Three days after the city derby, Barcelona ushered in the second leg of the Copa del Rey knockout round of 16.
With the victory basically sealed in the first round, Barcelona played with an all-substitute lineup at the Nou Camp. Still relying on Larsson's brace, they beat Zamora 6-0 and easily advanced to the quarterfinals.
The draw results for the quarter-finals knockout round were also released quickly, and Barcelona met Zaragoza.
…
At the weekend, in the 19th round of La Liga, Barcelona faced Athletic Bilbao at home.
After the Basque Lions relied on a corner kick and high center forward Llorente took the lead in scoring Barcelona's goal, Barcelona launched a crazy counterattack, but it was not until the second half that Sudong assisted Ronaldinho to equalize the score.
Later, Su Dong kicked the goal again, causing the goalkeeper to take a shot. Messi missed the goal and made a follow-up shot.
2 to 1, Barcelona finally reversed Athletic Bilbao at home.
…………
…………
On the evening of January 18, in the first leg of the Copa del Rey quarter-finals, Barcelona challenged Zaragoza away.
From the very beginning of this season, Barcelona, from the management and coaching staff to the locker room, has had the same goal, which is to continue the outstanding performance of last season and strive for another breakthrough, with the goal of winning the Triple Crown.
Although Barcelona's lineup is thicker this season than last season, it still looks relatively thin if they want to fight on the third line.
The coaching staff has specially formulated a rotation strategy for this purpose, allowing the main players to take more rest in some relatively certain games.
Zaragoza is ranked in the middle of La Liga this season and its performance is not very satisfactory. Rijkaard has a certain grasp of this game. Coupled with continuous two-line operations, the team has rotated.
Sudong, Deco, Marcos Senna and Puyol all took turns. Larsson replaced Sudong and partnered with Ronaldinho and Messi in the front three, with Iniesta in the midfield.
The combination of Van Bommel and Edmilson, and the defense team of Van Bronckhorst, Marcos, Oleg and Belletti.
Rijkaard's wishes are ideal.
In the first leg of the away game, Barcelona tried their best to attack and score goals.
In the three midfielders, Iniesta is mainly responsible for passing and controlling the ball, Van Bommel is responsible for inserting from behind, and Edmilson is responsible for defending to maintain the balance and stability of the team. In addition, Ronaldinho and Ronaldinho are responsible for the frontcourt.
Messi, I believe the team’s creativity is enough.
Facts also proved Rijkaard's guess.
After the opening, the attacking Barcelona gained control of the game, launched a fierce attack on Zaragoza, and frequently created scoring opportunities. Zaragoza was in a state of chaos in front of the goal.
But the problem soon became apparent.
Barcelona's offense seems to be very powerful, but there is no real threat.
Barcelona would not be afraid if they encountered a La Liga team like Zamora, but the problem is that Zaragoza is a La Liga team. Although it did not perform very well this season, its overall strength cannot be underestimated.
After adapting to Barcelona's offense, Zaragoza quickly responded.
After being unable to attack for a long time, Barcelona's midfielder naturally began to press forward. Iniesta and Van Bommel's positions were further forward. Edmilson was often left alone behind them. Van Bommel and Iniesta were both
Too close to the opponent's penalty area.
At this moment, Barcelona is like a hungry giant beast, eager to devour the opponent in one bite.
But here's the problem.
When the midfielder presses too high and the frontcourt cannot suppress the opponent, the large gap behind the defense begins to allow the opponent to gallop.
In the 23rd minute, Zaragoza midfielder Kani sent a precise direct pass. Diego Milito successfully reversed the offside and broke into the Barcelona penalty area with a single shot. He calmly scored and opened the scoring for Zaragoza.
Then, in the 25th and 27th minutes, Zaragoza quickly counterattacked twice in a row. Everton's speed was fully utilized, and he scored two goals in a row, scoring twice.
Although Everton's second goal was an obvious misjudgment and he was indeed offside, in just a few minutes, Barcelona was completely stunned by three consecutive goals scored by the opponent.
It wasn't until the third goal was conceded that Rijkaard reacted soberly and immediately made adjustments, barely maintaining the situation. However, the poor score of 0-3 had already put Barcelona in a desperate situation.
…
"This season, when Barcelona was playing unstoppably and winning consecutively, all of us were wondering whether Su Dong was important to the current Barcelona team? Is he really as indispensable as the data shows?"
"This is not only from the outside world, but it is estimated that many players in the Barcelona locker room will have such doubts."
"I have even heard an extreme statement before. With Barcelona's excellent midfield and the ability of Ronaldinho and Messi in the frontcourt to create opportunities, even if they tie a dog on the front line, it can score.
ball, and even compete for the top scorer.”
"Extreme statements are too extreme and are beyond the scope of our discussion, but I believe that many people must have doubted whether it was Soviet Union that made Barcelona, or Barcelona that made Sudong?"
