Football: Starting from the 05 World Youth Championship

"Lin, you need to control yourself and not get too excited!"

It's not just ordinary fans who are worried about Lin Feng; even Real Madrid's coaching staff are a little panicked.

Lin Feng's performance during this period has been so explosive that he has almost become the public enemy of the entire La Liga.

When other teams faced Real Madrid, they all started targeting Lin Feng, and even the number of fouls committed against him gradually increased.

If things continue like this, Mourinho is genuinely worried that he will be unfairly targeted.

Moreover, a person's energy is limited, and he was worried that Lin Feng was overdrawing his body and creating hidden dangers of injury for himself.

The Champions League knockout stage is about to begin, and Lin Feng, the team's core player, absolutely cannot afford to have any problems at this time.

Lin Feng readily accepted the coach's criticisms and suggestions.

Then he brought his explosive form to the Champions League!
On February 17, Real Madrid played Lyon away in the first leg of the Champions League Round of 2.

Although Lyon in this dimension is not a nemesis for Real Madrid, for some reason, Lyon's players always seem particularly energetic when they face Real Madrid, and Real Madrid often has to pay a considerable price to defeat them.

But this time, under Lin Feng's leadership, Real Madrid won very easily.

In the first half, they established a two-goal lead early on. In the second half, after Lyon launched a counterattack and pulled one back, Lin Feng quickly stabilized the team's morale with a long-range shot, and then assisted substitute Raul to completely seal the victory.

The final score was 4-1. Although Lin Feng's goal tally dropped to one, he provided three assists in this match, and all four of Real Madrid's goals came from him!
Lin Feng's phenomenal performance is making this year's Golden Globe Awards incredibly unpredictable!

After the match, major media outlets rushed to report on Lin Feng's recent hot streak.

Some people are even discussing the possibility of Lin Feng winning the 2010 Globe Award!

Normally, in a World Cup year, a player like him, who has almost no chance of winning the World Cup, would be sidelined.

But given Lin Feng's current outstanding performance, if he can maintain it for a whole year, then anything can happen.

If Lin Feng leads his team to win the league title and then defends the Champions League title, unless Messi of Argentina leads his team to win the World Cup, then even if others have the World Cup title, they may not be able to beat him!
Seemingly to prove the media's point, on February 21, Real Madrid, who had just won a big victory in the Champions League and almost secured a place in the quarterfinals, returned to the league and then thrashed Villarreal 6-2 at home!

Lin Feng once again delivered a four-goal performance in this match!

On February 28, in the away game against Tenerife, Lin Feng toned down his game, scoring only 2 goals and 1 assist.

但外界在统计了他整个2月份的进球和助攻数据后，惊讶的发现他在2月的6场比赛中，取得了16球9助的恐怖数据！
This is the highest number of goals and assists in a single month in the history of La Liga and even the top five European leagues, bar none!

[How can we compete if they don't nerf him? Please, league, hurry up and come up with some policies targeting Lin Feng! If you don't address this, the other teams won't survive!]

[Dude, do you think this is the NBA? You can't just change the rules like that!]

To be fair, Lingard's recent form is truly outrageous, averaging 4.2 goal contributions per game, which is higher than the goal contribution rate of most European teams!

[It's one thing for him to score himself, but the key is that he can also provide assists to his teammates. He completely revitalized Real Madrid's attacking system, making it impossible to counter!]

[Yes, if you target Lin Feng, no one else can stop him. If you don't target Lin Feng, he can handle the game by himself. I really don't know what other teams should do against Real Madrid in this form.]

Actually, Messi's performance at Barcelona has been quite good during this period. His statistics have not only not declined, but have even improved compared to last season.

However, compared to Lin Feng's continued brilliance, his data seems rather unremarkable.

In the past, the Golden Boot in La Liga might have only required twenty or thirty goals.

Judging from Lin Feng's current form, he's aiming for at least forty or fifty goals this La Liga season!

Those La Liga strikers who were in the same era as these two were incredibly unlucky. It wasn't that they weren't good; it was just that the two mentioned above were too freakish.

Lin Feng's continued stellar performance finally came to an end in March.

It's not that his form has declined, but rather that Mourinho has placed him on the bench to protect him.

