Chapter 311       Two-line progress

For a mature club, the pain of transformation must be a very painful period. However, if you can transform smoothly, you can quickly become regular. After all, they have very outstanding strength.

Valencia was undoubtedly mature enough before. Cooper's two seasons of training were not ineffective. Couple's foundation laid by outstanding head coaches such as Hiddink, Aragonese, Ranieri, etc., which led to their outstanding performance in the past two seasons. Benitez's change was actually not a drastic change, but just a correction on some basis - at least in defense, he inherited the solid defense line left by the previous coaches, and on offense, he only made the attack more flexible and more changeable, so that he could have a faster effect.

With three consecutive wins, Valencia's points climbed to third place, the same points as La Coruña, who was defeated by Real Madrid in this round, and two points behind Real Madrid, ranked first. What is slightly disadvantageous to them is that soon, they will challenge Real Madrid away. If they lose, their strong momentum will probably be greatly affected.

Two points behind, that is, the gap between the ball. Valencia had won Real Madrid at home before, and even if he got a draw away, it would be more beneficial to the future - after all, both sides would have to be distracted by the Champions League, and with Valencia's current momentum, the possibility of grabbing points on weak teams is greater than that of Real Madrid - this is determined by the tactical core of both sides. Real Madrid's current offensive core has been replaced by Zidane. To a certain extent,

Dane is more elegant than Tiger, but in terms of direct threat and scoring ability, Tiger is better than Zidane. This season, Real Madrid and Valencia's score rate against mid- and lower-level teams has dropped a lot. Valencia took the initiative to retract Tiger's position to mobilize the entire team, making the scoring ability of the scattered scoring points better. However, Real Madrid played more gorgeously and beautifully after Zidane came, but lacked some efficiency.

Valencia's problem has been almost solved, but Real Madrid's decline in scoring efficiency cannot be easily compensated - Real Madrid is very strong now, especially when they are against strong teams, they can always perform very well, but often when they are against weak teams, they are prone to capsizing in the gutter. This situation has happened many times in the first half of the season.

Before the game started, Tiger, Zidane and Figo took a photo together - this is also the meaning of the La Liga Committee. The top three players in the world are all playing in La Liga, which is also of great help in enhancing the influence of La Liga.

In front of the camera, the three superstars were laughing happily, but after the game began, both sides began to play Mars on the court, giving an excellent game to the fans watching the game.

"The match between Real Madrid and Valencia is no longer a simple game, but can be called the most exciting performance of La Liga this season. In this performance, there are goals, bloodshed, fights, misjudgments, and of course, the smoothest offense and the most solid defense collision."

Two minutes into the game, Tiger, who had been attacked by Jero and Calanca in front, pushed the ball into the goal guarded by Casillas with a beautiful rush. However, the linebacker misjudged the good goal as offside, allowing Real Madrid to escape. In the following game, Real Madrid controlled the midfield to some extent, but Valencia was absolutely not at a disadvantage. Whether in the midfield or in defense, Valencia stuck Real Madrid's lifeline, making their offense seem unruly. Raul even did not shoot once in the whole game. Alberda's mistake made Morientes score the only goal for Real Madrid after receiving Figo's pass. Casillas' magical performance allowed Real Madrid to save the victory of the game.

Before the game ended, Salgado almost started fighting with Caboni, and Zidane also had a conflict with Ayala, and the scene was once in a state of extreme chaos.

After the game, Spanish media generally praised Valencia very much. The World, which is much more authoritative than the newspaper Marca, published a full-page article to comment on the game. The article believes that Valencia is better than Real Madrid in terms of overall cooperation, fighting style, tactical arrangement and shooting quality: "Valencia did not let Real Madrid kick at all. They stuck to various positions on Real Madrid's field, Zidane was completely blocked, and Raul did not even get a chance to shoot in the whole game, but this did not affect Real Madrid's victory, because there was a warm wind (the referee's favoritism) blowing towards Real Madrid. Except for Tiger's goal that was erased,

It was on Tiger that Real Madrid players should at least receive five yellow cards." Barcelona media used the title of "Bernabeu's Scandal" to satirize Real Madrid for relying on the referee's help. The game was not bad. The article said: "The rough Jero should have been sent off with the red card long ago; the players were fighting, and the referee's eyes were looking at the sky... There is no worse game than this... Figo's extraordinary person is more like a drunk, and he lay down before he could touch him!" Several newspapers in Valencia used the title of "Rounding the Road" to condemn the referee's injustice, and said, "The referee helped Real Madrid steal the Valencian's wallet!"

