Football career: From winning the championship to becoming a legend

The day after the match with Moldova, Ricardo returned to the club to report and actively participated in preparations.

Barcelona, ​​which is plagued by the Fifa virus and the bar virus, will soon face three games in eight days: first, they will travel to Deportivo La Coruna on the night of the 8th, then go to Athens to challenge Panathinaikos three days later, and then return to their home ground next weekend to face Osasuna, who are currently ranked fourth in the league...

Speaking of the opponent in the next round of the league, Deportivo La Coruña, it has been known as "Super Deportivo" in recent years!

After Javier Irureta took over as coach of Deportivo in the summer of 1998, the "Super Deportivo" began to show itself to the world: first, it won the La Liga championship for the first time in the 99-00 season, and then it was a big hit in the UEFA Champions League. Although it did not win the Champions League, it left many classic games:

在00-01赛季和01-02赛季球队连续两年杀入了欧冠四分之一决赛；而在03-04赛季更是在1/4决赛击溃了卫冕冠军AC米兰进入4强。（毛豆们：“Oh！No！卖糕滴……法科！为什么又是我？”）（“没有办法，谁让红黑军团欧战成绩确实好，比赛踢得多，自然各种结果都有可能……”）

At that time, the Rossoneri, which had Shevchenko, Pirlo, Kaka and others, were the favorites to win the championship, and the 4-1 victory in the first leg also demonstrated their strength.

But Super Deportivo did not give up and completed the most epic comeback in the second leg: Pandiani, Belleron, Luque and Fran created a 4-0 victory and sent the defending champions home...

In addition, Super Laco has always been able to compete for the championship in recent years, ranking in the top 4 every year. The only exception is last season. In addition, the meritorious champion coach Irueta also left Laco after the end of last season, so some people say that last season was the last year of Super Laco.

Although Deportivo La Coruna's form this season is not very good, they have three draws and one loss in the last four league games without a win.

However, facing Deportivo La Coruna, which still has powerful players such as Coloccini, Capdevila, Sergio, Munitis, Tristan and soul figure Belleron, Rijkaard did not dare to neglect them. He still regarded the opponent as a championship rival or a strong opponent, and had made arrangements and explanations long before the national team match day.

So Ronaldinho's father returned to the team on time this time and did not go to the nightclub.

Although they will travel to play against Panathinaikos in the Champions League next week, Rijkaard still fielded a full lineup when facing their rivals Deportivo La Coruna.

So Ricardo was left out of the squad once again.

However, Ricardo probably also knows his position in Rijkaard's mind, that is, a rotation player of Team B (Team A is all main players), who will be used to let the main players rest when the schedule is tight, facing not-so-strong opponents or unimportant games: in fact, a big substitute, who will have some opportunities to play every 3 games, which is much better than those iron benches...

So Ricardo, who had some time to catch up on his schoolwork, watched the live broadcast of the game at home again, of course, eating fruit snacks, drinking soda water, and watching with Chiara in his arms...

At 10:15 on the evening of October 20, the focus of the 7th round of the Spanish Football League was on Super Deportivo La Coruna playing at home against the defending champion Barcelona.

Barcelona's starting lineup is still 4-3-3:

The goalkeeper is No. 1 Valdés;

The back line from left to right is: No. 16 Sylvinho, No. 23 Oleguer, No. 5 Puyol, No. 2 Belletti;

The iron triangle in the midfield is No. 4 Marcos, No. 6 Xavi and No. 20 Deco;

The forward trident is No. 8 Giuly, No. 10 Ronaldinho and No. 9 Eto'o.

Although Deportivo La Coruna had not performed well in the previous league, it was not known whether it was because they were facing Barcelona, ​​which had a star lineup, so the whole team was obviously more excited after the opening, running very actively, and constantly threatening Barcelona's goal with the power of their home court.

In the 10th minute of the game, Laco broke the deadlock.

First, La Coruna striker Tristan took the ball with his back to the goalkeeper at the edge of the penalty area and passed it back to midfielder Munitis for a long shot. The latter fired a powerful shot from 23 yards in the middle. Although the ball hit the left post of the goal and did not go in, the rebound ball landed right at the feet of the unguarded Belleron...

