Football: Starting from the 05 World Youth Championship

Unsurprisingly, Barcelona, ​​after two consecutive defeats and four winless rounds, immediately made the front page of major media outlets in Spain and even across Europe after the match.

People can't help but ask: What's wrong with Barcelona?
How come after just one winter break, the invincible Barcelona team suddenly became unable to beat anyone?
Criticism from the outside world came flooding towards Barcelona, ​​and the first to bear the brunt was the team's head coach, Guardiola.

The more highly he was praised in the past, the more deeply he is now being belittled.

Meanwhile, Barcelona's star player Messi became the second biggest scapegoat.

His poor performance in recent matches has drawn heavy criticism.

Some people believe that he lacks a sense of responsibility, fails to step up when the team needs him, and is unworthy of being the team's leader.

Some people believe that Messi only puts in a half-hearted effort at his club level, taking national team matches seriously, and never taking club matches seriously.

Last summer, Messi's decision to go to the Olympics despite the club's objections during the pre-season preparations for the new season had already angered many Barcelona fans.

From a player's perspective, representing their country is the most natural thing to do.

But from the perspective of club fans, they naturally hope that the players will focus all their energy on the club's matches.

It's inevitable that the two sides have different positions and disagreements, but as long as the players can maintain a balance between the two sides and do their best to help the team achieve good results while at the club, then the fans will not be too harsh on them in this matter.

But now that Barcelona's performance has declined rapidly, previously overlooked weaknesses are being scrutinized under a magnifying glass and brought up again. Messi's decision has naturally become a reason for those with ulterior motives to attack him.

Many Barcelona fans believe that Messi's recent injury during the South American World Cup qualifiers led to Barcelona's losing streak.

In Lin Feng's opinion, this was a bit of nitpicking!

Players aren't made of iron; how can they possibly stay injury-free forever?

Due to the distance, long-haul flights over extremely long distances like South America and East Asia are very exhausting. After landing, they immediately face high-intensity matches, and before returning home, they have also played high-intensity matches at their clubs, so their bodies have not fully recovered.

Under such high-intensity and back-and-forth exertion, athletes' minds and bodies cannot relax, and they are in a state of fatigue for a long time, making them prone to injury.

In fact, it's not just Barcelona or Messi who encounter this problem; every FIFA international match day, major clubs face a headache because of this issue.

When Real Madrid was plagued by injuries in the first half of the season, it was because players were injured in national team matches, resulting in an incomplete squad and the team often missing one or even several key players.

Injuries to a team will inevitably affect its performance; this is something no one can escape.

The best way to avoid or reduce the impact of this situation on the team's performance is to spend money to buy more players and build up the squad depth.

The difference between top clubs and strong teams may lie in the fact that top clubs have more than one strong lineup, and when a position becomes vacant, they have strong substitute players to fill the gap.

However, strong teams lack this bench depth. If a key player in a certain position is missing, they cannot fill the gap, which will greatly affect the team's performance and cause a significant decline.

Lin Feng not only thought this way, but when the media asked him how he would evaluate Messi's recent performance at Barcelona, ​​Lin Feng also gave the same answer:
"Everyone has good and bad times. It is not rational to belittle someone or deny their past achievements and be pessimistic about their future performance just because of a temporary dip in performance."

Messi's form has been greatly affected by injuries, but once he recovers, he will surely emerge from his current slump.

After all, both Messi and Ronaldo had peak periods of over a decade!

Their reputation is so great not only because of their strength, but also because there are players whose strength is close to or even comparable to theirs. Ronaldo and Ronaldinho were in no way inferior to them in their prime.

However, both of their peak periods were relatively short, far less impressive than the incredibly long careers of Messi and Ronaldo.

Lin Feng's answer was given from a neutral and objective perspective, and also to give Real Madrid fans a heads-up.

Like Messi, Lin Feng also has a heavy workload with the national team. In fact, due to the AFC's schedule, his return to China to participate in national team matches has had an even greater impact on his club.

