"I really didn't expect Saria to reach the semi-finals of the King's Cup..."
Hu Lai sighed while looking at the TV screen.
At this moment, he and Li Qingqing were sitting in the living room at home, watching the live broadcast of the King's Cup semi-finals.
The two teams facing each other were Sarria and Sporting Vizcaya. Sarria played at home and the two sides drew 0:0 in the first round.
The second round will decide who advances to the finals.
"Both the Kings and Catalonia used rotating lineups to play in the Copa del Rey and were eliminated early." Li Qingqing said.
In fact, it is not considered "eliminated early". The Madrid Kings were eliminated by Sporting Vizcaya in the quarter-finals.
Catalonia was earlier, defeated by Real Catalon in the quarter-finals.
In fact, for wealthy teams, there is a high possibility of being eliminated from the third round to the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey.
Because the opponent is not a low-level league team, it is most likely a La Liga team, and its strength is not weak.
At the same time, the wealthy teams themselves do not know how to play as the main force and basically use rotating lineups to play, which leads to a decline in their own strength.
As one goes and the other goes, the risk of being eliminated naturally increases.
This is the case for Kings Madrid and Catalonia this season.
Of course, the Kings of Madrid were even more regretful. They were eliminated just one step away from the semi-finals. At that time, the Kings of Madrid had actually begun to pay attention to the Copa del Rey. They did not fully rotate like before, but half.
Rotation - half of the main players are substitutes.
But football matches are like this sometimes, and the result is not simply determined by paper strength.
The players of the King of Madrid obviously do not attach much importance to the domestic cup competition as they do to the league and the Champions League, while Sporting Biscay knows very well that with the league almost monopolized by the "three Western Super League heroes", the Copa del Rey is their only championship breakthrough.
If the entire army fights with its life, it will naturally be more effective than a king who is distracted and hesitant.
It was not too surprising that the King was eliminated in the end.
The same was true for the Madrid Pirates last season. They were eliminated by Sporting Biscay in the fourth round of the Copa del Rey. In that game, all the Madrid Pirates had a major rotation, including Hulay, Di Kunzo and other main players.
Enter the big list.
In the final away game, they lost 1:2.
Sporting Vizcaya, a team from the Bilbao area, has a very tenacious will to fight. The stronger their opponents are, the more energetic they become. Even the three heroes of the Spanish Super League will have a headache when they see them.
Last season they eliminated Madrid Pirates, and this season they eliminated Madrid Kings. In the Copa del Rey, they can be called the "Spanish Super League killer".
However, Sporting Vizcaya, who are stronger when they encounter strong players, faced Sarria, who was not as strong as them. For some reason, they couldn't find the feeling of playing against the "three heroes of the Western Premier League".
So in the first round of the semi-finals, they were forced to a 0:0 draw by Sarria at their home court.
Now the second leg has been played for 60 minutes, and the score is still 0:0. Not only did Sporting Vizcaya not score a goal in the game, they did not even have an advantage on the field.
They were able to eliminate the Kings of Madrid, but their performance was mediocre in front of Saria.
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When Hu Lai was sitting on the sofa in the living room at home watching this game with Li Qingqing, seven days had passed since the last chapter.
In these seven days, Madrid Pirates defeated Sevilla Navigators 3:2 away in the league.
Hu Lai, a "famous star returning home", performed poorly at the Windsurf Stadium despite the boos and yells of the Voyager fans and only scored one goal.
Unable to complete the achievement of wearing a hat at home.
Based on this comparison, perhaps Catalonia's home stadium, the Sagrada Familia Stadium, is his real "home", because he visited there three times and completed a hat trick three times... And at the Sevilla Navigator's home stadium, the Windsurf Stadium,
He also only scored one hat trick.
After the game, Hu Lai accepted an interview with a depressed look. He was not satisfied with his performance and made profound self-criticism.
He then expressed his gratitude to the Sevilla Navigators fans for their support and that he fully felt their enthusiasm.
I hope that I can perform better next time when I return to the Windsurf Stadium to repay the enthusiastic Sevilla Navigators fans.
It is indeed very strange, but no one in the public opinion who understands the grievances between the two parties criticizes Hu Lai.
After all, this is a matter of mutual consent between the two parties...
The fans of Sevilla Navigator also mocked Hulay maliciously. It was normal for Hulay to mock him back.
Regardless of whether Hu Lai is really dissatisfied with his performance or pretends to be dissatisfied, in fact, the fans have nothing to be dissatisfied with.
Because he scored a goal in the game.
This is his 20th consecutive league goal.