Tiger's goal that was erased was repeatedly broadcast by major Spanish TV stations. The most demanding Real Madrid fans also had to admit that Tiger's goal was indeed undisputed. After Vicente passed the ball, Tiger relied on a momentary forward insertion to get rid of the defense of two Real Madrid's defenders. From any angle, this is a good goal...

"In this game, we can at least take one point from the Bernabeu... But it doesn't matter. Although we are five points behind, there are still eighteen rounds of games before the end of the league. Such a loss will not have any blow to our confidence, but will allow us to welcome the next game with greater enthusiasm." Tiger said in an interview after the game.

Tiger was indeed not convinced of this loss. Except for a goal being blown away, Valencia almost pushed Real Madrid to play for the remaining half hour of the game. At the Bernabeu, Real Madrid was approaching humiliation and intensively returned to defense and relying on Casillas' magic save to save a victory - this situation is not the first time this season. The last time it was against Valencia, he was beaten by Valencia in the Spanish Super Cup...

If it weren't for other games, Real Madrid basically conformed to the aesthetic concept of Real Madrid fans that "will win and win beauty", I'm afraid Bosque would be called out by the fans - even so, at the end of the game, the applause from the Bernabeu fans was also given to the loser Valencia.

However, no matter what, after this defeat, the gap between Valencia and Real Madrid has reached five points, and the Champions League game will rekindle the battle in late February. If Valencia cannot shorten the gap with Real Madrid in more than a month, it will probably be more difficult to catch up with Real Madrid after the Champions League begins.

In this case, Valencia showed an extremely outstanding state. In the next league, facing the four mid- and lower-level teams, Valencia proved that their previous three-game winning streak was not luck, and losing to Real Madrid was just a misjudgment. Two 2-0 and two 3-1, Valencia won four consecutive victories and reached the top spot in the standings in one go!

Perhaps because of the damage to character, after Real Madrid defeated Valencia at home, they only scored five points in the next four rounds of the league - first tied by Malaga and Betis respectively, and then lost to Valadolid away, only defeating Espanyol and gaining three points, and was overtaken by Valencia by two points in one breath.

After four consecutive games, Valencia's momentum eased again. They were tied by Celta, who was temporarily ranked fourth at home, and Real Madrid found their form after four consecutive poor performances, slapping Las Palmas seven to zero, and tied Valencia with points again. With the same winning and losing relationship, they returned to the first position with a goal difference advantage.

After the next round of league, the Champions League will rekindle the battle. In this case, Benitez and Bosque both chose to preserve their strength and sent a large number of substitutes in the next round of leagues. In the end, Valencia's resilience played a role. They tied their derby opponent Villarreal 1-1 away, while Real Madrid left Mai City away and was defeated by Athletic Bilbao, which consisted of all Basques. Valencia returned to the top position in the standings with one point advantage.

After playing this game, Valencia's focus will return to the Champions League.

*********************************************

The next week will be very important for Valencia. On February 20th, he will challenge Juventus away. On February 24th, he will play Barcelona at home. On February 28th, he will play Juventus at home. If these three games are played well, there will be great hope for the Champions League group qualifiers and the league championship. After all, after playing Barcelona in the league, Valencia's strongest opponents will be the only one left in the next 11 opponents. This is even more so in the Champions League. If these two games are played well, there will be no problem from qualifying in the group.

After coming to Turin, Benitez showed his characteristics - that is, the outcome theory is only the situation and does not care about the scene - facing the Serie A team Juventus, Valencia adopted a Serie A team's style of play, defending against the counterattack, strictly guarding, staring at Trezege in the penalty area, pressing Nedved and Piero outside the penalty area, relying solely on Tiger to restrain the offense. Valencia's shots in the whole game were only single digits, but in the end he successfully took away a draw from the away game!

After three group matches, Valencia won at home and each of the two away games got a draw - Benitez was very accurate. In such a death group, it is basically impossible for you to kill all other opponents to qualify by yourself. If you can win, you will win. If you can't win, don't lose. If you can get one point, you will be better than losing...

Valencia, who scored five points in three games, still ranked first in the group. In another game, Leverkusen tied with Arsenal one-to-one at home, and only scored two points in the three-round group stage, while Juventus and Arsenal both ranked second and third in the group.

In such a group, the teams that qualify may not win the most, but they will definitely lose the least. In the case of strangling each other, how to use their home court advantages to try to grab points will be the most important part of qualifying.

Successfully scored a point in the away game in the most labor-saving way. Valencia's players returned to Valencia with ease. This season, their performance at home is much better than away games. Although they have to face the challenges of Barcelona and Juventus in succession, they have enough confidence in their home games.