To prevent Lin Feng from getting injured, Mourinho forced him to take turns resting. Although Lin Feng wanted to say that he wasn't very tired, he didn't refuse the other party's protection because he thought the other party meant well.

Without Lin Feng, Real Madrid struggled against Sevilla.

Although Modric has made significant progress this season, it is still difficult for him to carry the team on his own at this point in time.

Fortunately, Xabi Alonso played well, contributing two goals for Real Madrid with a long pass in each half.

In the end, Real Madrid, playing at home, narrowly defeated Sevilla 2-1, maintaining their winning streak.

In fact, when the team was at a disadvantage in the second half, Mourinho considered whether to substitute Lin Feng.

But he ultimately suppressed this impulse and chose to trust the players.

The lessons of last season are still fresh in his mind, and he must prepare in advance and plan ahead.

Otherwise, if Lin Feng were to suddenly get injured like last season, wouldn't the team collapse again without any preparation?
Of course, rotating players during the league season is not a problem.

However, when it comes to the Champions League, Mourinho remains very composed, unlike that bald coach next door who always tries to pull stunts during crucial knockout stages of the Champions League, only to end up looking foolish.

On March 11, the second leg of the Champions League Round of 3 kicked off.

Real Madrid, playing at home, welcomed Lyon's challenge.

Since Real Madrid won the first leg by 3 goals and 4 away goals, they only need to avoid conceding four goals in this match to advance to the quarterfinals.

Despite having a significant advantage, Mourinho did not become complacent and chose to field his strongest lineup against his opponent.

Lyon came to the Bernabéu to fight for honor, and they performed even better than in the previous match, even taking the lead at one point in Real Madrid's home ground.

However, their lead did not last long before it was broken by the connection between Lin Feng and Cristiano Ronaldo.

In the 28th minute, Lin Feng delivered a perfect assist, which Ronaldo gladly accepted, easily slotting the ball into the net.

Real Madrid's attacks continued wave after wave, almost pinning Lyon back in their own half.

Unfortunately, Real Madrid's strikers were not in good form today. Apart from Ronaldo who just scored a chance from Lin Feng, the others missed their chances, leaving Lin Feng helplessly shrugging.

He really wanted to ask his teammates, "What did you guys do last night?"
Why are all the shots so weak and powerless?

In the second half, seeing that the opponent's attack had weakened, Mourinho decisively made a substitution, replacing Lin Feng. Ultimately, Real Madrid drew 1-1 with Lyon at home, advancing to the quarterfinals with a 5-2 aggregate score.

In other matches, Manchester United defeated AC Milan both home and away. Kaká performed brilliantly against his former club, scoring two goals and providing one assist.

Especially in the first leg away game against AC Milan, when Manchester United had a player sent off and the opponent equalized the score.

He stepped up and saved the team with a solo run that Milan fans are very familiar with, leading 10-man Manchester United to defeat AC Milan.

After scoring, Kaká did not choose to celebrate, but instead bent down and kissed the grass.

There were no boos from the crowd. As they had done in countless previous matches, Milan fans applauded their "Son of God," even though he was no longer a Milan player.

Along with Milan, their fellow unfortunate team Inter Milan was also eliminated.

Despite the arrival of the African Cheetah, Inter Milan's strength has further declined this season after losing Torres and Vieira.

When facing Chelsea, the newly promoted Premier League team, they drew 4-4 on aggregate, with both teams having the same number of goals scored and away goals, forcing the game into extra time.

In extra time, Inter Milan, with an average age of 32, couldn't withstand Chelsea's onslaught, conceding two goals and being eliminated.

With this, all Serie A teams participating in this season's Champions League have been eliminated, and the decline of Serie A is now a reality, finally putting an end to the debate.

Compared to the decline of Serie A, the Premier League is in unparalleled form.

Following Manchester United's triumphant advancement to the quarterfinals, Chelsea, Arsenal, and Liverpool also made it to the next round.

Of these, Liverpool's was the most surprising.

Facing Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich in the round of 16, they were not favored by outsiders.

But thanks to Torres' crucial goal at the Allianz Stadium, Liverpool eliminated Bayern Munich on away goals and successfully advanced to the quarterfinals.

