor has decreased, and they all want to play more easily.

But Mourinho's style of play is actually very tiring. When the initiative is in the opponent's hands, and your team has to constantly be on high alert to defend and even often do the dirty work, it's a test of the players' physical and mental strength!

I think the most likely reason he couldn't stay at Chelsea was this. The main reason he lasted three years before being sacked was because Chelsea didn't achieve good results in the Champions League. The players' patience increased greatly because of the common goal of winning the Champions League, but by the third year, the players simply couldn't take it anymore, and Mourinho couldn't stay either.

To be honest, Mourinho's style of play places very high demands on the squad. Both the goalkeeper and the defenders must be top-tier. If there's even one weak link, like Heinze in Real Madrid's defense, it can easily turn his counter-attacking strategy into a self-inflicted wound.

Besides the defenders and goalkeepers, the demands on the defensive midfielders are also high. If the defensive midfielders are weak in interception, the defense will be under constant pressure and will eventually break down.

Do you think Mourinho's team only requires a high-caliber defense? How could their midfield and attack be lacking? A versatile attacking midfielder/central midfielder capable of both attacking and defending, with precise forward passes; two wingers demanding exceptional speed and individual skill; and a physically imposing, powerful center forward who can hold his back, win headers, and pounce on scoring opportunities. Mourinho's lineup is essentially using the resources of a top club while employing tactics common to most teams!

[Who can argue with that? Players on ordinary teams can adjust their mindset and play a defensive counter-attacking style, which is the most suitable tactic for them. They won't feel any psychological burden doing this, and may even consider it a matter of course.]

But if you're a top-tier club with a squad full of star players worth tens of millions, would you really be willing to play such an unattractive and exhausting tactic?

It's normal for star players on the field to find his style of play unbearable. In fact, the bigger the star player, the more they want to showcase their talents in attack and the less they want to waste their energy on defense, leading to greater conflict with Mourinho.

[It's fortunate Mourinho encountered Lin Feng; if he had faced a superstar with a slightly worse temper, he probably would have already started a fight with him!]

……

Lin Feng was indeed somewhat dissatisfied with Mourinho. Although he resolutely implemented Mourinho's tactics on the field, it did not mean that he had no opinions at all.

In fact, Lin Feng was full of resentment about the home loss to Sevilla.

When Mascherano was sent off in the second half, Real Madrid actually had players available on the bench.

Although Gago's defensive abilities are average, with teammates like Lin Feng providing support and Real Madrid actively tightening their formation, Real Madrid's midfield will definitely not be easily overwhelmed by the opponent. In this situation, keeping him in the attacking third, or even more boldly, substituting him off as a striker and having him play up front, would definitely be better than moving him to the defensive midfield position.

It's important to remember that Real Madrid were leading at that time, and with their opponents pressing forward, they had plenty of opportunities to counter-attack.

If the opponent scores just one more goal before equalizing, the course of the game will be completely different.

But no matter how dissatisfied he was, Lin Feng didn't have the low emotional intelligence to show it publicly.

The team was already in dire straits at this point, and his public expression of dissatisfaction with the coach, as the team's core player, could easily exacerbate internal conflicts and cause the team to completely spiral out of control.

However, if the club's management asks for his opinion, Lin Feng will tell the club his thoughts truthfully—if there is a more suitable head coach, he would not mind or even support replacing Mourinho.

Seemingly aware that his position as manager was in jeopardy, three days later, in the final match of the Champions League group stage, Mourinho finally decided to adjust his tactics.

Facing Zenit St. Petersburg, who had lost their winter advantage, Real Madrid responded to their fans with a clean and decisive 3-0 victory.

This match has given hope to the outside world again, and many media outlets that were previously certain that Mourinho would be sacked by the club during the winter break have changed their tune.

It's not that Mourinho won them over with just one game; it's just that there aren't many good coaches available right now.

It might be easier to change coaches during the summer transfer window, but during the winter break, many coaches' contracts haven't expired, and their teams won't let them go so easily unless Real Madrid is willing to pay their release clauses.

