Capítulo 127: Out of Control
Rijkaard is in a hurry!
The first half ended with a 0-1 deficit, and Real Madrid, who were playing away at the Pizjuan Stadium, were leading by two goals, which made him start to lose his temper.
He felt that he had to make some changes to turn the situation around.
After sending the player back to the locker room, he immediately made adjustments, signaling Iniesta to follow him back to the locker room.
This is the signal for a midfield substitution.
"Wait, Frank." Ten Cate couldn't help but persuade.
"I know the situation is very critical now, but anyone can be in a hurry, but you can't. You are the head coach of the team, and you can't mess up."
Rijkaard stopped, turned to stare at his assistant coach, tried to control his breathing rhythm, and said word by word: "I'm not messing up, we need to strengthen our offense."
"Yes, but at this time the substitution will send a signal to the players, you know." Ten Cate was also anxious.
He felt that Rijkaard was really messed up.
In fact, ask yourself, anyone in this position would be in chaos at this moment.
From leading by ten points to being tied by opponents, Barcelona has always been the leader of the league. There is pressure, but it is not messed up.
But things are different now. In the final round, the league champion was almost assured, but the opponent took the lead. Anyone in this situation would be panicking.
But Barcelona is completely different from other teams.
What Barcelona emphasizes is passing and controlling the ball, and what is most needed is patience, order, calmness, and reason.
Rijkaard's substitution at this time was to strengthen the team's offense, which in itself was correct, because Barcelona must score two goals in the second half, and changes were needed. But Rijkaard had begun to rush, which was not acceptable.
The coach's mentality can be felt by the players.
One of the important reasons for conceding the goal in the first half was that after the fans of the home team shouted that Real Madrid had a two-goal lead, the players on the field got anxious, and there were more mistakes in passing and receiving. Athletic Bilbao seized the opportunity to sneak a goal.
The players were already in a hurry, and Rijkaard added more pressure, making the situation even more dangerous.
But Rijkaard also had his own considerations.
"I know, of course I know." He was annoyed and shouted at Ten Cate, "I know I have to score two goals in the second half, otherwise, the La Liga champion belongs to that damn Chinese!"
"I know, you're right, he didn't give up the game. I underestimated our opponent and made such a mistake, so I have to do my best to make up for it now, is there a problem?"
"I know even more that you looked down on me from the very beginning. You were my assistant coach, you just wanted to use the influence of Barcelona to improve yourself, and you even thought about replacing me, so you have embarrassed me in the media many times and caused me trouble."
Rijkaard's emotions got out of control.
He felt that Ten Cate was watching a play and enjoying his misfortune in order to prove himself right.
He has always been polite, and if he hadn't been really anxious, he wouldn't have gotten so out of control.
And his words not only stunned Ten Cate, but also everyone around him.
When had they seen Rijkaard lose his temper?
But after venting, Rijkaard calmed down instead.
Tenkat looked at Rijkaard deeply, without denying or explaining.
He knew that Rijkaard had been holding back these words in his heart for a long time, and finally he couldn't help but burst out when he was about to break down and was so critical and sensitive.
He knew even more that Rijkaard was actually more guilty, ashamed, and unable to accept his pre-match mistakes.
At that time, Ten Cate believed that Barcelona should try their best to win the game. Rijkaard's formation was not enough to win against Athletic Bilbao, but Rijkaard felt that it was enough.
He needed to set aside more energy and resources for the Champions League final three days later.
Now, the game proves that Rijkaard was wrong!
He also knew that he was wrong, so he hurriedly looked for corrections, trying to make up for his mistakes.
But what Ten Cate wants him to know is that Barcelona can't be in a hurry!
"I am the head coach of the team, I am the first responsible person for the team's victory, and you are just my assistant!" After Rijkaard finished speaking in a deep voice, he walked straight into the player tunnel.
Ten Cate stood blankly at the entrance of the player tunnel. He found that he was wrong too.
He thought he could understand Rijkaard, but he couldn't.
Over the years, he has always thought that Rijkaard could tolerate his bad temper, could accept his bombardment of the club's management in the media, could allow him to yell at any player in the dressing room because of his ability. Rijkaard has had to rely on him.
But now it seems, no.
Rijkaard is no fool, he does understand, but as a leader, he can swallow his pride for the sake of the overall situation.
But I don't know since when, Ten Cate crossed the line.
Maybe it was when he accepted the Ajax invitation, or when he was being tantalized these days, or maybe earlier...
Anyway, when Ten Cate crossed the line, Rijkaard didn't want to bear it anymore.
