On February 13th, at 21:00 pm, Barcelona, ​​Spain.

In the focus of the 23rd round of La Liga, Espanyol faces Real Madrid at home.

The competition is about to begin.

Benitez stood in front of the visiting coach's seat, ready to face the upcoming game.

He and the team are full of fighting spirit and confidence.

Yesterday, Saturday night, he went to France to spy on military intelligence and watched his opponent Lyon plays Saint-Etienne's Ligue 1 away, while Barcelona challenged Sporting Gijon away.

As a result, what no one expected was that Barcelona would tie!

In the past few months, Barcelona has won nine consecutive victories since the derby in the late November century.

It can be said that Barcelona this season is desperate, they almost played the most dominant season in La Liga history, and they killed almost all their opponents except for the Century Derby loss to Real Madrid.

Yes, there are more than a dozen rounds left in the league, but in fact, after watching Barcelona perform so stably, everyone's first reaction was that there is no suspense to the La Liga championship.

Reality is often more absurd and even more elusive.

No one would have thought that Barcelona suddenly encountered a draw in Sporting Gijon.

One to one, Villa scored a goal to equalize the score.

This is a great opportunity for Real Madrid!

As long as this game is won, the gap between the two sides will further narrow to seven points, and the suspense will appear again.

Because both sides still have a century derby, and it is at the Bernabeu Stadium.

This morning, at Real Madrid's routine tactical meeting, many players including Yang Yang, Ibrahimovic, Casillas and Ramos expressed their opinions that they regarded this game as a life-and-death battle.

"So far this season, Barcelona has fallen by a handful of times. They fell on Sporting Gijon last night. This is a god-given opportunity for us to narrow the points gap. After passing this village, there will be no such store. If such a god-given opportunity is missed, we deserve to lose the league!"

Yang Yang rarely made a statement before Casillas, saying that he thought the team should be willing to go out and fight against Espanyol!

If you don’t fight at this time, can you wait until you lose the league championship before crying?

Everyone in the team also has the same belief and determination, and everyone also recognizes Yang Yang's judgment.

Can you reverse Barcelona? Another thing to say, but if such an opportunity is in front of you, it would be too cowardly not to fight!

So in this game, Real Madrid was full of fighting spirit, and everyone was holding back their energy to kill Espanyol.

As long as you win this game, the points gap will narrow to seven points, and then you will try to win Barcelona at the Bernabeu, and there will be four points left.

It's not too much to catch up with four points in more than a dozen league rounds.

…………

…………

When referee Matt Urahoz blew the whistle to start the game, Real Madrid, who played away, took the lead in kicking off the ball.

Real Madrid took the initiative to attack from the beginning, pressing the whole game, trying to oppress Espanyol and directly attacking the opponent's frontcourt.

But soon, Real Madrid made a mistake in the frontcourt pass and receiving the ball. After Espanyol got the ball, he quickly sent it behind Real Madrid's defense.

Karehon on the left side stepped straight behind Maikon, and took the lead in Pepe's pursuit of the falling ball.

Casillas quickly abandoned the goal and rushed out of the penalty area, trying to clear the ball with one kick. The two of them made moves almost at the same time, but Callehon took the lead and poked the ball. Casillas' plan failed. He didn't have time to close his foot, so he gently tripped Callehon. As a result, the Espanyol winger rolled on the grass and rolled into the Real Madrid penalty area.

The referee quickly followed and roared a foul.

All Real Madrid players also realized the seriousness of the problem and surrounded them. Macon kept calling out that Callehon was offside, but the lineman ignored it. Pepe and Xavi Alonso were negotiating with the referee, saying that Casillas did not deliberately foul and Callehon was suspected of performing.

Indeed, the Spanish winger kept wailing in Real Madrid's penalty area, rolling on the spot, looking in pain.

“Calehon’s performance is indeed a bit exaggerated.”

"From the slow-motion replay, Casillas cannot say there is no problem, but he is indeed not intentionally fouling, and he has restrained his feet."

"Let's look at it from another perspective. Indeed, Casillas closed his feet, but he accidentally tripped Calleon. It was definitely not as severe as he was in the penalty area. Espanyol is obviously trying to ask for a red card now."

"Look at how referee Rahoz judged it."

"Red card!"

"Casillas was sent off with a red card at one minute and twenty seconds!"

"The Real Madrid captain opened his hands and looked incomprehensible. He seemed unable to accept such a result at all."

"Let's look at the slow-motion replay. Casillas' movements are not big, and he obviously stops his feet. It's really too serious to give a red card directly. I even think it's not an exaggeration to give Carehon a fake fall. He performed too exaggeratedly."