Valeron easily pushed the ball into the net from 14 yards in the middle of the penalty area. Valdés, who had just jumped to save Munitis's long shot, had no time to get up and save it again. Deportivo La Coruna led 1-0 at home.

Although Barcelona once controlled the situation in the subsequent games, facing Deportivo La Coruna's rigorous and meticulous defense, Barcelona's lack of layered offense made it difficult to create a threat for a while.

Until the 41th minute of the game.

After Ronaldinho's father broke through the wing and attracted a double-team, he used the outside of his right foot to make a cross from the left like a juggler. Eto'o chested the ball in the middle of the penalty area and made a wonderful volley with Deco on the right, finally tearing open La Coruna's defense!

Eto'o received Deco's pass again and broke into the middle of the penalty area. He decisively volleyed with his right foot from 11 yards, and the ball went into the net from close range beside the goalkeeper Molina!

This was the Cameroonian's seventh league goal of the season; this goal also helped Barcelona tie the score.

However, the morale of the Barcelona team, which had equalized the score, was boosted, and within a few minutes, they overtook the score in the injury time of the first half: this time Eto'o broke through on the right and made a cross, Giuly deliberately missed the ball after attracting attention in the middle, and Ronaldinho's father received the ball at the far end and easily broke through defender Pablo, and from 10 yards on the left side of the penalty area, he used the outside of his right foot to secretly push the ball into the far corner!

Barcelona scored two goals in five minutes, overtaking the score to 5-2 and going into halftime.

Barcelona replaced Marcos with Edmilson at halftime.

After the change of sides, Barcelona continued to lead the attack and expanded the score again in the 51st minute.

This time it was Deco who received Xavi's through pass and dribbled into the right side of the penalty area but was tripped by Molina who was given a yellow card and a penalty kick.

The penalty kick taken by Ronaldinho was to reassure everyone (a certain big cat: Huh?! Targeting me again?!), Ronaldinho's signature penalty kick posture scored the ball in one fell swoop, extending the lead to 2 goals. This was his third league goal this season.

After that, Barcelona continued to attack and threatened Laco's goal. Just when the audience thought that Barcelona's next attack would change the score again, it was Laco's turn to score in the 72nd minute...

Sergio broke through the middle and passed the ball. When Munitis faced Oleg's defense on the right side of the penalty area, he first lowered his shoulder to the right to shake off Oleg's center of gravity, and then directly shot a curved ball with his left foot to the far corner. The ball drew a strange arc, bypassed Valdes's fingers, and fell into the net from the 10-point corner!

Super Laco narrowed the score to 2-3.

Less than 3 minutes later, Laco almost equalized the score in the 75th minute. Munitis crossed the ball from the left, and Capdevila made a successful header from 10 yards in front of the goal, but it went slightly wide...

However, La Coruna equalized the score in the 86th minute. Guzman dribbled past Sylvinho in front of the penalty area and passed the ball back. Taborda's fierce shot from the right edge of the penalty area hit the near post and bounced back. Ruben, who was ambushing in the penalty area, alertly made a left-foot shot from 8 yards in front of the goal and scored!

This goal was very similar to the first one. Valdés was also knocked off his feet by the first shot and lay on the ground, watching the opponent's forward easily score the rebound into the empty goal...

The Riazor Stadium, the home stadium of Deportivo La Coruna, which equalized the score, was in a boiling atmosphere. The whole stadium was in a frenzy, which made Ricardo in front of the TV feel excited. The goal battle was so exciting!

In the final moments, Barcelona's counterattack was futile and the two sides finally shook hands in a draw with a score of 3-3.

After turning off the TV, Ricardo quickly carried the girl into the bedroom to calm down his impulse...

……

Before the Barcelona team had time to summarize how they lost a good opportunity in the last game after leading by two goals, they hurried to Athens to prepare for the away challenge of Panathinaikos. In this game, Li Qi was selected for the roster and traveled with the team.