His record of consecutive goals in La Liga continues.
Also in this round of the league, the Kings of Madrid capsized - they were even tied 1:1 by Real Catajon at home!
You must know that Real Catajon will play the second leg of the Copa del Rey semi-finals with Madrid Pirates in midweek. Everyone thought that Real Catajon would focus all its energy on that game and give up the league directly.
The players of the Madrid Kings may also think the same way. They feel that they can win no matter what when facing an opponent who has no interest in playing at home.
The result was unexpected...
If it weren't for Melly's goal in the 79th minute, they might even have lost to Royal Catalon at home!
The Madrid Kings, who drew with their opponents at home, are still second in the standings, but their point difference from the first place Madrid Pirates has widened from two points to four points, and at the same time, their point difference from the third place Catalan United has increased from the original two points.
The four-point score was reduced to two points.
The competition between the three Western Premier League heroes has entered a fever pitch.
Both King Madrid and Catalonia have lost the qualification to compete for the Copa del Rey, which is actually a good thing for them.
Because they can put more energy into the league and Champions League.
After all, these two championships are far more valuable than the Copa del Rey.
In many cases, the King's Cup is just a "consolation prize" without a league title or a Champions League championship - if the Madrid Pirates lose the league title and the Champions League in the end and only win a King's Cup title, no one will think that their season is successful.
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The day before Hulay sat at home to watch Huan Ge's game, Madrid Pirates had just concluded their Copa del Rey semi-final second leg match against Real Catajon.
Madrid Pirates, who defeated their opponent 2:0 in the first round, did not take it lightly.
They learned from their experience when their local rivals were held to a draw at home by Royal Cathorn.
They played almost all the main players in the away game.
Royal Cathorn played very tenaciously.
At this time, Hu Lai stepped forward and scored the only goal of the game, helping the team win 1:0.
In the end, Madrid Pirates eliminated Real Catajon with a total score of 3:0 and took the lead in reaching the King's Cup final.
So now Hu Lai can cross his legs, hug Li Qingqing, and sit comfortably on the sofa to watch another King's Cup semi-final.
It is truly "sitting on a mountain and watching the tiger fight".
"I feel that the Sarria team has been preparing for this game for a long time, and the tactics are very targeted."
After watching the game for more than sixty minutes, Li Qingqing expressed her feelings.
"Not only this game, they are like this in the entire King's Cup." Because whether it is Saria or Sporting Vizcaya, there will always be one opponent of the Madrid Pirates in the King's Cup final, so Hulay will definitely want to
Learn more about the situation.
Different from the strategic rotation of the King's Cup by the wealthy teams, when there is a King's Cup match, Saria strategically rotates the league and specializes in the King's Cup.
Especially after both Catalonia and Kings Madrid were eliminated from the competition, their enthusiasm for the Copa del Rey became even higher.
Because they know that they will definitely not win the league championship.
The Copa del Rey is their only chance to touch the championship trophy.
If you win the Copa del Rey, you can also participate in the Europa League next season.
If it can participate in the Europa League twice in three seasons, it will be a great achievement for Saria, a mid-to-lower team.
Therefore, the Saria team has a unified mindset, which is to work hard in the Copa del Rey!
This is not just what Hu Lai analyzed from Saria's consistent performance, but what Brother Huan told them in the group.
Hu Lai felt a little sad when he thought about it now, and he sighed softly.
Li Qingqing heard the sound and asked: "What's wrong?"
Hu Lai smiled and shook his head: "Nothing, I just remembered that Brother Huan told us in the group that their goal for Saria for the season is the King's Cup... At that time, he probably thought that our pirates would not pay too much attention to the King's Cup.
They were eliminated as early as Catalonia. But now we have advanced to the finals. If he also enters the finals, wouldn’t their secrets be known to us? Wouldn’t it be impossible for us to pretend to be pigs and eat tigers, allowing us to underestimate the enemy?”
Li Qingqing smiled: "Hey, what kind of secret is this? Any team that reaches the finals must be aiming for the championship, regardless of strength. So if they can really reach the King's Cup finals, they can't pretend to be pigs at all.
Of course, unless you think they are pigs who were too proud to underestimate their opponents in the finals and lost the championship because of their carelessness in the end..."
"With me here, it would be impossible for such a bloody thing to happen!"
Hu Lai patted his chest.
"If Brother Huan and the others reach the final, I will go to the team tomorrow to promote Saria's 'wolfish ambition'! Let everyone be wary of them. If necessary, I can also go directly to the head coach and tell Saria's