was shot 33 times, knocked out Manchester City on penalties, and saw Real Madrid's success again

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Suggested reading time|6 minutes

In the dark, there is an arrangement. Real Madrid fans are destined for another sleepless night. After a 1-1 draw in the second leg of the Champions League quarter-finals and a 4-4 draw on aggregate, Real Madrid eliminated Manchester City 4-3 on penalties, and Real Madrid once again entered the threshold of the Champions League semi-finals. Winning the defending champion on points is as if the final hurdle is over early, and there is no invincible opponent in front of him. However, the victory could not have come easily, as the two centre-backs still scored penalties after 120 minutes. This is probably the winning temperament of the first team in the Champions League.

In order to prepare for this game, Carlo Ancelotti arranged a rotation for Mallorca in the last round of the league, but the rotation was quite limited, only resting the two Brazilians in the front line, Bellingham and Valverde were both rotated in succession. The media briefed after the game, saying that Güller was disappointed to see that he couldn't even get playing time for this situation and asked to leave the team. Next up is the national derby, and Carlo Ancelotti really doesn't want to give Barcelona any thoughts. But against Manchester City, it is foreseeable that it will be dragged into extra-time.

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Chuvameni, who played as a cameo at centre-back in the first leg, was suspended, Nacho was added and everything else went on as usual. The personnel remain the same, but the style of play has changed dramatically from the first round. Real Madrid contracted as a whole, no longer striving to control the midfield, and naturally no longer suppressed, but tried to use the space on the wings to carry out a wide range of transfers and play local fast attacks. Rodrygo's goal came from a half-clearance and half-run from Carvajal at the back, and Bellingham beautifully offloaded and diverted, allowing Valverde and Vinicius to advance and assist Rodrygo's goal. The attack didn't look sharp enough, but every layer of advance was carefully calculated, especially Vinicius's anti-offside runs and horizontal passes, which were quite masterful. Walker's eyes were slower than Pooh's legs, and he was the first to raise his hand to signal that he had broken offside.

There is no need for post-match commentary, you should have known at the time that that goal would determine the outcome of the game. Taking the lead away from home, Real Madrid has the confidence to "squat in the pit" defense. Because pulling away to play against Manchester City, or just defending like this, is a "dead" word, which is nothing more than the difference between being fast and slow. Last season, Manchester City had learned Real Madrid's high-end "stealing books", high-strength barriers and Jedi counter-killing capabilities, but I didn't expect that without Benzema, the new bottle of old wine would still be so good. Real Madrid struggled on the spot for 120 minutes, with only 8 shots on goal and 3 on target, basically from a few highly purposeful concentrated attacks, the purpose of which was to suddenly change the rhythm of the attack with the ball and win the game in one go. I have to say that the idea is good, but because of the lack of a center shooter, it is a bit difficult to execute.

Despite conceding a goal, adding Haaland's header to the woodwork, and then Bernardo Silva and De Bruyne each squandering great chances, Real Madrid's defence could score 85 points. Defending for long periods of time is not what Real Madrid are good at, it requires a high level of pressure and a clear head. Perhaps before the game, everyone agreed that Nacho would become a shortcoming in the defence, after all, the Real Madrid captain's performance is really a negative example of the team, otherwise Ancelotti would not rather use Chuvameni as a cameo at central defender. But after this fight, everyone saw Nacho's fighting spirit. He singled out Haaland, risked past his own goalkeeper and cleared the siege, extremely bold and calm. Of course, if you don't let him keep an eye on people, or cover a large area, there is no chance of accidents, after all, the hardest life is in the hands of Rudiger and Carvajal.

Rudiger's 'mistake' resulted in the goal conceded, but how to properly clear the ball at that speed and angle is no longer the domain of human neuromuscular reflexes. It takes a look at how many top centre-backs he has to do in this whole game to handle, and in terms of density, it's basically the intensity of three games in an ordinary game. City had 33 shots on goal and had as many as 18 corners, while Rudiger was partnered with a 34-year-old 1.8-metre substitute. Almost all the high balls need to be solved by him and Lu Ning. Of course, there's no reason to back down when you see Bellingham keeping Haaland on hand and passing master Kroos acting as a meat shield to block opponents' shots.

The big husband can bend and stretch, which is probably the answer given by Real Madrid when they feel weak. Carlo Ancelotti was conservative, but Modric did get late. Manchester City had been attacking the left before the goal, while Real Madrid pretended to be calm but made a number of mistakes at the back. Sure enough, after Modric came on, there was more necessary defensive ball handling, and the forward guidance was much smoother. Camavanga has a lot of creativity up front and is not soft defensively in key moments, but he still shows his lack of experience and skill in this big scene. Brahim Dias was also a man of courage but a bit of a struggle, as he did in La Liga, but a sacrificial block in front of the box showed his true role on the pitch: fitness and mobility.

The best in the game? The two La Liga clubs that went out first were goalkeepers who made flying saves throughout the game, but they still lost a lot. Since Real Madrid is determined to defend this game, the victory or defeat is destined to be between Lu Ning's ten fingers. Before the game, the whole team should have mobilized: as long as we hold on to the penalty shootout, we will win! Why? Lu Ning has made 8 successful saves in 22 penalty kicks in his career (excluding the opponent's kick). If you only count him in Spain (including the three teams on loan from Real Madrid), he made five saves from 13 penalties. The "save rate" is around 37%, which is an absolute save master. Penalty kicks are not only technical, but also psychological, and perhaps a little predictable. After the game, he confirmed that he had calculated to stand still once at random, and he got Bernardo Silva's "spoon". Isn't that a superpower?

And that's not even counting the uncountable shots and crosses he made in the space of 120 minutes, not the thrilling saves that looked particularly cool and flew around, but the steady hand. With this sense of control behind the goalkeeper, Real Madrid don't feel guilty at all when they pile up people in the penalty area, as long as they do their job, they can win. Write the script in advance, let the hero of this scene stand up and release the halo of the protagonist, and others cooperate with the performance, this is probably Real Madrid's success learning. Better than all the careful planning and careful planning that accommodates and accommodates each other.

What about Luka Modric's missed penalty? The important thing is that Bellingham scored. Real Madrid's mantle is inherited.

The author of this article is Wu Yifan

This article was originally published in Sports Plus app

The picture comes from the Internet

The cover of the 889th issue of "Football Weekly" Yang Chen special edition

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