Chapter 41 Champion, Champion, Champion!

After playing the Spanish derby with Real Madrid, the whole Barcelona team seemed a little tired, but then they immediately ushered in the second leg of the Champions League quarter-finals with Leeds United at the Camp Nou Stadium.

Barcelona, ​​who was not in good shape, finally defeated Leeds United with a score of 3:2 at home. Shaq scored the third goal for the team and Salavi and Vasquis also contributed to the team's victory.

In two rounds, Simon Grayson led Barcelona to defeat his former club with an undisputed 8:3 overall score, bringing Barcelona to the Champions League semi-finals. They will compete with Serie A giants Inter Milan to enter the finals, while the other two teams that reached the Champions League semi-finals are Manchester City and Real Madrid in England.

Relatively speaking, Barcelona has drawn a lottery team, and Inter Milan's strength has recovered in the past two years. Although there are no big-name stars in the team, the team has a good record every year under the leadership of Argentina coach Bielsa. Although the team stopped in the knockout stage last season, this season defeated Sevilla and Liverpool in succession and reached the semi-finals to meet Barcelona.

The Spanish media are also singing praises for the performances of Barcelona and Real Madrid, hoping that these two greatest teams in the country can fight to the battlefield of the highest honor of European clubs. The Spanish national derby is much more exciting than the Manchester City derby staged in the Champions League final that year.

Not only Espanyol, but also fans who love football all over the world want to see Barcelona and Real Madrid play a decisive battle at the top of Europe. After all, these two teams are the greatest giant teams in the whole of Europe. The stars of the two teams can blind people's eyes.

Relatively speaking, Inter Milan and Manchester City are so ugly in their overall football compared to Barcelona and Real Madrid!

However, before the two Spanish teams reached the Champions League final, they still have a way to go...

On April 21, in the 32nd round of the La Liga, Barcelona swept Levante 5:0 away. After scoring five goals in the game, Shaq increased his goal number this season to 50 games to 143 goals. After a little quiet, Shaq began to show his strength again.

This 5-0 victory was also due to problems with Atletico Madrid, which allowed Barcelona to expand its leading advantage with 92 points in the standings, ranking second and third-place Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid only had 80 points. With six rounds left in the league, it was only a matter of time before Barcelona won the league championship.

On April 24, Barcelona ushered in the opportunity to win the first championship trophy of the season...Korea Copa del Rey final!

Although Valencia's opponent in the Cup final of the King's Cup final is far less powerful than Barcelona, ​​Simon Grayson will never underestimate the opponent. Barcelona has a home advantage in this Cup final at the Camp Nou Stadium. Although Valencia will also have many fans coming to help, the number cannot be compared with Barcelona.

So... if you can't win such a game, "Brutal Simon" will be sorry for his reputation and the high salary paid by the club.

Although everyone thinks that Barcelona will definitely win, no one expects Barcelona to win so easily!

After the game started, Barcelona took the initiative. They used their familiarity with the Camp Nou Stadium to make full use of every inch of the lawn. They used smooth passes and rapid runs to tear Valencia's defense line, rushing against the opponent's goal again and again.

In the 29th minute, Barcelona suddenly launched an attack on the right. Unlike the slow control before, this time, the "Little Pharaoh" directly made a straight pass forward. Raphael, who assisted up, made a standard cross from the bottom and sent the ball from the air to the small penalty area in Valencia's middle!

"Dong!"

Shaq, who emerged from the sky, squeezed out the Valencia defender in the air like an airborne bomber, and shook his head and headed the ball with a header with extreme speed and power. He sent the ball into the opponent's goal...1:0!

After seeing this goal, Simon Grayson walked to the sidelines with a smile and applauded. He was so satisfied with the goal. After nine months of training, the team finally knew when to be elegant and when to be... simple and crude!

In the 39th minute, Raphael made another cross from the right, and the ball fell into the small penalty area on the left side of Valencia. Rinaldi, who was ambushed at the back point, rushed out and stabbed his left foot, and the ball went in again... 2:0!

After leading two goals in the first half, Barcelona played more easily in the second half. Shaq attracted four Valencia players in the small penalty area on the left in 47 minutes, and sent the ball from the crack of the man to the right. The "little pharaoh" who was hit by the horse pushed the ball into the empty goal and scored... 3:0!

In the 69th minute, Fabregas, who returned from injury and controlled the team's rhythm well in this game, sent a wonderful pass to Shaq outside the penalty area on the right. The latter ran on the diagonal line and directly shot against the goalkeeper... 4:0!

