Football: Starting from the 05 World Youth Championship

Barcelona's upset victory has caused a stir in Spanish football.

With the league title race entering its final sprint, Barcelona's sudden slip-up has significantly increased the suspense surrounding the championship.

With only five rounds left in the league, a three-point gap is really not enough, especially since there is still a direct confrontation between Barcelona and Real Madrid that has not been played. Barcelona really has no room for error.

However, some Barcelona fans do not agree with this statement:
"What do you know? Guardiola strategically forfeited this match to conserve his energy for Real Madrid. If they can defeat Real Madrid, who in La Liga can threaten Barcelona's title win?"

This grand strategy explanation obviously doesn't convince everyone, since Barcelona can't guarantee they'll beat Real Madrid.

If Guardiola were to give up a sure-fire victory for a game he wasn't absolutely certain of winning, then his actions would be so stupid they'd be fit for a museum!

If Barcelona loses the league title in the future, his actions today will definitely be repeatedly criticized by fans.

The reality is not quite what outsiders speculate. The main reason for Barcelona's defeat is that the schedule has been too congested during this period. Barcelona, ​​which is competing on three fronts, is more exhausted than Real Madrid.

Real Madrid were eliminated early from the Copa del Rey, so they only have the Champions League and La Liga to compete on this season, while Barcelona fought their way to the Copa del Rey final.

The two teams have similar squad depth, and most of their players are not physical monsters like Lin Feng. The extra exertion of another competition has made Barcelona's players' physical condition worse than Real Madrid's, with many players already showing signs of fatigue.

In the match against Valencia, Guardiola originally wanted to use a fast-paced attacking tactic to quickly defeat the opponent, and then substitute Messi and other key players to rest once the outcome was already decided.

However, his tactics were only half successful. Barcelona did establish an early lead, but after substituting their key players in the second half, the opponent suddenly launched a desperate counterattack in the final stages of the game, and finally equalized in stoppage time.

This was completely beyond Guardiola's expectations, as he never imagined that the opponent could equalize the score in such a short time.

However, there is also good news for Barcelona: Messi and other key players were substituted early, resulting in less physical exertion.

In addition, their next match is at Barcelona's home stadium, so they don't have to travel to an away game to prepare.

Barcelona could use these four days before the Champions League semi-final to rest and recuperate, and wait for Real Madrid to arrive.

However, the situation is similar for Real Madrid.

Madrid is not too far from Barcelona, ​​with a straight-line distance of only 600 kilometers, so they do not need to travel to the city where the home team is located to prepare for the match as early as teams playing in other leagues.

They can prepare comfortably at Real Madrid's own training base, and then travel from Madrid to Camp Nou by plane on match day.

The two places are very close, and it only takes an hour to get there by plane, so the journey is not very tiring.

This method is safer than the security threats encountered if you arrive in Barcelona earlier.

A month before the match, Mourinho was frantically studying Barcelona's recent match videos, trying to find the team's weaknesses and vulnerabilities.

But what frustrated him was that he couldn't find any weaknesses in this Barcelona team.

Barcelona's strength lies in its unparalleled control.

The Barcelona midfield, comprised of players like Xavi, Yaya Toure, and Busquets, firmly controlled the tempo of the game, compressing the opponent's space and wearing them down.

The attacking line, comprised of Messi, Henry, Eto'o, and others, posed a significant threat to the opponent's goal through their well-coordinated runs, passing combinations, and exceptional individual dribbling, creating a tense atmosphere in front of the opponent's net and keeping all the players on edge.

Once the opponent's formation was suppressed, Barcelona's two very attacking full-backs were freed up to frequently push forward and participate in the attack. Their attacking abilities became the final straw that broke the camel's back.

Against a possession-based team like Barcelona, ​​we can no longer afford to cower and take the beating like before.

When possession falls into Barcelona's hands, they can't even touch the ball, let alone win it back.

As long as the ball is at the feet of Barcelona players, they keep passing it, constantly stretching and probing until they find a weak point in the opponent's defense and then launch a fatal attack.