With Stuttgart's elimination by Barcelona, ​​the Bundesliga, like the Serie A, has no teams advancing to the quarterfinals.

However, considering that the Bundesliga has always been dominated by one team, this result was expected after Bayern Munich was eliminated.

The biggest dark horse in this round of 16 did not come from the top five leagues.

Instead, it's a team from the Russian Premier League – CSKA Moscow!

After being held to a draw by Sevilla in the first leg at home and losing control of their own destiny, the Russians staged a remarkable comeback in the second leg. After conceding an early goal, they scored two goals in quick succession and ultimately eliminated Sevilla with a 3-2 aggregate score, reaching the Champions League quarterfinals for the first time in their history.

Their advancement demonstrates the progress the Russian Premier League has made in recent years.

With the continued rise in international oil prices, Russians, especially the oligarchs who make a fortune selling oil and other energy products, have started spending money everywhere, buying yachts and sports teams.

It was against this backdrop that the Russian Premier League received massive investments from oligarchs.

With their abundant financial resources, they embarked on a buying spree, bringing in a large number of players and even stars in their prime from the top five European leagues.

There were even rumors that a Russian Premier League team had its eye on former Barcelona star Samuel Eto'o and planned to sign him for an annual salary of 2000 million euros to play in the Russian Premier League.

If Real Madrid doesn't renew Lin Feng's contract, then the annual salary offered to Eto'o by the Russians would be the highest in the world.

The fact that Russian Premier League teams can offer such high salaries to poach players, despite their revenue being far less than Real Madrid's, demonstrates just how wealthy they are.

Seeing CSKA Moscow's historic run to the Champions League quarterfinals, other Russian Premier League giants will likely spend even more money on player acquisitions.

In the coming years, Russian Premier League teams are likely to have an increasingly stronger presence in the Champions League.

For Russian fans, having their own team reach the Champions League quarterfinals is definitely something to be happy about.

But this is not good news for teams in other European countries.

Russia is too far from Western Europe. If someone were to be drawn into the Russian Federation, just the effort of traveling back and forth there would be exhausting.

In addition, their climate is very cold, which would be very difficult for Western European teams to adapt to.

Therefore, everyone would rather play against strong teams in the top five European leagues than against weak teams in the Russian Premier League.

Upon learning that CSKA Moscow had advanced to the quarterfinals, all the top clubs began to feel anxious, fearing they might be the lucky ones.

However, the guest in charge of the draw drew out CSKA Moscow as the first team to be selected.

Immediately afterwards, another small ball was pulled out, and when it was opened, the team inside was none other than Real Madrid!
"Well, it's hard to say whether this draw is good or bad for Real Madrid!"

"Madrid is more than 4000 kilometers away from Moscow. Even by plane, it takes at least four or five hours. Including security checks, waiting and delays, it may take six or seven hours to reach the destination. Such a long time is a great test of the players' physical fitness!"

"That's not the worst part. The worst part is the climate in Moscow. Even though the quarter-finals are in April, the lowest temperature in Moscow is still below zero in April!"

If they're unlucky and encounter a cold wave, the two teams might have to play in the snow.

For Russians, April temperatures are similar to springtime here, but for subtropical Spain, it's definitely the dead of winter.

The Real Madrid players watched the draw together at the team's training ground. After the results were announced, Lin Feng couldn't help but glance at Mourinho.

If he remembered correctly, in his previous life, Mourinho's Inter Milan faced CSKA Moscow in the quarterfinals.

Inter Milan seemed to have advanced without much trouble that time. Now that it's Real Madrid's turn to face this challenge, they should have no problem, right?

However, he seemed to remember a major event that happened in Europe that year, which had a significant impact on the football world.

It's just that so much time has passed that I can't remember it very clearly.

Compared to Real Madrid, whose luck is hard to say whether it was good or bad, Barcelona was much luckier.

They were drawn against Arsenal, one of the weaker teams in the quarterfinals.

Although Wenger's Arsenal can guarantee a top-four finish and qualify for the Champions League every year, his team's competitiveness in the Champions League is limited due to a lack of squad strength.

Arsenal can easily dominate weaker teams, but against top-tier teams, they become the ones who get easily defeated! (End of Chapter)