"Also, let's look at the moment when we passed the ball just now, Callehon was indeed offside. Maicon raised his hand to signal him to offside, but no referee responded, which allowed Callehon to rush directly to the front of the penalty area."

"I have to say that this is indeed a very bad penalty. Both the referee and the lineman made incredibly wrong decisions. He sent off Real Madrid's captain and main goalkeeper Casillas in more than a minute of the game. How can Real Madrid play in this game?"

"There is one less person in the whole game than the opponent. Can you still persist in such a game?"

This is not only the doubt of the live broadcast commentator, but also the doubt of the audience and fans, but also the doubt of the players on the court.

A game, just as it started, was sent off a goalkeeper, so how could I play?

...

Casillas was very angry and almost ran away.

When he saw the referee Lahoz reaching into his chest pocket and taking out the red card, he knew he was finished.

The whole team was ready to narrow the gap before the game, but it was ruined because of this red card!

The Real Madrid captain was very angry. He complained that he shouldn't attack, and at the same time, he also complained about the referee's eyes.

Such an action or such a foul, just give a yellow card, why give a red card?

He even doubted whether the referee was a Barcelona fan?

Taking advantage of Barcelona's loss of points, they will kill Real Madrid?

He walked to the sidelines angrily, feeling a little embarrassed to see people, so he walked directly to the player passage and threw the gloves he had tightly grasped in his hand on the wall at the player passage, but at this time the assistant coach Yesterdam called him.

"Captain's armband!"

Casillas woke up and found that the captain's armband was still on his arm. He immediately turned around, untied the captain's armband from his arm, and walked back to the sidelines.

At this time, Real Madrid players were all depressed, and the team's morale plummeted.

Casillas saw it, felt ashamed and anxious, and at the same time he remembered another question.

Who are you going to give to this captain’s armband?

In Real Madrid, there has always been a tradition, that is, to be the captain according to the qualifications, that is, whoever has the oldest qualifications in the locker room is the captain.

This is true from Sanchis, Jero to Raul and Guti, to Casillas and Ramos now.

But tonight, Ramos was absent in rotation and Casillas was sent off with a red card. The captain's armband should be given to the left back Marcelo. He is the team he joined in 2007 and is the oldest player in the team.

Does he dare to answer?

Casillas stood on the sidelines, holding the next captain's armband in his hand, waiting for his teammates to come and take over.

...

Marcelo seemed hesitant.

He is the oldest player on the field to join Real Madrid. He joined in January 2007, followed by Robben, who joined in the summer of 2007. Logically speaking, Marcelo should have received the captain's armband.

This is the traditional tradition of Real Madrid's locker room, and even Marcelo is now the third captain of the team.

Of course, in the team's locker room, Marcelo and Higuain both joked with each other because they both joined in January 2007, and Higuain signed earlier, but on January 11, Marcelo signed a later contract, but on January 7.

Who is the third captain and who is the fourth captain has always been a mess.

But now, Higuain is not on the court, and Marcelo is the only one to take charge.

In the past few years, Marcelo's performance has been mixed, and even before 2009, he was almost sold because his performance was not satisfactory, especially on the defensive end.

Juandra Mos asked him to play the left winger, but he did not show the sharpness that the winger should have.

It was not until Yang Yang joined that Benitez brought a stable defensive system that Marcelo gradually found his position in the team, but whether in the locker room or in private, it was difficult for Marcelo to regard himself as the big brother in the team. He has always played the role behind Yang Yang.

Like Macon, Maxwell and Kaka, he was very close to Yang Yang and followed Yang Yang as his leader.

Now, the team is in a critical moment of life and death. It is not difficult to take over the captain's armband, but...

Marcelo was very nervous and uneasy. He was a little hesitant and a little unconfident.

But at this moment, Yang Yang on the side of the court suddenly walked over and came to Casillas. Under everyone's stunned gaze, he reached out to take the captain's armband.

At this moment, all Real Madrid players, coaching staff and staff inside and outside the stadium were shocked.

This is the locker room tradition that Real Madrid has continued for many years!

Is Yang Yang going to break it?

Does he think Marcelo is not suitable to be this captain?

Or maybe he wants to take this opportunity to take everyone else and replace him, and naturally become the captain of the team?

Benitez's face on the sidelines darkened and he was a little worried because he realized that Yang Yang's move would probably bring some disharmonious factors to the locker room.

Not everyone will accept him!

Of course, if he wants to be, no one can object.
Chapter completed!