Football: After listening to the persuasion, I became the strongest free man!

Chapter 372 Shocking news! 2.2 billion transfer fee!

Considering that the Premier League championship in the 2015-2016 season ended up with a team like Leicester City that was based on defensive counterattack tactics. We seem to have enough reasons to believe that football has entered an era where counterattack is king and speed is the strongest!

This season's Champions League and La Liga ball possession rate and pass success rate lists, Real Madrid's ball possession rate are far lower than their archrivals.

Judging from the ball possession rate, Real Madrid only has 52.5% in the Champions League, which is almost 10 percentage points lower than the highest Bayern Munich and 8 percentage points lower than Barcelona.

Among all the teams participating in the Champions League, they can only rank 9th.

Even in the passing success rate list, it lags behind Bayern Munich and Barcelona.

If we shift our vision to La Liga, we will still be surprised to find that Real Madrid has the legendary best midfielder Kroos, Modric, Kovacic, Ronaldo, Isco, Bai Ran and other technical masters. Madrid, their ball possession rate is only 55.3%, ranking 4th in La Liga, and even the passing success rate is still behind Barcelona, ​​which has been criticized as the "roughest" in 10 years.

So, how do Real Madrid play their pace?

Can Ronaldo, who is 32 years old, still run faster than when he was 23?

The speed of attack depends on the rhythm of the ball. Passing is always faster than dribbling.

However, they can still establish an advantage by concentrating on the ball through strong points in the middle such as Messi, Busquets, and Iniesta. In the two league games against Real Madrid this season, they have achieved offensive and control advantages. lead.

For Barcelona, ​​due to the football philosophy laid down by Cruyff, their advantage must be concentrated in their center.

It can be seen that Barcelona's problem is not that the team's core players are weaker than Real Madrid, but that they have too many "core players."

The midfielders may even position themselves further back to draw out the opposition defence. After the wide players get the ball, they will look for crosses or more direct ways to send the ball into the penalty area, looking for opportunities for Ronaldo to grab points and impact.

Technical players through the midfield take more side splits and transfers.

On the other hand, Real Madrid's offensive line is actually simpler.

Sitting on the midfield line with the strongest technical ability, Real Madrid's tactics are not as focused on control and rhythm as Barcelona was back then.

They often push the opponent's formation completely back to the 30-meter area, which requires them to complete wrestling and break defense before the penalty area. The main path of the attack is to establish the central axis of Busquets-Messi-Suarez, but due to the lack of wide speed players, the extremely threatening Neymar has to be pulled to the wing.

The aging and departure of Alves and Messi's movement to the center have greatly affected the quality of Barcelona's offense.

The overall forward pressing formation is more likely to encounter counterattacks, so Barcelona has suffered many "tragedies" this season in games where the offense is unfavorable.

On Barcelona's side, they average only 13.1 shots per game. Even in terms of dribbling per game, the 14 times per game is 2 more than Real Madrid, but it doesn't seem to be of much help.

In this way, Real Madrid, which sometimes uses a 451 formation, has a very obvious advantage in the number of midfielders compared to Barcelona, ​​which has a 433 formation, which makes Real Madrid's midfielder even more outstanding.

What can be seen is that the statistics of this UEFA Champions League show that Real Madrid ranks first among the knockout teams with Bayern in average long passes per game, and ranks second only to Bayern Munich in average crosses per game. Such data finally brings out Real Madrid ranked first in shots (Bayern ranked second in the list of shots with as many long passes and crosses).

Green leaves and red flowers are truly beautiful.

If analyzed from a tactical perspective, Barcelona's offense needs more forward pressure.

But in fact, the successful experience of the past many years tells us that a perfect Barcelona is also inseparable from excellent wing players.

As far as running is concerned, Real Madrid's current team is not that kind of "crazy running" team.

So how did Real Madrid show their speed?

Because Ronaldo has excellent spatial insight and impact capabilities, Real Madrid's midfielder, whose formation is relatively deep, can have better local numerical and density advantages.

