Updated: 2012-09-29

Chapter 353 Bond

Seeing that the 27th round of the Spanish League One is approaching, the Spanish media and even everyone in Spanish football have turned their attention to this game between Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona.

Needless to say, Barcelona has always been synonymous with strength, but the sudden rise of the "Basque Lions" this season makes people feel a little puzzled. Even if "Devil Chen"'s coaching ability has been recognized by everyone, Athletic Bilbao underwent a major cleanup at the beginning of this season. However, this team with a major blood-changing blood actually created an unbeaten record of 24 wins and 2 draws after 26 rounds of the league. Not only did it break the record of the highest score in the same period of the Spanish League, but they even set a record of the number of goals scored in the same period of the league history. Now this team has scored 104 goals in 26 games, and the average goal efficiency of 4 goals per game has shocked everyone to the extreme.

If a team that can perform like this is a perfect team like Barcelona and Real Madrid, it is still the case, but Athletic Bilbao, a team that looks like it is full of loopholes, needs to mention the star lineup and player quality. Even this team's offense is not strong enough and its defense is not strong enough. How could they create such a good record?

Could it be... just a "devil Chen" has such great energy?

Professionals in Spanish football have already begun to discuss the topic of "Basque phenomenon". Various remarks have been frequently seen in the newspapers. Many people have analyzed the situation of Chen Chao and Athletic Bilbao very thoroughly. It can be said that they have really checked Athletic Bilbao. However, most people think that it is not difficult for a team to achieve success in Athletic Bilbao, but to maintain a strong fighting spirit like Athletic Bilbao, I am afraid that even if "Devil Chen" changes to another team, it seems that only Athletic Bilbao, who is brave and good at fighting, has such a strong desire for the championship.

Even Chen Chao himself feels that the "miracle" of Athletic Bilbao is really unreplicable, because not only other teams do not have the foundation of the "Basque Lions", after all, not every team has a group of players of strong strength, and most importantly, other teams may not be as united as Athletic Bilbao. No matter what small things they have in private, no one will make any trouble in the overall situation. Even when the old captain Yester lost his main position at the beginning of the season, he showed a good overall view of the situation. He puts the team's development first and has never caused any trouble to Chen Chao. Now this team is united like never before. Under the leadership of Chen Chao, he is moving forward towards the league championship that has been away from the club for 28 years. At the same time, they are still working hard to become the first "double champion" in the club's history.

On the afternoon of March 4, Guardiola arrived in Bilbao with Barcelona players a day in advance. He and his team attached great importance to this game. This can be seen from their attitude, but... Guardiola's confidence in defeating Athletic Bilbao away is not that strong, which can be seen from his interview at the airport.

"Well, yes, my team and I know very well that this game is crucial to us. We can only continue to be competitive with the league championship this season if we win this game. But... we should also see that we just experienced a big battle three days ago. We encountered great difficulties at Manchester Old Trafford Stadium, so we can only go all out to win tomorrow's game. As for the results of the game... I don't want to predict, so let the facts speak."

Guardiola really has no confidence this time. Seeing Athletic Bilbao overcome the difficulties and his condition is getting better and better, Barcelona is troubled by injuries. Now two absolute main players in the team are injured. It is okay to say that the injury of shooter Villa is. After all, there are other people who can replace Barcelona, ​​but Xavi's injury really makes Pep Guardiola scratch his head. Whether it is Iniesta, Busquets, Mascherano, Fabregas, no one can replace Xavi's position in Barcelona, ​​and no one can take Barcelona's overall to another level like him.

Xavi himself is not only a midfielder with comprehensive technical capabilities, but also for Barcelona, ​​he is the soul of an era and an irreplaceable core figure. Even Messi, who is in the prime of his life, cannot compare with this. Messi has extremely strong personal abilities, but his ability to interpret and control the game on the court is far inferior to Xavi.

For Athletic Bilbao today, no one is irreplaceable. After all, the strength difference between each player in this team is not that big, and the team's playing style does not revolve around someone. It is precisely because of this that Chen Chao found Yester, John, Gulpegg and others to replace them when Martinez and Susatazi were injured, and they also achieved good results.