In the 88th minute, Salavi received a pass from Vasquis in the right penalty area, attracting two Valencia defenders and alertly returned to the middle. Shaq took a right foot from the position he had just entered the penalty area, and the ball drew an arc and flew into the dead corner of the lower left corner of the goal...5:0!

When Shaq completed another hat trick in this game, he once again set a record for the single-season goal of the Cup of Rey... 26 goals in 9 games!

In the end, Barcelona defeated Valencia with a score of 5:0 without any suspense. After seven years after 2012, it finally became the champion of the Copa del Rey again!

After winning the Copa del Rey, Barcelona's board of directors sent a congratulatory message. Chairman Rosel personally called Simon Grayson and told him not to let the players celebrate too much. Barcelona's goal this season is not just one Copa del Rey, or becoming a double champion in Spain in multiple league championships. They also need to hold back their energy to compete for the Champions League trophy.

Barcelona did not relax. They defeated Athletic Bilbao, which has always been known for its tenacity, 2-0 at home in the 33rd round of the La Liga, and continued to maintain their leading position in the league.

Later, in the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals, he defeated Inter Milan 4-0 at home with Shaq's hat trick, and one foot had already entered the Champions League final.

Looking back. In the 34th round of the La Liga on May 4, Barcelona defeated Villarrel 5:1 away, officially with an unbeaten record of 98 points with 32 wins and 2 draws. In one game, Bido played 12 points in the second place in 35 rounds, and finally won the La Liga championship four rounds ahead of schedule. Crown... double crown!

However, compared to this league champion that was already expected, Barcelona fans are even more excited that Shaq's goal count has finally exceeded 100!

After Shaq completed the "big four-game" away against Villarrel, he has scored 100 goals in 34 games for Barcelona this season!

For many players, it is already amazing to score hundreds of league goals for a club in their lifetime, but Shaq has contributed hundreds of league goals for Manchester United and Barcelona respectively. And in two seasons, he has achieved a feat of 100 goals in the league.

Although it seems unlikely that Shaq will score 26 goals in the remaining four La Liga games to tie the record of scoring 126 goals in a single season at Manchester United three years ago, Shaq's contribution to Barcelona is unprecedented in any case.

What's more, Shaq has contributed 154 goals in 54 games this season, reaching the second-highest peak of his career, which is beyond the reach of other players.

Having said that, Shaq still has hopes to set a new record of 33 goals in the Champions League in a single season. He has scored 28 goals this season. If he can score five more goals in the second leg of the remaining semi-finals, he will be able to tie the record he set in his first season for Manchester United.

However, Inter Milan obviously won't let Shaq achieve his goal so easily. Although the current head coach is "crazy" Bielsa, a madman who advocates offense, the Italians' conservatism still makes Inter Milan's defensive ability very tenacious.

In the second leg of Barcelona's visit to Meazza Stadium, although Inter Milan lost 0:2 and was eliminated by Barcelona 6:0 in two rounds, Shaq only scored one goal at Meazza Stadium, and the Champions League goals were suspended to 29.

Barcelona advanced to the Champions League final again, which really made the Catalans very excited, while the other Espanyols were a little disappointed. After Real Madrid drew 2:2 away from Manchester City in the first leg, they returned to the Bernabeu Stadium but lost 0:3 and finally got eliminated with a score of 2:5, and failed to realize Espanyol's desire to watch the Spanish national derby in the Champions League final.

In the remaining four rounds of La Liga, Barcelona defeated Espanyol 3:0 at home, defeated Celta 2:0 at home, defeated Betis 2:0 at home, and defeated Numancia 4:1 away. In the end, they won the La Liga championship trophy with a record 38 games, 36 wins, 2 draws, 0 losses and 110 points unbeaten!

Barcelona scored 150 goals this season and conceded 10 goals and 140 goals, which also set the record of the most goals, the fewest goals conceded and the most goals in the La Liga.

Shaq's final number of goals was 102, and Vasquis assisted 28 times, which are two more records!

Coupled with the team's continuous unbeaten, winning streak, etc., Barcelona, ​​under the rule of "Brutal Simon" this season, has indeed become the strongest Barcelona in history, and has also become the strongest team in La Liga history.

Atletico Madrid, ranked second, has already scored 95 points, but in the end it can only be second. Real Madrid ranks third with 88 points. Even if 88 points were the first few seasons, they could win the league championship, but now they can't even see the shadow of the championship. The 22-point score difference is really desperate.

When the La Liga came to an end, the players of other teams had already begun to enjoy the holiday, but Barcelona was still preparing for the final preparations for the final battle with Manchester City at the Arisamiyan Stadium in Turkey.
Chapter completed!