Yang Yang's return home, along with the news of Cruyff attacking him in his column for two consecutive days, occupied prominent space in the major media outlets across Spain, Europe, and even the entire world, drawing the attention of media and fans everywhere.
Especially with El Clásico approaching.
In both columns, Cruyff clearly stated that he favored Barcelona defeating Real Madrid away from home in the upcoming La Liga match, because the two major new signings this season, Sánchez and Fabregas, had greatly enhanced Barcelona's strength and tactical options.
Yang Yang, on the other hand, had become too involved in matters off the pitch, especially meddling in areas he was not good at. That was the key reason he would lose this showdown.
"As far as I know, Guardiola has already made all the preparations for the match. He's just waiting for it to begin."
That sentence from Cruyff's column was immediately reprinted by numerous media outlets, especially those in Catalonia.
Mundo Deportivo even published its predicted starting lineup for Barcelona's El Clásico on the front page, believing that Guardiola would adopt the three-man defense that had performed best recently, recreating the peak of Cruyff's Dream Team I era and crushing Real Madrid at the Bernabéu Stadium.
With the media fanning the flames, Barcelona's fans were also in an uproar.
In fact, there had been intense debate recently over whether Barcelona was better suited to playing with three defenders or four. Guardiola's three-man defense had always been unstoppable, while the team's performances with four defenders had been far from ideal.
The most typical example had been the recent loss to Getafe. Barcelona had just used three defenders to defeat a powerful opponent in the Champions League, only to return to Spain and face the far weaker Getafe. With four defenders,