Ballon d'Or Awards, Football World Five Tiger Generals

"Congratulations on defending your home ground!"

Right after the match, Mourinho took the initiative and walked toward Guardiola, extending his hand from a distance.

Guardiola had actually been thinking the same thing, but Mourinho had beaten him to it. He replied politely:

"Thank you, and congratulations to you as well for keeping your unbeaten run alive!"

The two exchanged congratulations, but their clasped hands were secretly battling for dominance, squeezing until the backs of each other's hands turned white. They only let go when both were grimacing in pain.

Out on the pitch, Lin Feng and Messi seemed to share a mutual sense of respect:

"You played well today!"

"You too!"

"Want to swap shirts?"

"Sure!"

Failing to beat Real Madrid at home was clearly not good news for Barcelona.

The gap between the two teams had not narrowed. If Barcelona wanted to close it, they could only wait for their opponents to make mistakes or wait until their next meeting in the second half of the season.

But next time, it would be their turn to visit the Bernabeu.

In recent years, Barcelona had struggled to win at the Bernabeu. They could barely even manage a draw. Unless Real Madrid underwent major internal upheaval by then, their chances of beating Real Madrid would be extremely low.

For Real Madrid, meanwhile, being held to a draw by Barcelona, dropping points, and having their winning streak interrupted was not an ideal result. But as Guardiola had said, they had at least preserved their unbeaten record and emerged from Camp Nou unscathed without being taken down by their opponents.

Over the next two months, Real Madrid had no particularly formidable opponents in either the league or the Champions League. Though they were competing on three fronts, their weaker opposition meant the