※※※There is more than half a month left before the quarter-finals with Inter Milan. Real Madrid can temporarily focus all their energy on the league. After all, Barcelona is pushing too tight, and Real Madrid cannot let go of it in one breath.

Now Real Madrid has experienced the pressure of the marathon leader. Barcelona followed Real Madrid closely to ensure that they could win every game, and then looked forward to Real Madrid making mistakes. Under this continuous pressure, the chances of the leader making mistakes are indeed quite high... In fact, what Real Madrid has to do is quite simple, which is to keep winning the ball, and at the same time expect Barcelona to make mistakes by themselves. Logically speaking, the pressure on the leader and the followers is the same, but the actual situation is indeed more stressful. After all, who is willing to give up the top spot that he finally got? This feeling of falling from the clouds to the bottom is not good.

Mourinho knew very well that it was impossible to expect Barcelona to make mistakes. For a long time, Real Madrid and Barcelona were a difficult relationship. They were said to be enemies, but they could only show their hatred side. In fact, in addition to hatred, there was also a very subtle emotion mixed in it.

Both teams actually exist for each other. Just imagine how boring it would be if only Real Madrid or Barcelona were the only team in La Liga. As a super giant, if there is no one who is worth entangled for a hundred years, the quality of the giants would inevitably be greatly affected. It is precisely because of Real Madrid that every victory of Barcelona seems so convincing, and it is precisely because of Barcelona's powerful existence that every Real Madrid championship trophy is more dazzling.

In the past, the history of Real Madrid and Barcelona was intertwined. When Real Madrid was in good shape, Barcelona would definitely fall into a trough. When Barcelona rose, Real Madrid would definitely encounter problems. However, in recent years, the confrontation between Real Madrid and Barcelona has entered a new stage, that is, the level and condition of both sides are very good. If these two teams are separated and placed in other leagues, then any team will become the overlord of that league. But they will fight to the death in La Liga.

Barcelona is at its peak, and Real Madrid is not inferior. The two teams have achieved high points and high goals for two consecutive seasons. Such results have long been the league champions in other leagues, but they have to fight until the last moment in La Liga.

Now Real Madrid's performance has temporarily surpassed Barcelona, ​​so it is even more unlikely that Barcelona will perform abnormally at this time. Real Madrid performs well, how can Barcelona be willing to be inferior to others? Of course, they must also perform well.

So it is unlikely to wait for Barcelona to make mistakes.

Mourinho knew in his heart that maybe it was only when the national derby in the second round could he decide the winner... After the match against Barcelona, ​​there were only three rounds of league left before the end of the league. Whoever wins in the national derby can destroy the opponent's fighting spirit and belief, greatly enhance his confidence and morale, and basically set the tone of the league's championship.

This has not happened before.

Before the winter break of the 2008-09 season, Juander Ramos took over the middle. The head coach who once led Sevilla to create a brilliant record of ten rounds of winning streak after coaching Real Madrid. Until he met Barcelona again, Real Madrid remained unbeaten. But after losing to Barcelona at home with a shameful score of 2:6, Real Madrid's morale plummeted. From the loss to Barcelona, ​​it was a five-game losing streak until the end of the season. Barcelona snatched the league championship.

Barcelona reached the top that season with Real Madrid's body, and they won six championships in 2009.

With such a precedent, we can understand what the second leg of the national derby means for Real Madrid and Barcelona. For the two teams, the second leg of the national derby is the final of the La Liga. Whoever wins the championship and whoever loses will become the stepping stone for the king.

※※Real Madrid is almost invincible in the domestic league, and no team can pose a threat to them. Not to mention threats, there is no trouble.

After defeating Espanyol two goals, they defeated Mallorca 1-0 away.

Real Madrid and Barcelona have completely left their opponents in the domestic league, making everyone feel that the La Liga this season is too boring. There is only one national derby left in the entire league and we can still look forward to it.

For many neutral fans who are not Real Madrid or Barcelona, ​​this La Liga is really not interesting. Whether it is Valencia, Villarreal, or Sevilla, they cannot pose any threat to the two giants. Except for the national derby waiting for the next round, other games are just formalities. The fiercely competitive Premier League looks better.

If Real Madrid does not have Chu Zhongtian, I believe many Chinese fans think so. But now it is different. Chu Zhongtian is in Real Madrid, so there is enough reason to pay attention to this team.

Many people are not Real Madrid fans at all, but because Chu Zhongtian and others began to pay attention to Real Madrid and started watching Real Madrid's games, hoping that Real Madrid will win, and Chu Zhongtian will perform well.

In this way, he became a Real Madrid fan step by step.

For Chinese fans, watching the live broadcast of Real Madrid games in front of the TV every weekend and watching Chu Zhongtian perform well in the game has become a regular program.

Chu Zhongtian has never let them down. Since joining Real Madrid, he has been in a stable state and has performed well as long as he plays on the court. The league has been played by two-thirds, and he has scored nine league goals and another fifteen assists.