Asian football leagues are generally not based on a yearly schedule, so the AFC often schedules matches based on Asian leagues rather than the internationally accepted time standard.

Take the World Cup qualifiers' schedule, for example; it clashed with the clubs' matches on several occasions.

From Lin Feng's perspective, aside from unimportant friendly matches, he would naturally prioritize the national team's matches.

If he had to choose between the two, he would choose to sacrifice the club's matches.

However, this approach was bound to cause dissatisfaction among Real Madrid and its fans. Mourinho had a lot of complaints about Lin Feng for a period of time, mainly because he missed several league games due to national team matches, which led to Real Madrid's poor performance.

Therefore, during this interview, Lin Feng also took the opportunity to express his attitude to the club's management and fans.

It is unknown how Real Madrid's management reacted after learning of this news, but Messi was deeply moved after hearing Lin Feng's interview response.

As rivals, it was already quite noble of the two not to kick each other when they were down on their luck, let alone stand up for their rival.

At a time when almost the entire world is criticizing him, Lin Feng's act of 'speaking out for justice' is so outstanding that it's hard not to leave a deep impression.

From that moment on, Messi felt the urge to befriend Lin Feng.

……

Perhaps Lin Feng's words encouraged Messi, making him stop avoiding criticism from the outside world.

Before the start of Barcelona's home game against Athletic Bilbao in the 26th round of the league, Messi publicly apologized to the fans on social media and said that he would wash away the shame of the past with a victory!

Messi kept his word, unleashing his full attacking prowess in the match against Athletic Bilbao, scoring twice to lead his team to a resounding victory.

Besides scoring goals, Messi's cautious demeanor in this match was particularly impressive.

Even Guardiola was pleasantly surprised after the match, praising Messi to the media for growing up a lot, becoming more mature, responsible, and having more leadership qualities!

After defeating Athletic Bilbao at home, Barcelona finally escaped their winless streak and stopped Real Madrid from closing the gap on them in the standings.

Barcelona won easily, while Real Madrid had a tough time.

Real Madrid faced a tough challenge against Atletico Madrid, who had just defeated Barcelona at home.

The Madrid derby has always been a fiery affair, especially in recent years as Atletico Madrid's strength has continued to improve, narrowing the gap between the two sides and making the match not only more intense but also unpredictable in terms of outcome.

In this match, Atletico Madrid displayed an extremely strong attacking desire from the start. In the first few minutes, they even dominated Real Madrid, as if they were playing at their own home stadium, the Calderón, rather than the Bernabéu.

But Real Madrid is no pushover either. Having already achieved a ten-game winning streak in the league, the team's morale is at its peak.

After being pressured by their opponents, Real Madrid countered with several high-quality counter-attacks that threatened Atletico Madrid's goal, forcing them to tighten their defense and strengthen their attack.

But Atletico Madrid didn't give up and immediately engaged in a tug-of-war with Real Madrid in midfield, threatening Real Madrid's goal through relentless pressing and counter-attacks.

Judging from the pace and content of the match, this game didn't quite resemble a La Liga match; instead, it felt more like a Premier League game.

Neither side performed well in terms of tactical details, but they put a lot of effort into physical confrontation.

On the field, it was common to see players falling over and committing fouls. The number of fouls committed by both sides was also very high, and the referee's hand was getting tired from holding up the ball. In just the first half, the two sides had accumulated more than six yellow cards. If the game continued like this, it was only a matter of time before a red card was issued.

Since neither side could hold onto the ball, organized attacks were impossible, and both sides were caught in a chaotic melee.

Atletico Madrid has a wealth of experience in chaotic battles, especially with their two top-class strikers, Aguero and Forlán, who are very adept at this kind of tempo.

In the 32nd minute of the first half, Aguero took advantage of a defensive error by Real Madrid and dribbled into the penalty area.

Instead of shooting himself, he faked a shot and then passed the ball unexpectedly to Forlán, who suddenly made a run forward from a blind spot in the defender's line of sight.

