Mister Legend

Chapter 550 Between the trade-offs
After experiencing the extremely brilliant three consecutive Champions League titles, Real Madrid bid farewell to Zidane and Ronaldo, the main creators of this peak period, and ushered in the transition period of Lopetegui's coaching.During those two years, although the results were somewhat lackluster, they laid an excellent foundation for the successful replacement of the team, allowing Guti, who took over the team, to obtain a strong army with both vitality and combat effectiveness.

In the first season after entering the Bernabeu, the "Fourteenth Master" copied Qi Zu's feat of the year. He won the Champions League trophy in the first year of coaching the first team, and became a model for the praise of the world for a while.

And the Galaxy Battleship also relied on that slightly unexpected summit to complete a super dynasty, winning the Big Ear Cup five times in eight years, making all other European giants envious, but they have to admit that they are in this competition. dominance.

In addition, Real Madrid is still continuing to refresh the record of winning the final after losing to Liverpool in 1981. So far, it has eight games and eight wins, and the winning rate of Real Madrid in the semi-finals is also amazingly high. Their prestige in the Champions League makes opponents even more frightening. No one wants to encounter this extremely difficult and powerful opponent at this stage.

Therefore, after the birth of the semi-finals, the London media also deliberately analyzed the best route to the championship from the perspective of Arsenal. Compared with Real Madrid and Barcelona, ​​​​the top two in the Western Super League, Manchester City, which eliminated the Red Army, is the gunner. The opponent I hope to meet the most, because Li Mudi's winning rate against Guardiola is still guaranteed.

The second best signing is Barcelona. Messi can still play football that is not at the earth level in some games, but after all, he will be 35 years old in three months. All the speed advantage that the opponent's nightmare has had is gone.Although his football awareness far beyond ordinary people is still beyond doubt, but after he had to move his position back due to age, Messi’s threat is not as great as it was then. Great Gospel.

As for the current strikers of the Catalan team, whether it is Ousmane Dembele or Coutinho, or the Danish international Dolberg who just joined the team last year, although they are all in various positions. The proud son of heaven, but judging from Arsenal's current defense capabilities, they are still capable of fighting.

And the worst result of the draw is naturally to encounter the defending champion. The front trident of Mbappe, Asensio and Isco is the strongest striker combination in world football today. This has been recognized.In the midfield, the 32-year-old Toni Kroos is old and strong, the 25-year-old Ceballos has become the new core of the Spanish national team after years of experience, and the Uruguayan born in 1998. Federico Valverde (Federico Valverde) Valverde's sudden emergence last season allowed the team to safely sell Casemiro, who was at the peak of his player career, and is currently one of the most concerned midfielders.

As for Real Madrid's defense, the main lineup of Carvajal, Varane, Skriniar and Theo is already intimidating enough, and there are local excellent players like Vallejo and Mele sitting on the bench. The central defender and Guilherme Arana and other popular full-back rookies, coupled with the Belgian national goalkeeper Courtois who is playing steadily and is in his golden period, the strength of the defending champion is simply the kind of player who can play casually in a football game. A super BUG team that can rule the world football.

Facing such an opponent, and it is still a home and away two-round game that tests the overall strength of the team, the difficulty is really not small.

Fortunately, this Galaxy battleship is still not invincible. The chronic disease of lack of stability seems to be like a genetic disease that has always plagued the best teams of the last century. , Sometimes he can show performances that make the fans of the visiting team applaud and pay tribute, and sometimes make his own supporters beat their chests and feet.This is one of the characteristics of Real Madrid, and it is also the main reason why they cannot replicate the miracle of Barcelona's six crowns.

However, after the draw, the outside world is still looking forward to the stage where the defending champion can reach the Champions League final for the second consecutive year, because there is a huge talent gap there, and no one can ignore it.

A subsequent report published by the Spanish "Marca" fully illustrated this situation. The author of the article listed the total reference value of the regular rotation players of the two teams (representing the ability of the players to a certain extent), the players of both sides. The sum of the number of appearances in the Champions League (representing the richness of experience) and the record of teams with similar tactical styles to their opponents in recent years and other series of data all confirm the advantage Real Madrid has, and it is not small.

Of course, the article inevitably mentions the intricate relationship between the Gunners coach and the La Liga giants. Li Mudi has the traces of Real Madrid deeply imprinted on him.But this author, who obviously did his homework, dug out the "love and hatred" between Lafayette and Li Moody that could be written into a script, which attracted the attention of a large number of people who eat melons.

In the 2019-20 season, Lopetegui led the team before the eight-to-four threshold in the Champions League, and completely lost the trust of the club's top management and fans. The selection of new coaches was two months away from the end of the season started when.

The final result is clear to everyone. Guti won the support of almost all Mei Linger and successfully took the position, becoming another former team star who took the position of Real Madrid coach.But what most people don't know is that when the list of coaches was initially drafted, Li Modi won the same number of votes from the club's top management as the Fourteenth Master. The two can be said to be neck and neck.

This is not to say that several bigwigs including Butragueno are "anti-bones" and they are biased towards a Chinese man who only holds a Spanish ID card, but that Guti seriously lacked the ability to coach the first-line team at that time. From experience, everyone will more or less worry about him immediately taking over Real Madrid, which is in desperate need of results.

Different from the situation where Zidane replaced Benitez, Real Madrid had no other choice at that time. The sudden change of coaches in the middle of the season made it difficult to find a suitable successor in time. The only world-class coach Anche who did not have a club contract Both Lottie and Love are still impossible, so it can be regarded as rushing ducks to the shelves, and finally achieved Qi Zu's miracle.

