Chapter 590: The Mighty Youth Storm
On October 20th at noon, La Liga resumed with the eighth round as Real Madrid faced Celta Vigo away.
Due to the consecutive matches of the national team, head coach Ancelotti rotated many key players such as Arbeloa, Marcelo, Modric, and Iguaín.
In the 11th minute, the away team took the lead. Kallon sent a through ball, Wang Feng broke through from the left and kicked a strange curved shot that seemed like a pass and a shot, the ball looped over the goalkeeper Alvarez and nestled into the net, 1-0!
At the start of the second half in the 71st minute, Real Madrid expanded their lead. The Chinese superstar delivered a pass to the penalty area, Morata controlled the ball with his chest, turned past the defense, and then blasted a shot into the Celta Vigo's goal, making it 2-0, a score that remained until the end of the match.
There was a thrilling moment in the match when, in the last five minutes, Wang Feng was fighting for the ball with a Celta Vigo player in midfield, and his shin accidentally got cut by the opponent's studs, leaving a nearly four-centimeter gash, causing blood to flow profusely.
The Real Madrid team doctor rushed onto the field to stop the bleeding. Although the Chinese superstar said he could hold on until the end of the match, Ancelotti still used the last substitution to replace him.
"You must not have any problems. Go to the hospital for a detailed examination later," said the Italian with concern. Wang Feng was moved but also helpless. The care from the coaching staff was sincere, but this minor injury would probably be almost healed by the time he got to the hospital.
A day later, the showdown between Barcelona and Deportivo La Coru?a was the most exciting performance of this round of La Liga, with a total of 9 goals scored, and thanks to Messi's hat-trick, the Catalan team narrowly defeated their opponents 5-4.
In the final moments, Barcelona's defense was in chaos, with Mascherano receiving two yellow cards and being sent off, Alba hastily clearing the ball into his own net, fooling the goalkeeper Valdés from a tight angle, making it look like a cleverly placed shot.
At the top of the standings, Atletico Madrid defeated Real Sociedad 1-0 this round, extending their winning streak to 7 games. Despite facing tight marking away from home, Falcao seized the opportunity of a direct free kick in the 90th minute to score the winning goal.
Midweek in the third round of the Champions League group stage, Real Madrid traveled to Germany to face Borussia Dortmund at the Westfalenstadion.
Klopp deployed a 4-5-1 defensive counter-attacking formation, with Weidenfeller in goal.
The backline consisted of Piszczek, Subotic, Hummels, and Schmelzer.
In midfield were Kehl, Bender, G?tze, Reus, and Grosskreutz.
The forward was Lewandowski.
As the team's strongest core players, G?tze was 20 years old, Reus 23, and Lewandowski 24. These young players propped up Dortmund's miracle, making Wang Feng couldn't help but admire the emergence of talent in the football world.
After the start of the match, both teams fiercely contested in midfield, with the Galacticos having a slight upper hand, gaining more possession, but the Yellow and Blacks players seemed extremely excited, showing exceptional activity in their running and pressing.
Real Madrid organized their first attack, Wang Feng pushed forward and sent a through pass to the front, Morata's shot from the right side of the penalty area was blocked out for a corner by Weidenfeller, but Dortmund quickly responded, Reus forced his way down the flank and crossed, Lewandowski headed the ball over Casillas but it missed the target.
Then both teams had their chances in attack and defense, but every time the home team pressed and attacked, it put immense pressure on the Galacticos' defense, and even Wang Feng could clearly feel that he needed to be more focused and exert more effort.
For example, in the 18th minute, Wang Feng received a pass from Essien, and G?tze quickly approached to press, he felt a strong collision, and then a foot came to try to steal the ball.
The Chinese superstar immediately stabilized his body, lightly flicked the ball with his right foot while simultaneously rotating his position, using his back to push away G?tze and successfully protected the ball at his feet.
Three minutes later, when he received a back pass in the back, Lewandowski quickly rushed from behind, but Wang Feng seemed to have eyes behind his head, he dribbled the ball and turned to avoid the Pole, even causing him to slip and fall.
This is the benefit of being aware of all directions. Every time before receiving the ball, the Chinese superstar subconsciously scanned the surroundings to observe the nearby situation, avoiding fatal mistakes.
But not everyone has such excellent defensive qualities. In the 37th minute, the deadlock was broken, due to a passing mistake by Casillas.
In a sudden situation where Reus burst out, Casillas hurriedly came out but failed to exert enough force with his foot, causing Lewandowski to successfully intercept and break into the penalty area, and he pushed a shot into the net from 14 meters in front of the goal.
Before the Real Madrid players could feel disappointed, Wang Feng quickly led them to launch an offensive. In the 40th minute, the Chinese superstar stole the ball from G?tze in the back, dribbled to near the midfield line, and then made a clever long pass.
The ball flew over the heads of two Dortmund defenders and fell directly in front of the advancing Iguaín, who met the ball at the edge of the penalty area, and the Argentine forward volleyed directly into the net as the ball was dropping.
Weidenfeller, who rushed out urgently, was shocked, he never expected Iguaín to shoot so quickly, if he took one more step, wouldn't he be one-on-one into the penalty area?
Caught off guard, he could only desperately stop his momentum and dive to save, but the trajectory of the ball was too high, it flew over him before slowly falling and almost brushing the underside of the crossbar into the net, making it 1-1!
At the start of the second half, the home team still maintained a high-intensity press, while the Galacticos gradually showed signs of decline. In the 71st minute, Dortmund won a corner, G?tze took it and Casillas came out risky but could only push the ball out to the edge of the small area.
But it didn't fly far, Schmelzer, on the edge of the penalty area, turned sideways and volleyed with his left foot, the ball bounced on the ground and into the bottom right corner of the goal, giving Dortmund the lead again.
After that, although Real Madrid still had chances to equalize, they failed to capitalize on them. In the 84th minute, Wang Feng broke through from the flank and crossed, Ramos's header hit the post from close range, narrowly missing the goal.
2-1, with the home team leading and the away team trailing, the Galacticos suffered their first defeat of the new Champions League season, conceding the top spot in the group.
"This was a evenly matched game, neither team had a clear advantage," Wang Feng gasped as he faced the media in the mixed zone, "Whoever scored the second goal had a higher chance of winning. It's a pity that our opponents were faster than us."
"Perhaps this is the strength of the Group of Death, but I'm not worried about our chances of advancing from the group, because the team has already won two rounds, and we will continue to fight one game at a time."
Coach Ancelotti angrily criticized the unfairness of the group draw, "It's simply ridiculous, super strong teams could also face the embarrassment of playing in the Europa League, while some European mid-table teams can easily advance to the Champions League knockout stage, or even the quarter-finals."
He believed that the main reason for Real Madrid's loss was a lack of offensive intensity, "The team failed to score the second goal before Dortmund, at times like this, I miss Wang Feng's versatility in attack, but he can only be pinned down in defense."
However, the Italian encouraged the players that the defeat was within the expectations of the coaching staff, "The situation is not bad, at least we are not completely inferior on the field, we still have the strength to fight back at the Bernabéu."
The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l