On the evening of January 7, in the eighteenth round of La Liga, Real Madrid faced Real Sociedad at the Bernabeu Stadium.
Ramos accumulated yellow cards and was suspended, Casillas sat on the bench, Marcelo was absent for a long time, and the captain's armband was worn on Pepe.
Who would have thought that Pepe, who joined Real Madrid in July 2007, is now one of the most senior players.
Of course, this is also because for a player like Arbeloa who leaves the team after a transfer and then returns, his captaincy is calculated from the day he returns to the team, not before.
Before the team entered the stadium, Gao Shen personally put on the captain's armband and encouraged the Portuguese central defender, hoping that he could perform well and keep up his efforts, especially to show the stability and responsibility that a captain should have.
After intensive physical training during the winter break, Real Madrid's condition was actually relatively average, but Gao Shen's offensive attack after the opening showed its effect. In less than two minutes after the opening, Modric advanced with the ball and passed the ball through.
Zema ran out of space and, with no one defending him, pushed the ball into the goal and opened the scoring for Real Madrid.
But then, the game fell into a stalemate.
Real Sociedad's goalkeeper is Chilean Claudio Bravo, who later joined Barcelona and Manchester City.
In this game, he performed very bravely, blocking high and low, and repeatedly deflected Real Madrid's shots.
It wasn't until the 35th minute that Modric shot from the right side of the penalty area to expand Real Madrid's score again, 2-0!
After changing sides and fighting again in the second half, the two sides competed fiercely. Real Madrid's attack created several opportunities in a row, but they failed to break through Bravo's goal. Instead, in the 68th minute, Benzema's goal
He passed the ball with his foot and assisted Ronaldo to score with his left foot.
Two minutes later, Ronaldo created a free kick opportunity on the left and took the penalty himself.
Four to zero!
Real Madrid could have created more opportunities, but unfortunately they were unable to score.
Incidentally, in this game, Gao Shen deployed Isco on the right, while right back Carvajal failed to make a difference due to the interference of Real Sociedad left winger Griezmann.
In the end, Real Madrid defeated Real Sociedad 4-0 at home.
Before the game, it was rumored that Real Sociedad's best midfielder Illarramendi, who was valued by Real Madrid this season, did not play in this game because he had just returned from injury, but sat on the bench.
But this also led to Real Sociedad's midfield losing ground.
If Real Madrid hadn't been in good enough shape, they could have scored a big score.
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When Real Madrid beat Real Sociedad 4-0 at home, Barcelona also welcomed a city derby at home.
With Pedro scoring twice, Barcelona defeated Espanyol 4-0.
It is worth mentioning that after having his second parotid tumor removal surgery at the end of last year, Barcelona head coach Vilanova returned to the team before this game and returned to the coaching bench.
Many people say that Barcelona has performed so well this season, and the motivating effect of Vilanova's fight against cancer on the team cannot be underestimated.
This time, the entire football circle is supporting Vilanova.
As a competitor, Gao Shen not only supported Vilanova's cancer fight on Twitter and Weibo before, but this time he also sent a special tweet to congratulate him on his return and wish him all the best in the future.
After the Barcelona players defeated the Spaniard, they all expressed that they would give this victory to Vilanova.
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In mid-week, the second leg of the Copa del Rey knockout round of 16 will be played.
Real Madrid plays Celta Vigo at home.
Just two minutes into the game, Ronaldo received an assist from Marcos Alonso and opened the scoring for Real Madrid.
Subsequently, Modric and Higuain both assisted Ronaldo to score goals.
Finally, Toni Kroos received an assist from Ronaldo and scored Real Madrid's fourth goal.
In the end, Real Madrid defeated Vigo Setar 4-0 at the Bernabeu and successfully advanced to the quarterfinals.
Ronaldo scored a hat trick in this game and also contributed an assist. He performed very well.
The day after playing against Celta Vigo, a new round of draws for the quarter-finals of the Copa del Rey began.
The teams that reached the quarterfinals this time are Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Valencia, Zaragoza, Sevilla, Malaga and Real Betis.
As a result, Real Madrid's luck was obviously not good enough and they were drawn against Valencia.
The Bat Legion can be considered a difficult opponent in La Liga.
Barcelona was drawn to Malaga, and Atletico Madrid was drawn to Real Betis.
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Over the weekend, in the 19th round of La Liga, Real Madrid visited the King of Navarre Stadium to challenge Osasuna.
This was actually not a suspenseful game. The strength of the two teams was obviously not at the same level, but a sudden heavy rain caused water accumulation in the venue, which had a huge impact on Real Madrid.
More importantly, Ronaldo, who played two consecutive games, was also suspended this time due to accumulation of yellow cards.
Gao Shen chose to let youngster Jese take his place in the starting lineup, with Di Maria partnering Carvajal on the right.
This also affected Real Madrid's performance to some extent.
The most typical one occurred in the 24th minute. Di Maria dribbled the ball from the right rib into the right side of the penalty area, passed the goalkeeper Fernandez who attacked rashly, and passed the ball to the unguarded Higuain.
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As a result, facing an empty goal, Higuain kicked it directly and slipped into Osasuna's penalty area.
This made Gao Shen on the sidelines extremely depressed.