Mourinho understands the principles, but the question is how to implement them?
Should Real Madrid adopt the same possession-based tactics as Barcelona?
That's just imitating others poorly. Real Madrid doesn't have the same passing and possession-based football DNA as Barcelona, ​​and the team has never used this tactic before.

Blindly imitating will only lead to numerous flaws and a disastrous defeat for the opponent.

They could continue with their defensive counter-attacking tactics, but felt they had no chance of winning.

The tactic they used against Barcelona at Camp Nou seems unlikely to work now. Guardiola isn't stupid; having been fooled once, he'll definitely be more prepared.

Just when Mourinho was at his wit's end, Lin Feng knocked on his office door.

"Lin, why aren't you training? What are you doing here?"

Mourinho glanced subconsciously at the training field outside the window, his expression somewhat surprised.

In his memory, Lin Feng was the most serious and hardworking person in training, the kind of person who wished he could live at the training base.

Something must have happened for him to drop everything and come all the way here to see me.

"Coach, I have a tactical idea I'd like to share with you, which might be useful in countering Barcelona's possession-based tactics."

Upon hearing Lin Feng's words, Mourinho instinctively wanted to deny them. After all, even a world-renowned coach like him couldn't find a way to counter Barcelona, ​​so how could a player possibly find one?
But what if that player is Lin Feng?
Considering Lin Feng's many clever ideas, I have given him a lot of advice in the past. Even Real Madrid's set-piece tactics were designed by Lin Feng.

Mourinho felt a little hopeful; there was no harm in listening, what if it really worked?
The tactic Lin Feng provided to Mourinho was nothing more than high pressing.

In Lin Feng's view, the true core of Barcelona is not Messi, but Xavi.

It was Xavi who revitalized Barcelona's attacking system by utilizing his excellent running and ball-handling abilities.

The Barcelona of its peak was not the Barcelona of later years that frequently made meaningless passes, even back passes.

Most of their passes were forward passes, and a large portion of those were made by Xavi.

If Xavi's performance cannot be contained, then any team facing Barcelona will be dominated.

There are so many talented people in the football world, and quite a few can see this, but why has no one been able to effectively limit Xavi's performance so far?

The reason is simple: Barcelona has too many explosive attacks, making it impossible to defend against them all.

In particular, Barcelona's attacking trident, including Henry, Eto'o, and Messi, was so prolific in scoring that they posed a tremendous threat, forcing other teams to dedicate significant resources to dealing with them.

Furthermore, the team's formation was heavily compressed by Barcelona's passing and control, and Xavi's area of ​​activity was outside the opponent's formation coverage, making him difficult to contain.

The less restrictive Xavi's performance is, the smoother Barcelona plays, and the less likely it is to defeat them.

Trying to deal with Xavi, who is part of a possession-based system, by relying on one person's strength is too difficult and almost impossible to succeed. This is the fundamental reason why, even though some people can see the problem, they just can't solve it.

However, if the team presses forward as a whole and uses a system to counter a system, then this problem does not exist.

Mourinho is hesitant. A high-pressing tactic might actually work, but the risk is too great. This Barcelona team has a speedy striker like Eto'o; wouldn't using a high-pressing tactic against Barcelona be suicidal?

"If the high-pressing tactic doesn't work, then I have another way!"

Lin Feng seemed to have anticipated that Mourinho was unlikely to adopt such an aggressive tactic, so he prepared a backup plan in advance.

"Oh? Tell me?"

If it were anyone else, Mourinho's patience would probably have run out after rejecting one of their proposals, and he would have told them to get lost.

But because the person he was talking to was Lin Feng, Mourinho's patience improved.

……

Four days flew by, and before we knew it, it was April 30th, the day of the Champions League semi-finals.

At 11:00 AM sharp, the Real Madrid team left the training ground on the team bus.

Upon learning that Real Madrid was going to travel to Camp Nou, a large number of Real Madrid fans gathered outside the Valdebebas training ground, holding up various support banners, chanting loud slogans, and following the team bus all the way.

"Go Lin Feng!"

"Raul, I will always support you!"

"We must win!"

"Give Barcelona a taste of their own medicine!"