Panathinaikos Football Club is one of the most successful teams in Greek history (the other is Olympiacos). The full name of the club is Panathinaikos Athletic Opiums, which means "Athletics of Athens".

Panathinaikos has won 20 domestic league titles and 18 Greek Cup titles. Although these two data are not as good as the arch-rival Olympiacos, the record in European competitions is better than that of the opponent.

This game is also Barcelona’s 99th Champions League game (the next game will be the 100th!).

对比联赛已经两轮不胜的巴塞罗那，帕纳辛奈科斯在联赛与冠军杯中已经4连胜；他们更希望借主场之机报2001/02赛季1/4决赛被巴萨淘汰的一箭之仇。

Barcelona's starting lineup was 4-3-3, although there were some personnel adjustments:

The goalkeeper is No. 1 Valdés;

The back line from left to right is: No. 12 Van Bronckhorst, No. 4 Marcos, No. 5 Puyol, No. 2 Belletti;

The iron triangle in the midfield is No. 7 Van Bommel, No. 6 Xavi and No. 20 Deco;

The forward trident is No. 7 Larsson, No. 10 Ronaldinho and No. 9 Eto'o.

Iniesta, Messi and Li Qi all started the game from the bench.

Seven minutes into the game, Ronaldinho's father attracted the defense on the left and made a long pass. Larsson stopped the ball on the right and passed it directly behind the defense line. Eto'o successfully made an offside and shot a low shot with his right foot into the far corner from 7 meters away from the goal on the right side of the penalty area. Unfortunately, the opponent's goalkeeper Galinovich made a great effort to block it.

In the 20th minute, the Greeks had the best chance of the first half. Manzios received a header from his teammate, but Puyol pulled him down (Li Qi thought it was over, and he would definitely be awarded a penalty kick...), but the referee's whistle did not blow, and he raised his hands to indicate that the attacking team had an advantage! However, Manzios' left-footed shot from 10 meters in front of the goal was miraculously saved by Valdés!

In the first half, neither side created any effective threats and went into halftime.

Looking at the entire first half, Barcelona, ​​which had scored 2 goals in the first 6 rounds, had a weak attack. Although they had a ball possession percentage of 60%, only one shot was within the goal range.

In fact, Li Qi could see that the main lineup was too tired, both physically and mentally.

So Li Qi kept calling out in his heart: "Let us young people take over, I have plenty of strength and energy!"

(Voiceover:)

(Chiara: Really? You still have it?!)

(Li Qi: Ahem... another one, another one...)

It seemed as if Rijkaard heard Li Qi's inner call. 10 minutes into the second half, he replaced Van Bommel with Motta and Larsson with Messi, hoping to speed up and break the deadlock.

Then Ronaldinho's father made a wonderful change of direction on the left and dribbled past the defender before passing the ball diagonally to Eto'o in the penalty area. The latter shot with his left foot from 18 meters in front of the goal, but goalkeeper Galinovich dived to the left and bravely blocked it with one hand.

In the 66th minute, Van Bronckhorst received a straight pass from Deco and shot hard from 15 meters away from the goal on the left side. Unfortunately, the angle was too small and the shot was too straight, so the goalkeeper Galinovich held the ball firmly in his arms.

In the 70th minute, Rijkaard responded to Li Qi's inner call again and replaced Xavi with Iniesta...

(Li Qi looked at Xiao Bai with envy as he entered the stage: "...Aren't you responding to my call? Why don't you let me take the stage instead?")

┭┮﹏┭┮

In the 80th minute, Barcelona got the best chance of the game!

Messi made an accurate long-distance pass near the center line, Eto'o successfully made an offside, used his speed to shake off the opponent's defender Morris, and after entering the penalty area, he accelerated again to dribble the ball in front of the goalkeeper and dribbled past the attacking Galinovich!

Facing an empty goal, he shot from a small angle on the right side of the penalty area, but unfortunately the ball was not fast enough and hit Biscayne's leg who returned to defense in time and went wide of the far post...

After Barcelona missed this chance, neither side had a chance to change the score. In the end, the two sides shook hands and made peace with a score of 1-1.

……