Chapter 96: The Unfortunate Alonso
It has been a day since Mourinho delivered that passionate speech at the training ground. Mourinho's last words were "Everyone, what are you looking forward to?" He did not give an answer, nor did he ask the players to answer, so he started to answer directly.
But this actually caused a strong response in public among the players. Everyone was thinking - in the face of the upcoming decisive battle on the three fronts, what are we looking forward to?
In fact, the answer is very simple - it is the "champion". Mourinho's purpose is to make everyone have a strong desire for the championship, but at the same time, he is not blinded by continuous victory.
Chu Zhongtian admires Mourinho, the head coach, and used a speech to control everyone's thoughts and emotions. Everything is for the last three championships. The team has never had such a team result as it is now.
No wonder his team always shows a completely different mental outlook than before.
In China, he has a very vivid nickname called "Magic Bird", just like he really has magic. He can turn stones into gold, and when he goes to a team, he changes a team. When he goes to Chelsea, Chelsea swept away the previous temperament of being domineering and lacking in power. After fifty years, he won the English top league championship and successfully defended the title the next season. When he goes to Inter Milan, Inter Milan has gone from a pseudo-strong team that can only rely on the phone gate incident to win the league championship, becoming the overlord of the triple-champion. Now he has come to Real Madrid, and there is a very high possibility that Real Madrid will end the embarrassing past of not having enough weight in three seasons. Real Madrid Club's championship showroom will have several more trophys.
There is a reason why such people have become the focus of the media and are sought after by countless people. I don’t know if they just open their mouths and swear. Everyone can curse people, but why can only Mourinho succeed?
Many people who oppose him may never have considered such a problem.
Anyway, Chu Zhongtian himself admires this head coach who once had a grudge against him. He even thought that being a head coach after retirement would be a very interesting thing, much more interesting than building his business empire...※※※ Before the King's Cup semi-finals, Real Madrid challenged Hercules away.
This is a team with no suspense. Hercules is now struggling in the relegation zone. Even if they need to fight for relegation, even if they are at home. But facing Real Madrid in the right shape, they really have no chance of winning.
But despite this, they still have to fight.
So the game against Hercules was extremely popular, and even made the commentator sigh whether this was a national derby... In such a fierce game, although Mourinho used some rotation players, injuries were still inevitable.
When the game was in the 61st minute, Xavi Alonso fell to the ground after colliding with the opponent's player and was unable to hold on to the game and was carried off the court.
The Hercules player who injured Alonso only received a verbal warning. Mourinho was very angry off the court. If Kalanca hadn't dragged him back, he would have been sent off by the referee directly with a red card.
Of course he had reason to be angry, because Alonso was his midfielder and an indispensable member. Now his midfielder is lying on the stretcher and he doesn't know whether he will miss the subsequent game. The foul player is just a verbal warning. If Mourinho is the referee, he will be sent off directly with a red card.
As the season is coming to an end, Mourinho's most feared now is not that the players are in poor form, but that the players are injured. No serious injuries have hit his team this season, which is a very lucky thing.
It seems that luck is finally leaving him... If it were Ozil, Di Maria, Kaka, Higuain... if these people were injured, he would be calmer, at most he frowned and would not be furious.
The one who was injured was the midfield core Alonso. Although the real core this season is Chu Zhongtian, Alonso's role is still indispensable. He is Chu Zhongtian's most capable supporter. He has a balanced offense and defense and can replace Chu Zhongtian when Chu Zhongtian cannot play a role, so that Real Madrid actually has two cores. In addition, his long pass dispatch is also a powerful tool for Real Madrid's offense.
If he is injured, all the midfield organization tasks of Real Madrid will fall on Chu Zhongtian, and Chu Zhongtian still has defensive tasks... Khdira can share some defensive work for him, but he cannot share Chu Zhongtian's organization tasks. Once the opponent stares Chu Zhongtian to death and freezes, then there will be a crisis in the midfield organization of Real Madrid.
This is also the main reason why Mourinho is angry - no one can say whether Alonso's injury will become a turning point that rewrites all the endings of this season. Real Madrid may have been completely out of the four major players this season due to Alonso's injury.
This is a result that Mourinho cannot accept anyway.
If he can't win any championship this season, he will definitely leave in the summer. Florentino is definitely not a good patient chairman.
It is hard to say whether Alonso's injury will affect the future, but it will definitely not affect the game. Because when he was injured, Real Madrid was already leading 2:0. It seems that because he was in danger, Hercules's players made a ruthless footing.