And in the 30th round of the league that just ended, Chu Zhongtian broke out again, making the Chinese fans who stayed up late and waited to be excited.

In this round of the league, Real Madrid beat Real Sociedad 2:0 at home, and Chu Zhongtian scored twice in the game and scored all two goals in the game.

This is his second brace in the league this season. His goal count has risen to eleven.

This game was rated as a match for Chu Zhongtian alone after the game. Neither C. Ronaldo nor Kaka were dazzling. Chu Zhongtian not only scored twice, but also almost assisted his teammates in scoring a goal, and almost completed a hat-trick. If it weren't for the crossbar, his header would have flew to the goal for the third time.

Two goals were scored, one was a long shot outside the penalty area, and the other was a goal scored by using the positioning ball in front of the goal.

He fully demonstrated his all-round quality. As a midfielder, he is not much inferior in scoring.

He is now the third-guess player in the team, second only to C. Ronaldo who scored twenty-two goals, and Higuain who scored sixteen goals.

The first two players are players who take goals as their responsibility, while Chu Zhongtian is often responsible for organizing offense and taking into account defense.

It is no longer easy to achieve this.

※※※Real Madrid players have become accustomed to paying attention to their opponents’ games after or before each game. They do not watch the game, but the results.

They hope to see the surprise scene of Barcelona losing, but unfortunately they didn't have it once.

After losing to Real Madrid, Barcelona was like driving a full horsepower chariot and rushed to La Liga. Now they have won four consecutive games, and they are still four games away from the 18 consecutive wins that Real Madrid just created. If they can complete these four games, they will tie Real Madrid. The 19th game is just the national derby. If Barcelona wins at home, it will not only break Real Madrid's 18 consecutive win record, but also tramples Real Madrid under their feet and reach the top. Guardiola is confident that as long as he surpasses Real Madrid, he will be able to maintain this lead until the end of the season. The league championship will definitely belong to the winner of the national derby!

"I said why didn't they lose? This is incredible!" Marcelo spread his hands in the locker room and said in confusion.

Ramos next to him joked with him: "We have never lost the ball, why do you think this is?"

Marcelo rolled his eyes: "Who wants me to lose?"

"Don't think about it, the final battle must be at the Camp Nou." Captain Casillas said. "We have to win them to ensure the league championship."

The locker room suddenly became quiet.

Many people are wondering whether we can beat Barcelona at Camp Nou. Although we beat Barcelona at home, this does not mean that Real Madrid has an absolute advantage to suppress Barcelona. You should know that Real Madrid beat Barcelona at home and then lose away.

To be honest, although Mourinho has brought unprecedented confidence to this team, since Barcelona has been too strong in the past two years, Real Madrid players are actually a little afraid of this team, especially at the Camp Nou Stadium. The 0:5 tragedy left an indelible shadow in the hearts of all Real Madrid players. Even the new players who were not at Camp Nou at that time knew about this tragedy, they would deeply feel the shame through repeated mentions from the media.

So although Real Madrid looks strong on the outside but is actually very fragile on the inside, they are worried about returning to Camp Nou again. They are worried that they will lose the game. If Real Madrid and Barcelona have opened a gap before this game, it doesn’t matter. If they lose, they will lose. Anyway, the league championship is won. But this is a game that concerns the ownership of the league championship, and Real Madrid players are under great psychological pressure.

Based on past experience, everyone knows what they will encounter at Camp Nou.

The difficulty of this game will be no less than that of the Champions League final.

"I'm looking forward to it." Chu Zhongtian's voice broke the embarrassing and suffocating silence of the locker room.

Kaka looked up at him.

"I have never started at Camp Nou, I'm looking forward to it." Chu Zhongtian continued. "I know it's hard to play against Barcelona away, and they will use all means to stop us. But if we beat them, isn't it more fulfilling than just beating an opponent?"

In the locker room, Chu Zhongtian kept a low profile. He did a lot on the court, but he said little in the locker room. Although everyone acknowledged his role on the court, it was not that easy to gain the right to speak in the locker room.

This is a rare thing that Chu Zhongtian said directly to express his thoughts.

Because he saw the fear and inferiority in his teammates' hearts, if he went to Camp Nou with this kind of mentality, it would be difficult to even draw. Although being able to win the draw can also ensure that Real Madrid is in a favorable position... Of course, he doesn't want to lose the championship or lose the game. He feels that he should say something to cheer his teammates up.

"Chu is right. I hope to take revenge at Camp Nou! It's not interesting to win at Bernabeu, they have to win at Camp Nou to be excited!" Ramos was the first to respond.

c. Ronaldo also expressed his disdain for Barcelona and Messi: "I don't think Barcelona has anything to be afraid of. Just like defeating them at home, I want to shut up all the Barcelona fans!" He put his index finger in front of his mouth and made a gesture to make people shut up.

Casillas glanced at Chu Zhongtian. He had to thank the Chinese, and made the atmosphere in the locker room better with just one sentence. He was the captain of the team. If he didn't know the reason to strike while the iron was hot, he wouldn't have worn the captain's armband.