But in 2020, the club has decided to change the head coach after the end of the season. The range of choices is very wide. Allegri, Conte, Tuchel and others are all very interested in the Bernabeu.Even if the strategy of employing the club's own direct descendants is to be continued, the former Turin coach who was in a state of unemployment at the time was also a very suitable candidate. Li Moody's ability to cultivate the team's youth training is the world's top, which coincides with the construction of Real Madrid in this period. The team's style fits perfectly, and his coaching ability has been proven through several important championship titles in Serie A and Europa League. His prestige is also worthy of the status of the world's giants. He is simply a man made in heaven.

It's a pity that this proposal was rejected without entering the next stage of investigation, because Lafayette made a statement and excluded him from the scope of coaching for non-technical reasons. In the end, he became the team's new head coach without any suspense.

However, due to the team's outstanding performance in the next two seasons, this choice proved to be very correct. Naturally, no one cared about Lafayette's rough intervention at the time, which contrasted his wise and mighty Gundam image.That part of the past has also become an episode, almost disappearing from the memory of those who knew it at the time.

This time, the whole incident was suddenly discovered by the media, which naturally shows that there was an "inner ghost betraying", but more importantly, it made the outside world feel a different atmosphere before the competition.It was originally thought to be another warm situation of old friends after Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain, but in the end, the style was suddenly reversed, and it became a grievance situation with deep entanglements and undercurrents. Surprised and raised expectations at the same time.So this group of duels has become the focus of the fans and the media when there are nearly two weeks before the first round of the confrontation. The heat is comparable to the fierce competition after the final stage of the leagues of various countries.

However, in the face of the reporters' questions, Li Mudi did not give any response. He knew that because he criticized some of Lafayette's practices in the live broadcast of the World Cup in Russia and annoyed the other party, he was excluded from the ranks of candidates when Real Madrid changed coaches. , but will not make any complaints now.Because in any case, Lafayette did contribute a lot to the re-emergence of the Galaxy Battleship at the end of the last century. For such an old man who really loves Real Madrid, you can no longer blame him too much.Coupled with the fact that the opponent is about to leave the Bernabeu, let these unpleasant pasts go with the wind.

In September last year, Florentino, who still couldn't resist his feelings for the club and continued to participate in the presidential election, was re-elected again because no one dared to compete with him.However, during a physical examination after New Year's Day, the doctor found that his blood pressure and heart condition were extremely unsatisfactory, and suggested that he must rest as soon as possible.

So under the strong persuasion of family and friends, Lafayette finally made the decision to resign early after the end of the season, and according to the regulations, the position of Real Madrid chairman will be temporarily replaced by the current vice chairman Fernandez Tapias.

In order to maintain the stability of the club's operations, the new general election will be held three years in advance. It is scheduled for September 2022. Many people can't wait to stand up and announce their participation in a high-profile manner, which makes the originally expected competition The prospect of a bitter election has become cloudier again.

And Raul is one of the contenders. Although he has not resigned from Coventry Club, he has already started to prepare for the election.With the help of Li Moody, the biggest issue of the deposit fee has been solved. With his image and status at the Bernabeu, he still has a chance to defeat all the tycoons and win the championship, but that is not something that the Gunners coach can participate in.

The most important problem Li Moody needs to solve now is how to find the best investment allocation ratio among the three competitions so as to maximize the benefits.

The league is currently behind No.4 Manchester United by one point. With this, the hope of winning the Champions League seat seems to be the greatest, but this seemingly small gap has kept Arsenal chasing for three months without being able to complete the overtake. With the remaining four rounds, no one dares to guarantee that the most basic goal of entering the Champions League next season will be achieved.

And another result that can satisfy the club and fans and even completely ignore the poor performance in the first half is to win the Big Ear Cup, but there are the biggest variables in the middle.Whether it is against Real Madrid in the semi-finals or another strong opponent that he will face in the final, Li Moody is not very sure.

However, these two fronts are what Arsenal must do their best. Although the final result of either item may end in a regret or even tragedy, they are both the defending champions of the Premier League and hope to further consolidate their status as a giant. They have to give the final confession to the fans who support them, especially the club's top management, and there is no room for slack.

Therefore, relatively speaking, the importance of the FA Cup seems dispensable. Even if the champion of this event can bring the team a qualification for the European League, it is already ranked fifth in the league, and Taking advantage of Chelsea's upset loss in the last round to widen the point difference to three points, the Gunners are almost sure that they don't need to put too much energy into this domestic cup.

But the opponent in the semi-finals happened to be Manchester United, a sworn enemy that all gun fans and club members would not want to lose to each other at any time, which is a bit tricky.

If the FA Cup is strategically abandoned according to objective reality, then the result is very likely to be defeated by the Red Devils for the second time this season. It is difficult to estimate what impact this will have on the morale of the entire team.But if we try our best, it will not only bring too heavy a physical crisis to Arsenal in the next two weeks, but may even interfere with the final sprint at the end of the season. The reason for victory, if the Champions League also reached the final stage, there will be a certain conflict again, it is difficult!
At this critical moment, no one can help Li Mudi make the most correct decision in his ideal state, it all depends on him to figure it out, and it must be done as soon as possible.Because four days after the second round confrontation with Juventus, Arsenal will usher in West Ham United, which has rebounded sharply after the coaching change, at home.Under the leadership of the new head coach and former Dutch international central defender Stam, the latter has completed an extremely good half of the season. It has already rushed to the eighth position in the standings, and there is still the possibility of participating in the European war , is a strong opponent that all teams cannot underestimate.

And next Wednesday, the semi-final of the FA Cup against Manchester United will start. The Gunners must make a good focus in advance, otherwise it is very likely that there will be a chicken-and-egg situation, which will be too fatal.

(End of this chapter)