With Alonso's past lessons, Mourinho dared not let Chu Zhongtian appear. If Hercules gave up and kicked Chu Zhongtian, the season might be over.
So he sent Granero to replace Alonso.
In Mourinho's mind, Granero is definitely not as important as Chu Zhongtian, and is the kind of person who can be sacrificed when necessary.
Of course, he didn't want Granero to be really injured.
In the next game, the gunpowder smelled strong on both sides.
Various major movements began to appear intensively.
In the end, the referee had to start using red cards to play Vios. The game had completely changed. No one thought it was a game, and everyone thought it was an unlimited fighting competition.
In the end, Real Madrid won the game with a score of 2:0. Since Alonso left the game, the score has not changed because both sides are no longer concerned about football.
Hercules midfielder Rufit was sent off for a red card for a flying tackle Ozil. Then Di Maria was sent off for a second yellow card for a revenge foul.
It seems fair to have one person sent off on both sides, but everyone who watched the game knew that the referee's performance in this game was very poor. He could not control the situation at the beginning and had to start dealing cards in the end.
Mourinho did not criticize the referee at the post-match press conference: "...I don't evaluate the referee because everyone has seen what he performed. I just want to say that I lost Alonso, which is a very serious loss! And what about the person who fouled? He stayed on the court until the end of the game!"
He did not criticize the referee, but everyone saw his dissatisfaction with the referee and his dissatisfaction with the Hercules.
However, he did not directly scold the referee because considering that there are more important games in the future, challenging Camp Nou away is definitely a difficult challenge. If he is not there, it will have a great impact on the team. In order to defeat Barcelona away and complete the real revenge, he must now endure it.
In any case, Real Madrid still won this game that was several times harder than expected and continued to lead the standings.
Not surprisingly, Barcelona also won the game, and the points gap between the two sides was still only one point.
Now before the final battle with Barcelona, there is only one Sporting Gijon left, and there is a Barcelona city derby.
This is also the only variable before the national derby - can Espanyol cause some trouble for Barcelona? In fact, the hope is very slim, because that is Barcelona's home court... Barcelona loses to Espanyol at home? It's not that there is no such precedent, but it is difficult for Barcelona to make such a mistake now.
Only by defeating Espanyol in the same city derby in Barcelona can we continue to maintain pressure on Real Madrid and fight to the death at the Camp Nou - I believe Real Madrid cannot lose to Sporting Gijon at his home court, right?
※※There is still one week before the national derby, and the focus of media reports is not on the national derby, but on the King's Cup final.
This is not an ordinary Cup of REE final, this is the Cup of REE final of the Madrid derby. This is the Cup of REE final of Atletico Madrid's history-rewrited Copa REE final.
Atletico Madrid has been waiting long enough for this final.
Before the final, Atletico Madrid filmed a promotional short film, calling on fans to cheer for themselves on the spot, and vowed in the video that he would defeat Real Madrid, the mortal enemy in the city.
Spanish football seems to like to play the practice of shooting promotional videos before important games to cheer and create momentum. Barcelona has done this, Athletic Bilbao has done this, Sevilla has done this, and Villarreal has done this.
Now Atletico Madrid has to do the same.
Real Madrid did not do this. Mourinho's attitude is that instead of spending his time and energy on shooting these messy things, it is better to train carefully and consolidate the training results.
※※When Chu Zhongtian drove home, the radio in the car was also inviting enthusiastic viewers to call and communicate with the guests. The topic of discussion was still the King's Cup final. This final was a city derby in Madrid, so it is naturally a hot topic in Madrid.
Atletico Madrid fans and Real Madrid fans have different opinions, and the gunpowder smells very strong in the phone program.
The fierce debate will not allow the host to interrupt these people's fierce remarks repeatedly. Sometimes "technical means" are used to stop the two sides from continuing their disputes.
"Hey? Hey? Hey? It seems that the signal of this listener is not very good... OK, let's answer the next call from the enthusiastic listener! But I want to remind everyone to pay attention to the way of discussion and tone..."
All kinds of things related to this game are stirring up the atmosphere of this game.
Chu Zhongtian was not interested in these hypes, so he turned off the radio in the car.
I happened to wait for the red light at the intersection and found that the LCD screen on the high-rise building was playing the promotional video of Atletico Madrid. The concept of the King's Cup final and the Madrid derby is really everywhere... It seems that for this King's Cup champion, Atletico Madrid has spared no expense and tried every means.
In the video, Atletico Madrid players appeared one after another, calling on everyone to come and cheer on the spot. In the middle, a collection of Atletico Madrid's various goals and wonderful performances in the game were interspersed.