"After watching the first half of the game, I believe many people should get the answer."
"Barcelona conceded three goals in a row, which is very similar to last season, but completely different."
"Last season, Barcelona's defense players made mistakes. This was a problem of the defensive players' ability. But in tonight's game, we can see that even Oleg who made the mistake was in a pair of
One situation was overcome by Everton.”
"This proves that Barcelona's problem is a technical and tactical problem. It is the team's midfield and frontcourt that cannot suppress the opponent, the offense fails to create a threat, and the goal is conceded after being counterattacked by the opponent."
"In fact, Rijkaard also exposed his shortcomings in coaching tonight. His reaction was too slow."
"Diego Milito's goal had already reminded Barcelona to pay attention to behind them. As a result, Barcelona not only failed to pay attention, but intensified their efforts. Zaragoza immediately used Everton's speed to hit one accurate shot after another.
He was crippled."
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! This is the famous host of Radio Ser, Jose Ramon de la Morena, when he was commentating on the Copa del Rey live at the end of the half-time match
Summary conducted at half time.
He believed that the entire first half was a slap in the face to those who had previously denied Su Dong's value.
Without Sudong, Barcelona's offense completely lost its threat, and Zaragoza scored three goals in a row.
Is it because other players are underperforming?
No, Ronaldinho, Messi, Iniesta, Van Bommel, and even the two full-backs were still very active. Barcelona even created far more offensive opportunities than Zaragoza.
.
why?
The answer is simple. On the one hand, it is Zaragoza's tenacious defense, and on the other hand, it is because Barcelona's offense has no threat.
The person is still human and in good condition, so why is there no threat?
Because of Su Dong!
"The decision Rijkaard made the most in this game was to underestimate Zaragoza's determination to win at home and rotate Su Dong. And the most correct decision he made was to put Su Dong on the bench.
."
"Perhaps Rijkaard should consider replacing Su Dong directly during the halftime break."
"At least at this stage, the 34-year-old Larson cannot replace Su Dong!"
"Sure enough, I am at the scene now."
"I saw Su Dong, who was training on the court with four substitute players including Sylvinho and Valdes, was called in by assistant coach Tenkat."
"Rijkaard's reaction on the spot is indeed a bit slow, but he is not stupid."
…
Su Dong followed Tenkat to the locker room.
Along the way, the assistant coach was analyzing with Su Dong the situation in the first half, the problems encountered by the team's offense, and the tactics and adjustments the coaching staff planned to adopt in the second half.
"We must get at least one goal!" Tenkat grabbed Su Dong at the door of the locker room and said solemnly.
Su Dong nodded, opened the door and went in.
The locker room seemed very depressing at this moment.
After scanning around, Su Dong found no sign of Larsson, but the sound of gurgling water came from the shower area behind. Apparently the Swedish veteran had gone to take a shower in advance.
When the other teammates saw him coming in, they immediately raised their heads to look at him, and many of them had expectations in their eyes.
Perhaps many of them have questioned Su Dong's importance to this team before, but no one can deny that at this time, they will unconsciously place all their hopes on Su Dong.
Dong's body.
If Su Dongfeng can't do it, then who can they count on?
"Su, you saw the first half, what do you think?" Rijkaard broke the awkward silence.
Su Dong glanced around his teammates, laughed out loud, and looked very confident.
"Actually, it's not difficult to break through their defense."
Everyone was very surprised.
You know, Su Dong is very low-key and down-to-earth on weekdays, so why does he seem a little arrogant today?
"I took a look and found that one of the important reasons why our offense suffered setbacks in the first half was that crosses from the wing failed to threaten us. Later we switched to the center. This didn't work. The opponent deployed heavy troops in the center, so I suggested,
It’s better to walk aside and hit the ball high.”
As soon as Su Dong finished speaking, he heard Dutch midfielder Van Bommel shaking his head vigorously, "No, we played like this after the opening, but Zaragoza's prevention and control of high balls is very good, there is nothing we can do..."
By the end, Van Bommel's doubts were getting weaker and weaker.
The Dutch midfielder came to the Barcelona locker room with a sense of arrogance. He was not particularly convinced of Su Dong, a young boy who was just starting out. He believed that Su Dong could score so many goals because of other Barcelona players, but all the limelight was lost to Su Dong.
Dong was robbed.
But the first half completely subverted Van Bommel's stereotype. When he and Larsson both played, they had nothing to do against Zaragoza.
In the past, he had a strength advantage in the Eredivisie, but in La Liga, the situation was different.
Su Dong waited until Van Bommel's voice became weaker and weaker, and finally shut up and stopped talking, then he smiled and asked, "Mark, are you sure their golf ball prevention and control is in place?"
Van Bommel waved his hands awkwardly.
Don't laugh, I know I was wrong!
Everyone else was also amused, and many even laughed out loud, which greatly diluted the depressing atmosphere just now.