They use more long passes and split-side play, threatening the opponent's penalty area through crosses. (Analysis of data from this UEFA Champions League shows that Real Madrid ranks first and second in long passes, crosses and shooting data)

(Real Madrid and Barcelona offensive tactics board, two different offensive tactics: Real Madrid walking to the side, Barcelona in the middle)

Alves, who shined in Juventus, if he stays in Barcelona, ​​he will be a "green leaf" player and need to take on heavy defensive tasks, which is precisely the job that he can no longer bear at his age.

Therefore, when Barcelona fans are complaining that their team has given up an excellent player, perhaps they should think about whether Barcelona has retained too many "cores"?

For Barcelona, ​​what they lack most right now is actually excellent "green leaf" players, especially players who maintain a good "green leaf" mentality.

Because for Barcelona, ​​whether it is Habaib in the past or Suarez and Neymar in the future, their success is more based on team tactics with Messi as the core.

We can clearly recall that in 2010, Ibrahimovic, who did not integrate, could ruin the soup of "Dream Three".

Therefore, when Suarez's running declines and Rakitic slacks off a little, we will find that Barcelona has too many good players, but they cannot provide enough protection and help to their teammates. Iniesta, Busquets, Suarez, and Neymar can all consider themselves core players, which is actually too much for a team.

Gradually, when we discovered that Barcelona had become "Argentinian", Messi's helplessness became obvious.

(Real Madrid’s two full-backs have been of great help to their offense in the past two years)
On the other hand, Real Madrid, after accumulating players with the same strong technical ability in the center of the team, arranged a large number of players with fast speed and strong running ability on the wings.

Active running green leaf players such as Asensio and Vazquez have given the team a lot of help.

The biggest advantage lies in the two full-backs. The advancing ability of Marcelo and Carvajal must be the most envied object of Barcelona at the moment.

In the past few years, Real Madrid has given up on outstanding players such as Ozil and Di Maria, and even shelved the 8000 million euro introduction of Ronaldo and the sky-high right back Danilo.

This is because they need more motivated "green leaves" to stay in the team to protect and assist the "red flowers".

When Di Maria scored twice against Barcelona, ​​did Real Madrid need to regret it?

In fact, after winning the Champions League, if Di Maria, who has gradually become a "red flower" from a "green leaf", stays in the team, that will be the beginning of Real Madrid's regression.

Real Madrid does not lead Barcelona in the peak of the lineup, but in rationality and complementarity.

There is only Real Madrid here, hala madrid!

Why is the gap between Barcelona and Real Madrid getting bigger and bigger?

Because of Neymar, Neymar made the two teams completely change their signing ideas. Many young people in Real Madrid now improved their transfer ideas and completed the signings after Neymar failed to sign.

Barcelona immediately let themselves go after Neymar left, and the failure rate was too high.

Let’s take a brief look at why the gap between these two teams is getting wider and wider now, mainly in terms of operations.

Barcelona was there because of Neymar. He was indeed successful during his time at Barcelona, ​​but Paris offered to sign Jokin. After Neymar left, Barcelona had been looking for a new Neymar for several years, but failed. Since then, it has embarked on a disastrous transfer. On the road to recruitment.

At that time, Barcelona was a forward combination of Neymar, Messi and Suarez. It was very strong in La Liga and the Champions League. Neymar was also regarded by the team as Messi's successor.

But I didn't expect Paris to directly offer the money, and as a result, Neymar left the team. Then Barcelona received more than 3 million euros in transfer fee income.

At this time, Barcelona began to expand. They stopped looking for good young people in Brazil and began to want to buy ready-made players.

Coutinho and Dembélé both came under such circumstances, and their transfer fees were more than 100 million euros, right?

But Coutinho's performance at Barcelona was average.

As a result, Barcelona sold him at a low price. In fact, Dembele has never played at the ideal level. Although he renewed his contract and stayed with the team, he is still far behind Neymar at the time.

