Chapter 33 Out of the relegation zone

Chapter 33 Out of the relegation zone

Monaco, Stade Louis II.

More than 10,000 Monaco fans stared dumbfounded at the Mallorca players cheering and celebrating on the pitch, feeling like they were in a nightmare...

Only thirteen minutes into the game, the Mallorca player with three goals in hand did not use defensive counterattack tactics against Monaco as everyone thought. Instead, he launched a fierce attack at the beginning of the game. It is not Monaco who are three goals behind, but they are the same!

In the opening five minutes, Tristan smashed Stankovic's cross into the goal guarded by Barthez with a domineering header. The crushing of Tristan's humanoid tank!

Eight minutes later, Eto'o showed his lightning speed. After receiving the ball from the midfielder, he rushed forward and got rid of Monaco's last defender. First goal!

"Good job." Jose shook his fist fiercely - two away goals, a total of five goal difference, Monaco will have to score six goals in the next game to qualify - this performance , has almost extinguished any hope of Monaco's promotion!

And what happened next did not have any chance for Monaco.

Mallorca, which had sufficient strength to defend, was not scored by Pursau until the 72nd minute. Then, even though Gallardo scored another goal in stoppage time, they still failed to win. The result of the two-to-two was to let them out with a total score of three to six, and Mallorca headed forward to the quarterfinals of the UEFA Cup!

However, after returning to Spain from France this time, Mallorca received much less attention, because although Deportivo only defeated Arsenal 2-1 at home and were eliminated by the Premier League, Atletico Madrid also played away Lost two to four and was knocked out of the quarter-finals by Lens. However, Celta played an extremely beautiful game. Makelele opened the scoring, McCarthy scored twice, and Bilindley's own goal, Celta Unexpectedly, they swept Juventus 4-0 at home and advanced to the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup with a total score of 4-1 in two rounds!

After the results of this game came out, the whole of Europe was shocked!

What kind of team is Juventus? Although their performance last season was mediocre, the Champions League was defeated by Manchester United in the semi-finals, and they failed to enter the top four in the league and could only condescend to play in the UEFA Cup. However, since 1995, they have reached the final of the Champions Cup for three consecutive years , won the championship once, and lost twice are also considered to be upset by the opponent. There are strong players such as Piero Inzaghi, Zinedine de Shane in the team, and his performance in Serie A this season has also recovered. Ranked at the top, very likely to win the league championship this season, but was beaten without temper by Celta - this alone is enough to shock everyone!

So when Mallorca returned to Spain, they did not become the focus of the media. All the attention of the media fell on Celta, whether it was the Russian duo Karpin and Mostovoi in the midfield. , or McCarthy on the striker, Makelele in the midfield, and Juanfran in the defender...all became the focus of media attention. They praised McCarthy's scoring ability, Karpin and Mostovoi's midfield organization, Mark Lele's steals and advances, Juanfran's excellent assist ability, believes that Celta Vigo, which ranks in the middle of La Liga, can sweep Juventus, which ranks first in Serie A, which proves that La Liga has become the first league in Europe and the world. Serie A is already in decline...

The Mallorca players were a little unconvinced that they had also entered the quarterfinals of the UEFA Cup but were ignored by others. Jose was happy about this instead--what is the temporary fame? In the end, it was just entering the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup. At least in the future, it will not be Mallorca who will become the focus of the media and other teams...

"Don't forget how the media praised us when we beat Monaco in the last game, let alone how the media praised us when we won five consecutive league victories... At the same time, we have to see, in the When we have not won two rounds in the league, how did the media treat us... From the beginning to the end, the media will not be on our side, they will only be on the side of the winner, chasing the winner is Their nature, so we don't need to feel dissatisfied at all, it will only affect our own performance."

Standing on the training field, Jose said to the young players in front of him that Nadal and those old guys would definitely not have any emotional fluctuations because of the change in the direction of the media. A veteran who has been in La Liga for seven or eight years, he has seen and experienced many things, and he is well aware of the media's habit of changing the direction of the wind. The unconvinced and affected are nothing more than a few young players in the frontcourt.

Seeing that Tristan was still annoyed that his performance was ignored, Jose laughed: "Okay, Diego, you know, as long as we keep winning, no one will ignore us." You need to control your own performance, your own future, and not rely on the charity of the media...Why, Diego, do you think you can't play well without the media to create momentum for you?"