"Yes, no matter what difficulties there are in playing Barcelona away, we must beat them!"

"Think about it, guys! How exciting it should be to completely end their dream of winning the championship at their home court!" Ramos was also encouraging his teammates.

Although there are still four rounds of league games before the national derby, Real Madrid players have already started preparing for this game from this time.

※※※ Mourinho didn't know what happened in the locker room. It was a field of players, and even he couldn't interfere easily. But he obviously could see that the team was more motivated in training. This is a good thing. Before, he was worried that continuous victory would make the team slack and lose the motivation to move forward. You should know that when the finish line was not far away, this situation was the most dangerous.

Now it seems that this problem does not exist... Although it is unknown why, Mourinho is very happy.

Now he can temporarily run aside his concerns in the league and specialize in the Champions League.

The matches from Inter Milan are still a bit different.

"Murinho will be welcomed at Meazza Stadium!"

"Maybe this will be the friendliest Champions League quarterfinals!"

"Jose's old place revisits!"

The headlines of these media outlets seem to indicate that it will be a very easy game. But Mourinho would not think so.

He doesn't feel that he has coached Inter Milan, and Inter Milan players will let him go in the game with him. Although fans miss him, they can't make the decision.

Leonardo is determined to eliminate his traces in this team, and there is no better chance than this game. As long as he can beat Mourinho in the Champions League quarter-finals and eliminate his team, naturally no one will say to Leonardo again, "What would he do if Mourinho was in Inter Milan?" Everyone will only cheer "Leonardo has gotten rid of Mourinho's shadow". The media is so snobbish.

Leonardo will definitely ask the whole team to strive for victory, and Inter Milan's players are not fools. They all know which is more important to express their gratitude to Mourinho or the team advances to the semi-finals. It is a thought that only fools will have when Inter Milan will let go of the water when playing against Real Madrid.

Mourinho's only advantage in preparing for this game is that he knows very well about Inter Milan. At present, the overall framework of this team was built by himself in Inter Milan. Leonardo had thought of changing this situation, but he was powerless. First of all, Moratti may not give him enough funds to rebuild the entire team. In addition, if he wants to use the transfer market last summer to rebuild the entire team, the team's locker room atmosphere will completely collapse. Leonardo is much smarter than Benitez in this regard.

So he only introduced players he was optimistic about in a few positions, but the main framework still could not shake the set left by Mourinho. It was not that he had never thought about it, but that he found that it would be difficult if he really wanted to do it. First of all, he might not be able to find a main player who could replace Etoo, Sneider and others. Secondly, even if he could find it, they might not be able to come. In addition, even if they were willing to come, Sneider and Etoo may not be surrendered and willing to sit on the bench.

In the end, he had to compromise. On the one hand, he continued to reuse the team left by Mourinho, and on the other hand, he allowed his people to gradually occupy the starting lineup to achieve a balance.

Mourinho doesn't need to study the players he has coached, he just needs to know the new players.

Actually, there is nothing that is easy to study. Leonardo performed minimally invasive surgery on Inter Milan, because before the end of last season, Morati admitted that the team was going to undergo a transformation, but denied the possibility of reconstruction. He said: "Every summer, I hear a lot of stories about Inter Milan selling big-name players, but I want to emphasize that Inter Milan has a very strong foundation, and it will be very sad to break this foundation." This sentence basically sets the tone for Leonardo's work, that is, Inter Milan's overall framework will not move, and will only be repaired in some places.

Leonardo's main repairs are on the defense line. Because Inter Milan's own defense line has been seriously aging, Samuel is frequently injured, Lucio's condition has plummeted after he gets older, not to mention Matrazi and Zivo, Matrazi has been unable to play in the game for a long time. So last summer, Inter Milan introduced Hummels, the hero of Dortmund's championship last season, and also introduced Uruguayan full-back Aguilera, replacing Macon, who has been in a rapid state and has no ambitions. Macon has fallen to the point where there are no buyers in Europe, and in the end they can only return to Brazil to retire.

As for the offensive line, Leonardo was very small. There were rumors that Tevez was coming before, but it was finally proved that it was just a rumor. Tevez did not come. In the frontcourt, he could only rely on Etoo, Milito and others.

Midfielder Sneider is the main force who cannot be beaten. Although Manchester United's offer of 35 million yuan, Morati did not allow Sneider to be sold. The old man knows very well that Sneider is the wealth left by Mourinho to Inter Milan. If he is sold, then Inter Milan will not expect to win the championship in the next few years.

Mourinho put his unique feelings towards Inter Milan at the deepest point and carefully prepared for the Champions League quarter-finals with Inter Milan in the two rounds.

His goal this season is very simple and clear, which is the championship. No matter whether it is Inter Milan or Chelsea in front of him, even an opponent of Barcelona's level cannot stop him from moving forward!

(To be continued)
Chapter completed!