Then the team found out that it had failed, and started looking for Griezmann, who also directly paid liquidated damages, amounting to more than 100 million euros. As a result, Griezmann did not perform well, and now he has returned to Atletico Madrid.

The failure of the transfer of these high-priced players has completely sunk Barcelona. After all, during this period, this team rarely started to go to Brazil to find some good young people to train.

They rarely go to other leagues to find young players to train.

The more critical issue is that this team, La Masia, has not had enough talent in recent years. Now it seems that some talents have emerged, but they are far behind Messi, Xavi and Iniesta back then.

The current operational difficulties of this team are related to the departure of Neymar at that time and the constant desire to find a suitable successor.

Real Madrid had another idea and succeeded.

After Real Madrid failed to compete with Barcelona for Neymar, they did not say they would give up introducing young Brazilian players, but chose to upgrade their scouting system in Brazil.

Then there was a plan to discover Brazilian talented players, and Vinicius and Rodrygo came to this team for this reason.

Now it seems that the training of Vinicius is successful. Although Rodrigo is unstable, his performance is still good.

These two people are the results of Real Madrid's successful Brazilian signings after the failure to sign Neymar.

In addition, this team has become pragmatic and does not want to sell stars. Except for Hazard, of course it is because Cristiano Ronaldo left. The introduction of other players is basically not that kind of star level. This change is also why Real Madrid’s operation costs are lower than The reason why Barcelona is low.

Therefore, this team learned from the failure of Neymar's recruitment to upgrade the scouting system, discover more good young people, and train young people.

If successful, you can save a lot of transfer fees and create a virtuous cycle. But that's not to say there are no problems. Real Madrid seems to be less attractive to some good players now than it was before.

But the attraction for visa-exempt players, that is, free agents, has increased. I don’t know whether this is good or bad.

But at least it's much better than Barcelona. Moreover, Real Madrid is obviously more interested in young people and dares to make offers.

This is also the change in the team after the success of Vinicius and Rodrygo.

Really, everything was caused by Neymar. If Barcelona had succeeded in recruiting Coutinho and Dembele, it might not be like this now, but there are no ifs in football.

The first leg of the league's El Clasico this season will be played at Camp Nou. Barcelona, ​​which has been in slight ups and downs recently, will face the current league leader at home. If they can win at home, Barcelona will not only break Real Madrid's unbeaten streak in the league, but also narrow the point gap between themselves and their opponents to 3 points.

In the La Liga games played at Camp Nou, Barcelona achieved a record of 43 wins, 18 draws and 19 losses, giving them a greater psychological advantage.

上赛季两回合联赛交锋双方都没能守住主场，巴萨率先以4-0的大比分让伯纳乌响起嘘声，但携各项赛事39场不败优势回到主场的巴萨却意外被皇马2-1逆转。

At present, the two sides have met a total of 232 times in all competitions. Barcelona has 91 wins, 48 ​​draws and 93 losses, which is slightly inferior. However, Enrique's team hopes to use a victory to narrow the gap with its opponents.

In the past 5 league games, although Barcelona has remained unbeaten and achieved 3 wins and 2 draws, the three wins have only gained a 3-goal advantage. The Red and Blues have been in a slightly sluggish state in the league recently.

In addition, in the last two league home games, Barcelona has only scored one goal. Whether MSN's firepower can explode and whether the defense in the midfield and backfield can be stable is the key to winning the El Clasico.

Looking back at Real Madrid, the Madrid team currently leads La Liga with a 6-point advantage and remains unbeaten with 10 wins and 3 draws. They come to Camp Nou to challenge Barcelona and have a certain advantage in the standings.

Both teams are teams with strong offensive firepower in the league. They currently lead the scoring list with 36 goals and 33 goals respectively. Therefore, whether Barcelona can contain the opponent's offense will largely determine the trend of the game.