The Uruguayan player fell to the ground and poked the ball into the net, then quickly got up, excitedly took off his jersey, and ran towards the stands where Atletico Madrid fans were gathered.

The score became 0-1, Real Madrid failed to defend their home ground and allowed their city rivals to score first.

"mine!"

Cannavaro raised his hand in self-reproach, indicating that it was his mistake; he hadn't seen Forlán's forward run, which prevented him from appearing in the right position in time.

His teammates didn't blame him; Cannavaro is already 36 years old this year.

For a veteran like this, we really can't ask for more.

"Cannavaro is getting old!"

Mourinho was also very frustrated on the sidelines.

If someone else makes a mistake and concedes the ball, given his temper, he'll most likely give them a good scolding.

But Cannavaro really wasn't in the mood to criticize. The other player was nearing retirement age, and there was really nothing to criticize about an old player nearing the end of his career.

Because the other person has no room for improvement, scolding them won't make them better.

Furthermore, Cannavaro is, after all, a veteran of the football world with a long history.

Even Mourinho should show some respect to veterans of such advanced age.

"Do you want to change someone?"

The assistant coach noticed Mourinho's thoughts and whispered a suggestion from the side.

Mourinho glanced back at his bench and nodded.

"Let Pepe play in the second half. He used to play as a defender, so he should be able to handle the position."

Since being converted to a defensive midfielder, Pepe has rarely returned to the center-back position.

However, the time he was retrained was not too long, and he hadn't forgotten the skills of a center-back, so it wouldn't be difficult for him to return to his old profession.

Pepe is a strong defender, but he has a fiery temper and often makes rash decisions on the field, which makes Mourinho somewhat worried.

During halftime, Mourinho explained the tactics for the second half, then turned to Cannavaro and said:
"Fabio, you take a rest, let Pepe come on in your place."

Mourinho did not explain his reasons for doing so, but he believed Cannavaro certainly understood.

The other team members did not show any surprise when they heard about the substitution; everyone seemed to have expected this outcome.

Lin Feng looked up at Cannavaro, whose expression was very calm, but with a hint of sadness in it.

At that moment, he realized that he probably wouldn't see Cannavaro in the locker room next season.

Time is such a terrifying force. Before it, no matter if you are the Ballon d'Or winner or the King of Football, you cannot escape the erosion of time and will inevitably grow old one day.

Pepe's introduction significantly strengthened Real Madrid's defense, drastically reducing Atletico Madrid's attacking threat.

After stabilizing their defense, Real Madrid began to exert their offensive power.

In the 59th minute, Lin Feng's through ball broke through the opponent's defense, assisting Huntelaar to score and make the score 1-1.
After scoring, Huntelaar performed a passionate knee slide towards the corner flag; he absolutely loves that spot!

Since joining Real Madrid, he has not only avoided being choked or bullied in the locker room, but has also gained a group of teammates who take care of him.

On the field, he had top-class midfield maestro Lin Feng feeding him the ball from behind, allowing him to get so many easy chances that he was sick of it.

Having joined Real Madrid just two months ago, Huntelaar has already scored 7 goals in 6 games, averaging more than one goal per game, making him one of the most efficient strikers in La Liga and even in Europe.

And with his outstanding scoring efficiency, he became a darling of Real Madrid fans.

Compared to the tough times he had at Ajax, his time at Real Madrid is like heaven!
Huntelaar deeply regrets not joining Real Madrid sooner.

If I had come sooner, I wouldn't be in such a miserable situation.

Seeing Huntelaar celebrating passionately, Robben, sitting on the bench, snorted coldly and turned his head away, unwilling to look at him any longer.

The thought of this guy's dark history of ambushing him with a stun gun made Robben furious. He secretly resolved that next time he would bring an iron rod and keep it in the locker room. He planned to give this guy a good whack when he was alone, letting him taste the power of Robben's iron rod, one of the Dutch Three Musketeers! (End of Chapter)