For a player like Tristan, provoking Fabi is useful for everything. Hearing what Jose said, Tristan immediately widened his eyes and shouted loudly: "How is it possible? No matter what those guys say Don't flatter me, I will keep scoring goals in the game!"

"That's right." Jose nodded with a smile: "It's a good thing for us that the media is touting Celta Vigo, and we can train quietly without those noisy voices. Diego , don't forget what you said just now, in the next game, you must score at least one goal to help us win this game!"

"No problem, head, wait for me to score in the game!" Tristan replied loudly.

Jose looked at Eto'o, and the Cameroonian nodded silently, with a determined expression.

Mallorca's next game is at home against Malaga.

Malaga's performance this season is mediocre. Now their points are 37 points, and they can also be regarded as one of Mallorca's relegation opponents. Now Mallorca's points are 28 points and rank second from the bottom. Facing Real Betis with 30 points, Atletico Madrid with 31 points, Real Oviedo with 31 points, Numancia with 34 points, Racing Santander with 36 points, and then It is Malaga with 37 points. This is also the biggest reason why Jose does not think that the team's relegation will be a very difficult thing. Mallorca, which is currently ranked 19th, is far away from Malaga, which is ranked 13th. The gap is only nine points, and the gap between the top ten points is only about ten points. After winning five consecutive games, the debt owed by Mallorca in the first half of the season has almost been repaid. Now the morale of the team Just in time, as long as they seize the opportunity to win a few games in a row, Mallorca will have no problem getting out of the relegation zone!

On the contrary, what makes Jose feel a little troublesome now is that although the next league games will be played once a week, the UEFA Cup games have also begun to become more intensive. On March 17th and March 23rd Two consecutive games against the UEFA Cup quarter-finals, although the opponent has not yet come out, but such a double match in a week is also a great test for the physical fitness of the veterans.

Jose has no good solution to this. He can only let the defense try to participate in the defense and not attack much in the game to save energy. In this case, Mallorca's offense can only rely more on the frontcourt. players to complete.

Jose doesn't like this kind of tactic of completely separating offense and defense. He knows that in modern football, the defender's offense is also a very important part. The offensive ability is also that if you attack, you can't come back. Forcing the full-back to assist, you can only court death.

It's just that Mallorca's offensive line is quite good now. If Tristan is a small Vieri, then Eto'o can also be regarded as a small Ronaldo. Ka's scoring ability is not much weaker than the top teams in La Liga.

Amid the cheers of the Mallorca fans, Mallorca continued their recent good form. Relying on the goals of the two forwards Tristan and Eto'o on the front line, they beat Malaga 2-0 at home. The points reached 31 points. In the other games of this round, Real Betis and Vallecano drew 1-1, Atletico Madrid lost 0-1 away to Valladolid, and Racing Santander lost to Valladolid. After Zaragoza, Numancia and Real Oviedo played one to one. Relying on the advantage of goal difference, Mallorca surpassed Real Betis and Madrid who also had 31 points. Athletic, ranked 17th in the league, only 32 points away from Real Oviedo, 35 points from Numancia, 36 points from Santander and 37 points from Malaga One point, four points, five points, and six points, finally out of the relegation zone for the first time after the sixth round of the league!

After getting the results of other games, the fans of Mallorca cheered. Jose took office for two full months, with six wins, one draw and one loss in eight games, which immediately made Mallorca almost relegated to out of the relegation zone. It's a miracle!

"The league is not over yet, and Mallorca has not succeeded in relegation, but the current situation is quite favorable for us. We will continue to maintain this momentum until the end of the remaining ten rounds of the league. So far, when the time comes, Mallorca can stand in a decent position, and that's what I want to see."

In the post-match press conference, Jose appeared calm and did not feel complacent because the team had left the relegation zone, because he knew that this season was not over yet, and the relegation battle was always cruel. After ten rounds, even if they are temporarily out of the relegation zone, they can't breathe a sigh of relief. After all, relegation is a matter of carelessness, and it may be lost forever.

Jose didn't remember which teams were relegated from La Liga this season, nor did he know what the relegation line was, but he knew that 31 points would definitely not be enough, far from enough.

As for Mallorca, they are about to usher in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup. In the next two weeks, Mallorca will face a double match in a week. Lorca will also be a huge test. Before, Jose used the method of rotating the main force to survive the quarter-finals, but this time, I am afraid there will be no such chance.