October 26, Bernabéu Stadium.
In the tenth round of La Liga, Real Madrid hosted Villarreal.
In the fifth minute of the first half, Yang Yang sent a lofted through ball down the left channel. Ibrahimovic beat the offside trap, controlled it with his chest inside the box, and chipped the ball past the keeper one-on-one, opening the scoring for Real Madrid..
In the eleventh minute, Yang Yang threaded the ball through the gap between two defenders, and Kaka followed up with a fierce shot into the bottom-left corner. Two-nil.
In the twenty-seventh minute, Marcelo cleared a corner, and Kaka played a direct pass to Yang Yang. After controlling the ball, Yang Yang sent over a brilliant pass. Ibrahimovic flicked it on instinctively, changing its direction, and Di Maria, arriving from the left, drove it home from the right side of the box. Three-nil.
That scoreline held until the final whistle.
Real Madrid crushed Villarreal three-nil with goals from Ibrahimovic, Kaka, and Di Maria.
At the same time, in another match, Barcelona once again drew away to Granada, remaining stuck at a goalless draw.
Guardiola's team was in trouble!
Every media outlet and fan could see it. They had recorded two consecutive goalless draws, and in this match their opponents had even been reduced to ten men in the fifty-third minute, yet they still couldn't breach the opposing goal.
Granada was currently bottom of La Liga, but Barcelona had still failed to beat them, watching three points slip through their fingers. Barcelona's fans were deeply disappointed and heartbroken, while also growing dissatisfied with the team's current situation.
Many fans were even questioning the club: What exactly was going on with the team? What had gone wrong?
Real Madrid next door was charging ahead, so why was Barcelona facing crisis after