Chapter 603: Guardiola's New Destination
On January 15th, in the first leg of the King's Cup quarterfinals, Real Madrid hosted Valencia at home.
Despite reaching this stage, Ancelotti still firmly chose to prioritize the league and the Champions League, so the youth team eventually succumbed 0-1 to the bat legion.
Four days later, in the 20th round of La Liga, facing the same opponent, the Galacticos, fielding their main lineup, staged a goal spree at the Mestalla Stadium.
Just 3 minutes into the game, Wang Feng sent a direct pass, Carvajal broke into the left side of the penalty area and delivered a low shot to open the scoring for the away team.
In the 27th minute, the Chinese superstar and the Spanish midfielder combined again. This time, Carvajal chose to pass horizontally in the middle, and Morata, who followed up, pushed the ball into the net from 10 meters in front of the goal.
Just after Valencia restarted the game, Wang Feng seized the opportunity to aggressively intercept, dribbled past two defenders into the penalty area, and scored a goal into the far corner with a chip shot, scoring two goals in 3 minutes!
In the 61st minute of the second half, Modric's through ball penetrated the defense, and Guardado had no choice but to foul Morata in front of him, resulting in a red card from the referee.
The Chinese superstar personally took the penalty, deceiving Diego Alves and scoring in the bottom right corner, completely collapsing the home team.
In the 85th minute, Iguaín scored a header, expanding the score to 5-0, a result that lasted until the end of the match.
"It's too brutal. The main lineup of Real Madrid is venting their anger against the reserve team," remarked a fan who watched the game.
Before everyone could fully digest this, another bombshell result came unexpectedly, as Barcelona unexpectedly lost 2-3 to Real Sociedad away.
Messi and Pedro scored first, and just when fans thought it would be another massacre, Castro scored twice to equalize, and then Pique was directly red-carded for his unwise behavior.
Agirretxe, who came on as a substitute for Real Sociedad, scored the winning goal in injury time, shocking the giant ship of Barcelona.
The points gap between the two giants of La Liga suddenly narrowed to three points, and the invincible aura surrounding the Catalan team was shattered. Fans complained about the players' carelessness, especially Pique's lack of composure, while also angrily cursing Real Sociedad.
"They are really good allies of the Galacticos. They were poached by Real Madrid in the winter, and now they are doing their best to obstruct Bar?a and help Real Madrid," some extreme fans expressed.
Of course, this is just the opinion of some extreme fans. Real Sociedad is currently competing with Valencia for the last Champions League spot, so they naturally need to win games.
Moreover, since 2007, no matter how dominant the Catalan team has been, they have never been able to win at the Anoeta Stadium. No one knows the reason for this curse. Perhaps football itself is full of wonders. In the past 25 years, Barcelona has only failed to win 9 times when leading 2-0, and four of those times were at the Anoeta Stadium.
On January 22nd, in the second leg of the King's Cup quarterfinals, still at the Mestalla Stadium, Real Madrid's youth team lost 0-2 to Valencia, and were eliminated with a total score of 0-3 over two legs.
On January 27th, in the 21st round of La Liga, Real Madrid hosted Getafe at home.
In the first half, both sides reached a stalemate, with neither able to break through the opponent's defense. However, the situation suddenly changed dramatically in the second half. In the 49th minute, Wang Feng passed horizontally in the middle, and Modric stepped on the edge of the penalty area and shot fiercely.
The ball was barely saved by the Getafe goalkeeper Moyà, and Marcelo shot from 10 meters in front of the goal, but he miraculously saved it again. Then the Chinese superstar followed up with a poke, and this time Moyà was powerless to stop it, 1-0!
Just 9 minutes later, the Galacticos launched a quick counterattack. Ramos passed directly to Wang Feng, who, without turning around, back-heeled the ball to Carvajal. The latter drilled a shot through Getafe's goal.
Just 3 minutes later, Modric distributed the ball, Wang Feng made a strong run down the wing, and sent a diagonal cross into the penalty area. Morata leaped high at the near post and headed the ball into the net.
In the 72nd minute, a Getafe defender fouled Modric in the penalty area, and Real Madrid got a penalty. The Chinese superstar calmly seized the opportunity to score his second goal.
4-0! The Galacticos once again won a big victory!
During the game, there was an interesting moment when Wang Feng finally broke the deadlock for Real Madrid. The live broadcast camera cut to the Chinese superstar's family in the stands. They came to the stadium to watch and cheer for him.
Xiǎo Sīyáo smiled satisfactorily, tilting her head and shrugging her shoulders to celebrate for her father. Her cute appearance melted the hearts of all the audience. "This must be Wang Feng's eldest daughter. She's really cute," praised Zhang Jun.
"Yes, I heard that she is now receiving education with the children of the Spanish royal family. She looks like a princess. No, she is the pearl in the hands of all Chinese fans!"
Entering February, with the dust settled on the winter transfer window, Bayern Munich released another heavyweight news: after the end of this season, the veteran coach Heynckes will step down, and Guardiola will take over.
According to "Daily Sports", the annual salary offered by the Bundesliga giants reached a pre-tax 15 million euros, second only to Real Madrid's Ancelotti, who earns a pre-tax 17 million euros.
During Guardiola's tenure at Barcelona, ??he failed to win a league and Champions League title, but discerning eyes could see that he had the ability, and the failures were mainly due to Wang Feng and Real Madrid being too formidable.
So when he left the Catalan team, clubs like Chelsea in the Premier League, Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga, and Paris Saint-Germain in Ligue 1 successively chased after him, with Paris even offering a sky-high 25 million euros.
After more than a year of consideration, Guardiola finally chose Bayern Munich, which surprised everyone a little. The Times couldn't help but mock, "It seems that the Spanish coach has been scared off by Real Madrid and dares not step into challenging territories (like the Premier League), so he chose to coach a dominant team."
"Well, this way, he can finally add a league title to his resume."
Compared to the excitement of others, Dong Fangzhuo seemed a little anxious. A new head coach would inevitably bring new changes. "I heard that he is good at possession football. My dribbling skills aren't that great," he worriedly called Wang Feng to discuss.
"Who said possession football necessarily means keeping the ball at your feet? Passing and positioning are more important. Your overall view in this aspect has always been good," the Chinese superstar comforted him. "You are one of the core players of the team, and your recent performance has been good. He won't easily disregard you."
"Communicate more with the head coach and teammates, fully understand his tactical intentions. You've encountered this situation before when changing coaches. I don't think there's anything special about it."
"Of course, if Guardiola treats you differently because of his grudge against me, then I'll have to have a good talk with him," Wang Feng joked.
That's definitely impossible. Not to mention that the two have a good relationship in private, but also, a professional coach cannot be so impulsive.
And indeed, Guardiola's first two tasks upon taking office were to control a 200 million euro transfer budget and to have one-on-one conversations with each of the team's core players.
Naturally, Dong Fangzhuo was among them, and the Spaniard admired him, believing that the Chinese star had organizational attacking talent, and would specifically arrange tactics for him.
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