...
At the beginning of the second half, Barcelona made a substitution.
Iniesta replaced Thiago Motta.
Van Bommel returned to the back midfield, with Deco and Iniesta in charge of organization and passing in front.
This is also one of Barcelona's regular midfield combinations.
However, Athletic Bilbao, who had a lead, obviously played more conservatively, focusing on defensive counterattacks. The players were very active in the game and made great moves.
This would be hard enough in normal times.
Now, the Basque lions all know that Barcelona is impatient to score goals and to reverse, so they are even less anxious. Instead of being anxious, they use some tricks from time to time.
Fouls are commonplace, and what is even more disgusting is that they will deliberately delay time in various ways.
I have to say that Athletic Bilbao is a team with rich experience in stepping on the line. They know how to control the referee's law enforcement standards, so some of their small actions are done by stepping on the law enforcement standards.
Barcelona is in a hurry, they are not in a hurry.
And everyone knows that when Barcelona is in a hurry, it is easy to make mistakes in passing and controlling the ball, and even the players have a great temper.
This has led to the game slowly being dragged by Athletic Bilbao into the kind of hand-to-hand combat they are best at, while the passing and possession rhythm that Barcelona is most accustomed to is completely unplayable.
When the game went to the 60th minute, Rijkaard saw that the situation on the field had not changed. He made a second substitution, replacing Van Bommel with Larsen, and the team played 4-4-2.
Eto'o and Larsen formed a double forward, Ronaldinho and Giuly were on the wings, and Deco and Iniesta partnered in midfield.
That's enough to show an attitude.
Rijkaard is encouraging players to go all out and fight to the death with their opponents.
No matter what, they needed to secure a win here!
The Barcelona players on the pitch were also encouraged and began to organize waves of attacks, taking an overwhelming advantage on the scene, but they made frequent mistakes in attacking organization and never posed a substantial threat to Athletic Bilbao's goal.
When the game reached the 80th minute, after Athletic Bilbao formed a steal in the midfield, they quickly instigated a counterattack. The right-wing fullback La Cruz quickly moved forward, went straight into the right side of the penalty area, and made a cross. The ball was sent into the penalty area.
Llorente grabbed the spot, beat Puyol and Marcos, and headed the goal from close range.
But the ball was saved by Valdes and failed to score.
Just when everyone thought that Barcelona's crisis was over, Etxeberria, who came off the bench, volleyed with his left foot and broke Barcelona's goal again, giving Athletic Bilbao another victory.
Two to zero!
If the first goal conceded still left hope, then Etxeberria's goal completely killed Barcelona.
Rijkaard was on the sidelines, covering his face in pain, watching what was happening on the pitch in disbelief.
He never imagined that his team would be forced into such an embarrassing situation, that he would even hand over the league title, which had been ahead for most of the season, to the arch-rival Real Madrid.
He knew very well what this loss would bring to himself and the team.
...
Losing two goals in a row was a huge blow to Barcelona's morale.
Sometimes, football games are like that.
After losing the first opportunity, it is often very difficult to reverse the situation.
It's like when the national football team drew with Brazil back then. At the beginning, it was better than Brazil and didn't do its best. They thought they could win the game, but they never managed to score. Later, Brazil started to exert its strength, but it was already too late.
This is of course not the real level of Brazil and the national football team, but a draw is a draw.
The same is true of Barcelona today.
Rijkaard's lineup decisions before the game, and his on-the-spot commands during the game, repeatedly caused problems, resulting in Barcelona's failure to find their rhythm. They went down by two goals.
With two goals behind, Barcelona's morale plummeted.
The players knew that they had to score three goals to win the title.
But at that time, let alone three goals, it seemed difficult to score even a single goal.
A very typical picture emerged in the eighty-fifth minute.
Barcelona took advantage of Athletic Bilbao's mistake to create an opportunity. Belletti and Eto'o faced goalkeeper La Fuente together in what seemed like a foolproof one-on-one situation.
However, Eto'o's shot was saved by La Fuente, and Belletti failed to seize the opportunity to make a timely shot.
Barcelona's morale was evidently greatly affected, making it difficult to pose any threat to Athletic Bilbao.
Rijkaard was visibly frustrated towards the end, and he didn't even use the third substitution.
In the end, the Dutchman could only helplessly watch his team lose 0-2 at the San Mames Stadium, handing over the La Liga championship that was clearly already within their grasp to Real Madrid.
He knew that he had lost!
From the moment he was deeply interfered with and influenced before the match, he had already lost this starting lineup!
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