Now in the face of the topic of winning the championship this season, Ancelotti is very calm: "Don't put too much pressure on me. We are indeed favourites to win the title, but I will not forget that in the first half of the year, 22 consecutive wins, the second half and the final result were not satisfactory. ”
It is hard to imagine that the halfway point of La Liga has not arrived, and the suspense of the championship can only be maintained by "fate". That would be unfair to Sevilla and Betis, who are currently second and third, although their supporters are not confident that they will remain in the same position for another six months. Real Madrid beat Atletico 2-0 in the Madrid derby, 13 points ahead of Atletico and 18 points ahead of Barca with one more match. Even though the remaining schedule is still very long, and multi-front operations will have unknown effects, it is difficult to imagine a subversive change in a few months from the budget of the three companies, the strength of the paper and the current competitive state. For Atletico to defend their title, they need to expect a miracle comparable to the "end of the epidemic immediately".
Real Madrid waited for Atletico to come to the door with a 10-point advantage and nine consecutive wins, and had already won a few streets psychologically before the start. Atletico barely won porto in the Champions League, retaining qualification for a previous league match in which mallorca was reversed. Coupled with the long-term injury of the defensive line, Simeone only had midfielder Condobia make a cameo appearance with the often crazy central defender Felipe, no wonder Atletico has conceded more than double the number of goals conceded this season than in the same period last year. Atletico struggled to level the game, and the tactical substitution was very positive, but was completely defeated by Real Madrid's several seemingly understated quick attacks. Simeone still stressed after the game that "Real Madrid is more decisive and therefore wins", but does not say that the overall attack is "decisive", and he has painstakingly studied for several years and has not been able to reach such a level.
Real Madrid are stronger than Atletico in terms of strength and psychology, and Carlo Ancelotti has calculated more than Simeone. The Argentine is now trying to make it difficult for the team to have a stable play, playing at a level corresponding to the lineup in every game. The Italians no longer have to consider this level, as long as the defense line is basically neat, two of the "ceremonial three midfielders" play normally, and the team is likely to be invincible. As for winning, there are basic guarantees with Vinicius and Benzema. Against Atletico, Vinicius's two-assist passing option was clearly designed in advance, specifically for Atletico's obsession with defending the position and not protecting the far-end receiving points.
Ancelotti's means and luck, as always, far exceeded that of ordinary people. Zidane carried a squad that was crippled by injuries last season, and although it was ultimately empty-handed, several desperate attempts to survive won the understanding of the outside world. The team was handed over to An Shuai, and there was no strong reinforcement, but faced the pressure to reorganize the defense at the beginning of the season. In the first month or so, the Real Madrid defender line was dismantled to make up for the west, not to mention the run-in, and even the main lineup could not be fixed. Coupled with Kroos' long-term recovery, Casemiro's state was sluggish, and it was normal for the team's performance to fluctuate during that time, that is, to lose to Sheriff Tiraspol and Espanyol.
People have lost their hands, horses have chaotic hooves, hard to reduce victory and defeat to mistakes, digging deep into the reasons is also not objective. Real Madrid scored 42 points in 17 league games, which is actually a rare good result in recent years. The same number of years in the same period of previous years dates back to the 2014-15 season. It was the second year of Ancelotti I, which means that Zidane has been in charge twice, and neither has a better first-half result in the league. However, the good start of the season did not bring good results, and Real Madrid was overtaken by Barca after half-time and completely lost the initiative to win the championship after losing the national derby. Analysis, although Real Madrid cut vegetables against weak teams that season, the league was double-killed by Atletico (counting the Super Cup and the Copa del Rey 6 games, 2 draws and 4 losses), which hurt morale, and lost points to the strong teams such as Valencia, Villarreal and Bilbao that year. To sum up, if there is no obvious advantage in the strong dialogue, it is bound to be less domineering.
In the first half of the season, Real Madrid beat Barca and Atletico Madrid head-to-head, and the fact that they were far ahead in points was overwhelming in momentum. Moreover, Ancelotti is already a passer-by, knowing that some mistakes cannot be made again. He said in a post-match news conference: "Don't put too much pressure on me. We are indeed favourites to win the title, but I will not forget that in the first half of the year, 22 consecutive wins, the second half and the final result were not satisfactory. I'm happy with the team's current results and I know that there are a lot of pitfalls hidden in the second half of the schedule. We will avoid these pitfalls as much as possible, and previous experience will help me avoid making the same mistakes. ”
With the thickness of Real Madrid's current squad, the players' high state and desire to win, what else can go wrong? Not to mention Vinicius, even Jovic used it at key moments, plus the names of superstars such as Hazard and Bale, which have almost been forgotten, Real Madrid's goal should be locked in the third-tier champions. The outside world is just worried that Ancelotti will use a lineup to death. The starting line-up was not neat, having to use Camareunga, Miguel and Valverde, and once the "ceremonial midfield" was assembled, there was no longer a rotation, and Benzema and Vinicius almost started. If you encounter a large-scale injury at the tightest time of the schedule, is it not a fall in the same pit? Some things will only be known when the time comes. Moreover, with the thickness of the squads of Atletico and Barca this season, it is really impossible to talk about the durability of Real Madrid.
Wen | Wu Yifan
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