Barcelona also suffered pain in the early stage of this season, just like Real Madrid Valencia. However, they played well in the following period and have gradually caught up from the dilemma of ranking. Now they are ranked third in La Liga with 43 points, only four points behind Valencia and three points behind Real Madrid.

However, in a Champions League match before this game, Barcelona lost their number one star Rivaldo, which also made them lack confidence away from home. After Figo left, Rivaldo became Barcelona's pillar of the sky. Last season, it was his hat-trick that Barcelona defeated Valencia and barely entered the Champions League game. They lost Rivaldo and faced Valencia, who was full of morale away. Barcelona's game was not favored by everyone before it even started.

Lexacci's conservative employment made Barcelona afraid before the game - Saviola and Ovemas were both placed on the bench for the next Champions League game. Cruyvert was alone in the frontcourt. Tiger and Aimal's two goals made Mestalia cheer like two climaxes in the stands. In the end, Valencia defeated Barcelona, ​​who ranked third, with two goals at home, and continued to beat Real Madrid, who also won this round, in the first place in the standings with one point!

"The situation in the league will get better and better. Real Madrid will play against Barcelona and La Coruña. The schedule is good for us, and our condition has risen and will not go on easily." After the game, Benitez said that Benitez is now becoming more and more proud. The situation in Valencia shows that Benitez's coaching strength in the first half of the season, in the face of pain, has dragged most of the opponents, obtained what he wants to the greatest extent, laying a solid foundation for the explosion in the second half of the season!

*********************************************

The home game against Juventus was the most important game Valencia broke out from the second stage of the group stage.

The Juventus team who came to Valencia did not suffer any personnel losses. Nedved's comeback was their best news. However, the experienced coach Lippi made a mistake - he temporarily adjusted the lineup to three, four, one and two. With Nedved, he sent five players to curb Tiger's performance recently. However, after learning about this, Tiger showed his organizational and dispatching ability on the court, constantly passing the ball to two wings to launch an attack - Juventus, who was only Pesotto and Bilindelli, began to be completely suppressed by Valencia at these two points.

Valencia won the game with the help of the wing. Just eight minutes into the game, Tiger sent a beautiful long pass over the top in the backcourt. Vicente inserted a breakthrough at high speed and made a cross. Balaha, who followed up in the back row, rushed to the top in front of the goal and broke the net, opening the first record!

This goal is a typical goal for Valencia this season - Tiger, who played the forward, returned to the position of the midfielder to launch an attack, while Baraja, the back midfielder, directly pushed to the front line. This offensive misalignment can easily make defensive players lose sight of each other, and even the experienced Juventus defense line made such a mistake. When Baraja took off, none of the three central defenders of Juventus were defending him, which shows the uncertainty of Valencia's offense.

In the next game, Valencia controlled the situation on the court. The continuous attacks from the back line made it difficult for Juventus to defend. The main offensive players, Nedved, Trezeguet and Piero, were unable to break through Valencia's defense and could only be beaten passively. Villa, Aimal, and Vicente all missed a lot of scoring opportunities.

After the start of the second half, Lippi realized his mistake. Conte and Davis replaced Montero and Maresca on the court. Juventus returned to the formation of 442. However, Valencia, who had already gained a lead, began to deal with Juventus, who was more experienced and equally experienced in the midfield, constantly reducing the pace of the game, which inevitably led the Juventus players to start to feel impatient...

If it weren't for Buffon's outstanding performance, Villa and Aimal would have another chance to score in the second half. In this case, the irritable Davis became the last straw that broke Juventus's back. In the 73rd minute, he had a dispute with the referee because he was dissatisfied with the referee's decision. As a result, he was sent off after receiving two yellow cards in a row. These two red cards directly extinguished Juventus' hope of winning in this game.

The hope of getting a draw was shattered four minutes later. Tiger scored a goal before the only move in the game. After Davis left the game, Tachinadi could not stare at Tiger alone. After receiving a cross from Rufit, who came on the bench, Tiger received the ball in the penalty area and calmly pushed the ball to the far corner to establish the victory. Valencia defeated Juventus two goals at home, and continued to rank first in the group with eight points. Arsenal, who ranked second, defeated Leverkusen at home in this round of game, and Juventus ranked third in four points, and Leverkusen ranked last in the group.

"We are very close to the quarterfinals. In the last two rounds, maybe we only need to get one point to get the right to qualify in the group. I am quite satisfied with the players' performance now. Maybe at the end of this season, we can make the fans feel very satisfied," Benitez, who looks more and more outstanding in people's eyes, said after the game.
Chapter completed!