In the end, the leading actress Aguero stood in front of all the players and said to the camera: "This time we want to create history!"
He spoke strongly and had a very serious expression.
Seeing Aguero's expression, Chu Zhongtian couldn't help but grin.
Compared with Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid is much more low-key... At the end of training today, reporters flocked to interview him, wanting to hear what he thinks of Atletico Madrid's promotional video.
Chu Zhongtian is not the kind of person who is sharp-tongued and mean, so he did not satirize the true meaning of Aguero's words in the end should be "rewriting history" rather than "creating history".
He was not used to talking before the game and thought football should speak with his feet, so he had no idea about Atletico Madrid's promotional video: "They have ways to express their ideas, and we have them." He pointed at his feet, "Here."
The green light was on, and Chu Zhongtian glanced at the big screen last. There was no serious face of Aguerona on it, and other advertisements were being played.
He started, passed the intersection, and threw the big screen behind him.
※※※Chu Zhongtian is still relatively low-key, but his teammates and opponents may not be that low-key.
In an interview, Aguero declared that if he wanted Real Madrid to take revenge, Atletico Madrid would definitely change the embarrassing record of not winning against Real Madrid this time.
Ramos responded: "Well said, they do need to rewrite this awkward record, but we won't agree!"
As the head coach of Atletico Madrid, Flores also had a verbal battle before the game, and the psychological battle has begun.
"I know Real Madrid has performed very well this season. They have not lost so far. But everyone knows that the closer they are to the finish line, the greater the pressure. I think it's time for them to lose! Atletico Madrid is for the championship. The results in the league cannot explain anything. Cup and league are two completely different events. I believe Mourinho himself agrees with this."
Mourinho did not reply to Flores, which surprised Flores a little. He felt quite happy and was looking forward to the other party responding to him, but the other party did not express that feeling of loss.
Mourinho really has no time to pay attention to Flores. Alonso's injury report has been released, and he has torn a cruciate ligament and is directly missing all the next games this season.
When Mourinho got this result, he threw the injury report to the ground and then jumped into the office to curse.
Alonso himself was also very frustrated. When the team needed him the most, he stayed away from the team due to injury and could not play any role. He was injured in the first game of the season and missed two months of the game. Now he was injured again at the end of the season. This time, he missed the most critical games of the season.
Alonso's injury means that Chu Zhongtian will bear more pressure and responsibility in the game. At that time, the opponents will know that Chu Zhongtian is the only core of Real Madrid, and neither Kaka nor Ozil can replace him and Alonso. Without Kaka and Ozil, Real Madrid can still operate normally, but without Alonso and Chu Zhongtian, it will not work.
So by then, Real Madrid's opponents know how to target Real Madrid. As long as you stare at Chu Zhongtian, Real Madrid's threat will be reduced by half.
Especially for Barcelona, this is great news.
Before such an important game, Real Madrid lacked a midfielder, which really helped Barcelona.
Mourinho has been busy these days and is sad and troubled to make up for Alonso's loss. How could he still have time to fight Flores?
But it doesn't matter. He wrote down Flores' provocation to him and then he would forget it on the court.
He is not the kind of person who will not avenge his grudges.
※※※ Chu Zhongtian’s training intensity in the past two days was very high, which he took the initiative to propose. Because Alonso’s absence made him more responsible. At the same time, the head coach also had new requirements for his role. He must work hard to meet the head coach’s requirements during training.
Time is tight, and there are only three days from the end of the match against Hercules to the start of the Cup of Dec final, and in fact there are only two days for training - Monday and Tuesday, and Wednesday night, the final will be held.
The time left for him and Mourinho, and even the entire Real Madrid was wrong.
In addition to his efforts to adapt to the new requirements, Real Madrid has been playing Chu Zhongtian and Alonso's dual-core football for a season. They have become accustomed to such football. Suddenly, Alonso is absent. How should they play?
I really need to adapt... Unfortunately, I don’t have much time left for them.
Flores soon learned from the media that Alonso was missing all the end of the season, which was definitely good news for him. Now he has more confidence in defeating Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey final.
Of course, the only regret is that Chu Zhongtian did not get injured with Alonso... If Mourinho asked Chu Zhongtian to replace the injured Alonso in that game with Hercules, instead of using Granero to play, this might be possible.
But he failed to get what he wanted.
Chu Zhongtian will play in the game against Atletico Madrid, which is a great threat to Flores. We must find a way to curb him. As long as he can be curbed, Alonso is injured and unable to play. It is very likely to defeat Real Madrid and be qualified for the Europa League next season.
Chapter completed!