At 17:00 p.m. on March 5, the key battle between Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona, ​​which was related to the ownership of the Spanish League One championship throughout the season, finally kicked off.

As early as 16 o'clock, the Basques who were enjoying their free weekends could not wait to pour into the San Mames Stadium. This game has extremely special significance for Athletic Bilbao. Once the "Basque Lions" defeated Barcelona at home, the gap between the two teams will widen to thirteen points. Even if Barcelona has the ability to do everything in the world, they can only fight for the trophy of the Champions League. The Spanish League champion will no longer be able to get from Athletic Bilbao's mouth.

Fly away, after all, there are only eleven rounds left in the league after this game. Judging from Athletic Bilbao's strength and current state, it is impossible to lose four of them and draw the previous game. The famous "Devil Chen" will never let this happen. So Guardiola and his disciples knew this very well, so they just fought with Manchester United at Old Trafford four days ago. After fighting for 90 minutes, they came back and worked tirelessly into this championship battle.

The lineup Guardiola arranged for Barcelona can be said to have played all the cards he could play. Messi led the forward line, Boyan and Fabregas escorted him around him, and the midfield was led by Iniesta and formed by Busquets and Mascherano. Puyol, Pique, Alves and others played on the back line. It can be said that this lineup is no different from when they played away against Manchester United. Guardiola and Barcelona regarded Athletic Bilbao as opponents of the same level as Manchester United.

The tactics that Chen Chao arranged for Athletic Bilbao are not that complicated. The years of confrontation with Barcelona and research on Barcelona have given Chen Chao a unique tactic on how to fight Barcelona, ​​and in the final analysis, there is only one word......... rush!

Relying on Lorent's header to rush, relying on Danoberdia's speed to rush, relying on Martinez's ability to capture the fighter planes to rush, and relying on David Lopez's breakthrough and passing on the wing......

It seems that Chen Chao's tactics arranged for Athletic Bilbao are too simple, but in fact, Chen Chao has been dealing with Barcelona for so many years and has long seen through the team's exquisite and cumbersome tactics. You can play defense with them, and you can also play against them, but you must not want to defeat this opponent in tactical use, otherwise you will die ugly. Athletic Bilbao's defense is obviously not enough to prevent the stars in Barcelona's midfield and frontcourt. Then Chen Chao has only one choice left, which is to rely on Athletic Bilbao's stronger offensive to fight against his opponent.

When Chen Chao shook hands with Guardiola, the bald man looked at the tall Chen Chao and couldn't help but smile helplessly: "Chen, I really can't avoid you, the opponent. I used to be in the Champions League, but now I'm going to meet you in the league."

Chen Chao laughed and said, "You Barcelona have a great opportunity to win the Champions League trophy this year, and I believe that after this game, you will be able to make up your mind to devote all your energy to the Champions League. Maybe I should congratulate you in advance on Barcelona winning the Champions League trophy again."

Guardiola nodded with a smile, but when he turned around and walked towards his position, he began to think. He was not angry because of Chen Chao's words. The facts were in front of him. It is unrealistic for Barcelona to want to win the league championship now. On the contrary, if the game is ultimately defeated, the team will completely lose the luxury of the league championship. Without this bond, they will be able to devote themselves to the Champions League. In this way, they can concentrate on exerting stronger combat power.

But Guardiola was not thinking about this, but during a brief conversation with Chen Chao, he actually felt that the mentality of the strongest opponent in his coaching career seemed to be a little wrong. He couldn't tell why, but he just had a feeling that "Devil Chen" was not happy at Athletic Bilbao. Could it be that................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ shouldn't coach in Real Madrid?

Thinking of this, Guardiola couldn't help but look inexplicably in the direction where Chen Chao was on the other side. This idea almost made him feel desperate. If the "Devil Chen" and Florentino, who can make money, are willing to spend money, and dare to spend money, Barcelona will definitely have no way to survive in the European arena in Spain!
Chapter completed!