I really can't blame Higuain completely. It was raining so hard and the field was wet and slippery. The ball couldn't be passed at all. Any kick could cause splashes. The field conditions were really bad.
However, Real Madrid is not ideal here, and the same is true for Osasuna.
The only difference is that Osasuna does not follow the technical flow, but mainly relies on long-pass counterattacks, so they are less affected.
The Rain War does not limit their performance much.
The two sides fought hard until the second half.
Higuain sent a wonderful pass in the 78th minute, and Di Maria scored the goal, but the referee called it offside, which once again caused dissatisfaction at Real Madrid.
Gao Shen kept encouraging the players on the sidelines, asking them to keep up their efforts and persevere.
He himself has been standing on the sidelines, letting the heavy rain soak his whole body without stepping back, showing his determination to advance and retreat together with the players.
Until the 87th minute, Real Madrid got a corner kick opportunity.
Toni Kroos calmly took the corner kick. Pepe, who continued to wear the captain's armband in this game, headed the ball into the penalty area, which was the final word and broke the deadlock for Real Madrid.
After the Portuguese central defender landed, he was so excited that he punched the sky and shouted loudly to vent his inner excitement.
In the stadium, boos and rain mixed together, but they still couldn't cover up the cheers of Real Madrid players.
Gao Shen also cheered loudly for Pepe from the sidelines.
He himself breathed a sigh of relief.
This damn weather is really terrible!
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In mid-week, in the first leg of the Copa del Rey quarter-finals, Real Madrid faced Valencia at the Bernabeu.
From the beginning of the game, Valverde's team frequently adopted an aggressive defense against Real Madrid, especially against Ronaldo, and frequently committed fouls.
Less than a minute later, Tino Costa fouled Ronaldo, and in the third minute it happened again, this time with Joao Pereira.
Both free kicks failed to pose a threat.
But obviously, Valencia's foul tactics did not scare Real Madrid, and Gao Shen instructed the team to strengthen their offensive.
In the fourth minute, Ronaldo dribbled the ball from the left and dribbled continuously to break through the baseline. When the cross was brought into the penalty area, Benzema had no chance to kick directly. He was forced to stop the ball, turned around, and passed the ball back to
Modric.
The Croatian pushed the ball past Valencia's goal.
One to zero!
In the 36th minute of the first half, it was almost a repeat of the goal just now.
The midfielder stole the ball again, and Ronaldo dribbled the ball forward, but this time the Portuguese did not go wide, but instead went to the left rib, dribbling the ball diagonally into the front of the penalty area, and then passed the ball across.
Benzema missed the ball at the top of the arc, and Di Maria stopped the ball at the back point to get rid of the defender and hit a shot with his left foot.
But the ball hit the defensive player and bounced back to the front of the penalty area.
Toni Kroos stepped in from the back, stopped the ball, fired with his right foot, blasted a heavy shot, and once again broke through Valencia's goal, 2-0!
Before the end of the first half, Real Madrid had another chance. It was at the edge of the penalty area. Cristiano Ronaldo attracted the attention of the defense and passed a cross. Toni Kroos stopped with his right foot and barely passed the defensive player with his left foot.
He fired again with a heavy kick.
But this time the shot was lifted over the crossbar by the goalkeeper and failed to score.
After changing sides in the second half, Real Madrid, with two goals in hand, played more steadily, while Valencia made more and more moves.
It wasn't until the 73rd minute that the Bat Legion finally paid the price.
Toni Kroos passed the ball easily and freely. Cristiano Ronaldo stepped in from the back row to receive the ball and drove the ball into the penalty area. After being escaped by Cristiano Ronaldo, Rami pushed the Portuguese down from behind.
The referee was finally willing to take the card, issued a red card, sent Rami off, and gave Real Madrid a penalty kick.
Cristiano Ronaldo did his part and took the penalty kick himself, winning the penalty in one fell swoop and winning another victory for Real Madrid.
Three to zero!
The whole Bernabeu was cheering.
Although they were only in the quarter-finals of the Copa del Rey, they won 3-0 in the first round, basically qualifying for the semi-finals.
This is definitely a good thing for Real Madrid, which has been without a championship for many years.
In the end, with the cheers of Real Madrid fans, the team defeated Valencia 3-0 at home.
And the facts have proved that the speculation of Real Madrid fans was correct at all.
In the second round a week later, at the Mestanha Stadium, Real Madrid played with a rotating lineup, but still drew with Valencia 1-1 away from home, successfully advancing to the semi-finals with a total score of 4-1.
Maybe many people are wondering why they play in a rotating lineup?
Because just between the two Copa del Rey quarter-finals, Real Madrid also visited the Mestanha Stadium to play Valencia in the twentieth round of La Liga.
In other words, in just one week, Real Madrid played three games against Valencia, one home and two away.
In the 20th round of La Liga, Real Madrid went crazy and led 6-0 in the first half. Cristiano Ronaldo even kicked his head and kicked, performing a hat trick. Di Maria scored twice.
Zema scores a goal.
This created the highest first-half score ever between the two teams.
The final result was also six to zero.
Beating Valencia three times in one week, Real Madrid are simply unstoppable.
The day after the Copa del Rey quarter-final match against Valencia, the draw for the semi-finals was also announced.