……

This is the first time Lin Feng has seen this situation since he transferred to Real Madrid.

This scene was never seen when Real Madrid went to participate in the Champions League final.

This is only the semi-final, so Real Madrid fans shouldn't be this excited.

But this time their opponent is Barcelona. The century-old rivalry between the two teams, coupled with the ethnic conflict between Castile and Catalonia, elevates the significance of this match beyond football to another level.

At this very moment, the situation on Barcelona's side must be similar!
"Don't put too much pressure on yourself. Treat this match like any other game. Barcelona is a very familiar and old rival of ours; there's nothing mysterious about them!"

"Back when we assembled Galácticos, Barcelona was beaten by us for years without a single title. I bet a lot of you kids joined Real Madrid because you saw how magnificent Galácticos were back then, right?"

Seeing the somewhat tense atmosphere inside the bus, Zidane stepped forward to encourage the players.

But as he talked, he started praising himself and the Galactic Warship from back then.

At the beginning of the century, Barcelona was indeed in a pretty bad situation.

Before 2005, Barcelona went six years without a single significant title, and in the 03-04 season, they even failed to qualify for the Champions League due to poor performance in the league.

At that time, Real Madrid not only frequently won the league title, but also achieved the feat of winning three Champions League titles in five years.

Zidane was actually trying to remind everyone that their club is Real Madrid, the team with the deepest history in Europe. They have seen and defeated countless strong opponents, and there is no need to be afraid of Barcelona's temporary strength.

Besides, even if we lose away, we still have the home game, right?

The schedule of playing the first leg away and the second leg at home is advantageous for Real Madrid, giving them more tactical flexibility and room for error.

At noon, the Real Madrid team boarded the plane, and an hour later, the plane landed at Barcelona's airport.

The moment they arrived in Barcelona, ​​everyone sensed a strong atmosphere of hostility.

A large number of Barcelona die-hard fans flooded the airport. They were clearly not there to welcome the Real Madrid players, but rather to insult and mock Real Madrid.

"Go back to Madrid!"

"You are not welcome here, Castilians!"

"You will die here!"

Hearing the curses emanating from the surroundings, Thiago Silva, witnessing such a scene for the first time, curiously approached Pepe and whispered:
"Are these people really Barcelona fans? They seem more like terrorists to me."

Having experienced several El Clásicos, Pepe seemed much calmer:

"That's how it is in El Clásico. When Barcelona goes to Madrid, they won't be treated much better than we are!"

Fearing something might happen, the group didn't dare linger at the airport and hurriedly boarded another team bus that had been prepared in advance, heading directly to Camp Nou Stadium.

The scene outside Camp Nou was even more spectacular than at the airport. Outside the stadium, the Real Madrid team received a 'warm welcome' from Barcelona fans, and the bus practically crawled into the stadium at a snail's pace.

During this process, the Real Madrid players on the bus were subjected to countless insults, and some radical Barcelona fans even tried to throw objects at the bus.

The experiences they encountered along the way completely ignited the anger in the hearts of the Real Madrid players.

The tension of the match and the fear of Barcelona were completely washed away by this anger.

Now they only have one thought: to either crush Barcelona or be crushed by Barcelona!

When Real Madrid arrived at Camp Nou for their training session, Barcelona's players were also acclimatizing to the pitch.

Although many players from both teams are teammates on the national team, there was no communication between them in this situation. When the players looked at each other, their eyes were filled with strong hostility, as if they wished they could kill each other!

As the host, Feng Xiaoting originally wanted to come up and greet Lin Feng after seeing him, but sensing the hostile atmosphere between the two sides, he dared not make any rash moves.

Lin Feng noticed Feng Xiaoting's actions and quietly gave him a hand gesture, which relieved Feng Xiaoting.

"Go go go! Imagine you are now warriors, the outside world is your battlefield, it's time for you to charge into battle!"

"Remember how you feel right now, channel that anger into the game, and teach the Barcelona players a lesson they won't forget!"

Mourinho stood at the locker room door, giving high-fives to each of the passing players.

He didn't give a long pre-match speech for this game, because it was completely unnecessary! (End of Chapter)