MSN is undoubtedly Barcelona's biggest weapon to win the game. After 13 rounds of the league, the three players have scored a total of 21 goals, accounting for 2/3 of the team's goals.

If they can get enough support, it will become easier for Barcelona to win at home.

In the midfield position, Iniesta (data) was injured in the game against Valencia in October and will miss the national derby. Therefore, the partnership of Busquets and Rakitic will be from Denis Suarez, Tu. Whether the three players can fill the vacancy left by Iniesta's injury in this game and stabilize the rhythm of the game for the team will be a major factor that determines the trend of the game.

Umtiti is still injured in the defense, but the rest of the players are in good physical condition. Trying to keep Real Madrid clean is their primary goal.

Looking back at Real Madrid, Bale among the BBC team is seriously injured and will miss this game. However, their primary goal is to control the rhythm of the game at Camp Nou. The performance of midfielders Casemiro, Kroos and others may have a greater impact on the trend of the game. Greater than the players on their forward line.

Since Guardiola took over as Barcelona coach, Barcelona's midfielder has become the strongest midfielder in Spain and even Europe. Their control of the ball and the pressure they put on their opponents when defending are suffocating. However, in the past two years, they have become the strongest midfielder in Spain and Europe. Last season, Real Madrid has quietly gained the upper hand in the midfield battle, while Barcelona's midfielder is on the decline.

Barcelona's midfield control is not as good as before. Barcelona's passing and controlling requirements are extremely high on the players. The ups and downs of the players' condition and their age will affect the effect of passing and controlling football.

As Iniesta ages and Busquets' status fluctuates, Barcelona's midfield line is actually the line that the team needs to change the most.

Enrique actually made changes to this situation, that is, to minimize the time the football stays in the midfield and hand the ball to MSN's feet as soon as possible. However, once he encounters a crazy frontcourt press like the one before from Real Sociedad, , it is difficult for the Barcelona midfielder to effectively play the ball, and this black hole will be infinitely enlarged.

The midfielder composed of Kroos and Modric may not be the strongest, but it is the most suitable for Real Madrid. Compared with the cumbersome tasks of Barcelona's midfielder, Real Madrid pursues speed and wide-open play, which makes them move the ball. His precise footwork was fully displayed, and the scheduling of Kroos and Modric in the midfield also allowed Real Madrid to give full play to its advantages in speed and impact.

Barcelona has obvious shortcomings.

Compared with the right-wing combination of Messi and Alves at their peak, now with Messi moving to the center, Sergi Roberto has become Barcelona's only person on the right, but it is really difficult to rely on Roberto alone. It’s difficult to hold up Barcelona’s right wing.

The weakness on the right actually caused a series of chain reactions for Barcelona, ​​and this has become Barcelona's biggest shortcoming at present.

This national derby exposed Barcelona's weakness on the right to a great extent.

Messi appeared more in the center in this game. The pressure exerted by Marcelo and Ronaldo on Barcelona's right made Rakitic's position almost become a right midfielder. In fact, this is a very dangerous change because This makes the wider center almost dependent on Busquets alone to defend.

On the offensive end, Barcelona must also rely more on Neymar to advance with the ball, which makes Real Madrid's defense easier, just strangle Neymar.

In this game, Neymar encountered great resistance when getting the ball on the left. Even if he got the ball, it was difficult for him to turn around and face the goal. Most of his passes were back passes. Except for the shot that deflected Carvajal, Neymar actually created only a handful of threats.

Although Roberto works very hard, he is still a few levels behind Alves at his peak. Barcelona's right wing has also become the target of various teams this season.

Compared with Barcelona, ​​Real Madrid does not have such a very obvious shortcoming. After Marcelo presses on the left, there will indeed be a gap on the left, but this season Real Madrid has tried its best to fill this loophole through effective replacement.

A strong opponent's attack and the slightest mistake may become the key to victory or defeat. Compared with Barcelona, ​​which has an obvious black hole on the right, Real Madrid will undoubtedly have the upper hand in this regard.

(End of this chapter)