This season, Real Madrid has little hope in the league, but still retains a glimmer of hope in the Champions League.

A hasty change of manager, especially if it leads to fluctuations in the team's form due to adjustments in tactics and starting lineup, could be fatal at this crucial juncture with the Champions League knockout stage about to begin.

So even if it's for the sake of stability, as long as Mourinho can stabilize the situation, Real Madrid will most likely not fire him this winter.

Of course, the prerequisite is that he can maintain stability, and next week's El Clásico will be the final test for Mourinho.

He won, so his position as head coach is temporarily secure.

But if they lose, or even suffer a crushing defeat to Barcelona at Camp Nou, then anything can happen.

Currently, the gap between the two teams in the La Liga standings has widened to 11 points.

If Barcelona defeats Real Madrid at home, they will extend their lead to 14 points and secure the mid-season title with four rounds to spare.

This is a terrifying lead; almost no team can come back from such a deficit.

Especially when the opponent's record is very stable and they don't give any chance, securing the mid-season championship is almost equivalent to securing the La Liga championship for this season.

While Guardiola often likes to pull off some unconventional moves in crucial cup matches, his record in the league is consistently reliable and very solid.

Klopp's Liverpool had done everything they could, but they just couldn't catch up by that one point, and in the end, they could only watch helplessly as their opponents won the title by a mere one point.

That season was probably the most frustrating one for Liverpool fans. For many years to come, when they recall this moment, they will likely be so angry that they won't be able to sleep.

At this point, Mourinho dared not underestimate his younger brother Guardiola in the slightest.

Because the other party is so strong, he no longer talks much about his friendship with Guardiola when he is interviewed by the media.

Mourinho has a somewhat stubborn and self-centered personality. When he loses too many times, he can really get angry and turn on his enemies.

For this El Clásico, Mourinho collected a lot of information about Barcelona in advance, especially video footage of Barcelona's past 20 matches.

However, Mourinho's expression was not good after watching the videotape.

Because he couldn't find a good way to limit the opponent's style of play.

Barcelona's strength lies not only in Guardiola's innovative tactics, but also in their overall squad.

Eto'o, Messi, Iniesta, Xavi...

With Barcelona's lineup right there, who wouldn't be terrified?
Looking at the striker alone, with the speed of a cheetah, extremely rich shooting skills and delicate footwork, Eto'o is one of the most fearsome strikers this season.

As for Messi, as the dribbling king of La Liga and even the top five leagues, when the ball comes to his feet, all the opposing defenders have to be on tenterhooks.

His dribbling, breakthroughs in tight spaces, and skillful passing are simply unstoppable. There are almost no players in the entire La Liga who can contain him in one-on-one situations.

If the defender fails to keep up with him and he gets an opportunity, his shot will cost the opponent dearly.

As for Xavi and Iniesta, their midfield partnership not only greatly enhanced Barcelona's control of possession, but also continuously provided ammunition for their teammates in front. Iniesta also possesses excellent dribbling and breakthrough abilities.

He can keep up with Messi's pace and complete all sorts of incredible passing combinations with him while running.

Faced with a Barcelona team like this, most teams don't know who to limit.

Mourinho was equally troubled, noting that Barcelona had a multitude of scoring options.

If there is space in the attacking third, passing the ball to Eto'o will solve the problem.

Even without space, Messi's individual skill can still break the deadlock.

If that doesn't work, then have the players constantly run, pass, and coordinate to stretch the opponent's formation.

The side on the defensive has to be constantly on edge, which takes a huge toll on their mental and physical energy. Their attention cannot be kept at a high level indefinitely, and it will inevitably decline sooner or later.

Once they show a weakness, Barcelona can deliver a fatal blow in an instant by relying on the tacit cooperation between their attacking players.

No wonder Barcelona is called "Cosmic Barcelona"; they are indeed so strong that they seem like a team from another planet. (End of Chapter)