Hoping Cannavaro would get another card.

However, as the referee ran to the scene, he slipped and fell on his buttocks as he stopped. After an awkward glance between the two, the main referee finally chose to issue only a verbal warning.

Cannavaro: See, isn't it slippery?

Referee: Yes, it's too slippery, I understand you.

Negredo stood at the penalty spot without hesitation, took a deep breath, and faced Casillas with a powerful shot, blasting the ball directly into the net.

2:0

Almeria leads 2:0 at home.

The stands were full of joyous laughter from the fans, while Chen Zhong frowned, a fire ignited inside him, eager to be on the field.

After scoring, Negredo didn't celebrate excessively but instead clasped his hands together to show respect to the team, which somewhat eased Schuster, who was a bit irritated on the sidelines.

"You're sure the club wants to buy him back, right?" Schuster turned his head and looked at Francisco. Regarding Negredo's performance in this match, Schuster would give him a score of 7 or above.

Whether it was his role as a pivot or making forward runs from the backline, his shots in front of the goal made Schuster feel impressed.

In the subsequent game, Real Madrid did have chances to score, but Raul's unmarked close-range shot was directly blocked, Robinho also repeatedly missed good chances after entering the box, and several of Higuain's shots inside the penalty area went wide.

After the 75th minute of the match, Real Madrid appeared like a scattered bunch on the field, and Guti completely lost his composure, abandoning any intention to be the organizing core and began going solo.

At the same time, the error rate, which was already high, started to rise steeply.

Eventually, the team lost 2:0 to Almeria, a surprising upset.

At the post-match press conference, Schuster addressed the reporters: "This defeat can stop us from feeling too complacent and help us get back on the ground."

"Losing is not a good thing, but if we have to lose, then I'd say losing now is a timely wake-up call. It allows us to be realistic again, in that sense, I feel calm now. We can't let up, the team hasn't secured the championship yet."

"A few days ago, I heard someone say La Liga lacks competition, clearly, he was wrong. The league's competitiveness is currently very strong."

In the first 21 rounds, Schuster's team was indeed advancing at a record-breaking pace.

Winter champions, mid-season champions, leading Barcelona by 7 points, and at one point leading by 9, but the defeat at Almeria served as a wake-up call for Real Madrid: Whether Real Madrid really holds a monopoly in La Liga will be best tested in the second half of the season.

In fact, how they perform in the second half is also a comprehensive test of Schuster's coaching ability.

Because in Schuster's coaching career, the team's performance in the second half is often not as good as in the first half, except for his first season coaching Getafe. In other seasons, Schuster has always had this problem of starting strong and finishing weak, which is a blemish in his coaching history that is hard to erase.

As for Guti's performance in this match, Schuster seemed to avoid discussing it.

Guti is always like this, sometimes dominating a match, while other times seeming to disappear.

Against Almeria, Guti's stats were ordinary, with 58 passes throughout the game, 10 or more less than usual, and 16 errors, noticeably higher than usual.

This was related to the opponents sending out players led by Melo for a dedicated siege, with Sneijder and Diara not doing a good "bodyguard" job.

The former completed 43 passes, with errors also reaching 15, while the latter only rejoined the team on Friday, and also alarmingly high in passing errors, and his defense was like a headless fly, focusing on one end and forgetting the other.

Of course, the main reason lies with Guti himself. In the first 10 minutes, Real Madrid's vice-captain made 3 passing errors in the backfield. If Almeria had a bit more luck, Ortiz could have intercepted Guti's pass eight minutes into the game and scored upon entering the box.

Guti's elusive nature is a headache for Real Madrid's coaches, so even at 30, he's always caught between being a starter and a substitute, just like Capello said last season, "Is there a controversy with Guti? It's nothing bad. Look, when I send him on in the second half, he can always make an impact. Starting him doesn't work as well."

So, except for playing a full season as a main force under Bosque, even as a makeshift forward, Guti has rarely had a smooth year.

Guti is simply a combination of a genius and a devil, as seen last season when Capello initially said he would design tactics around Guti and had a few brilliant games, only to be then sidelined, with Emerson and Diara brought in as a double defensive midfielder tactic. Yet, in the latter part of the season, Guti would always manage to come on in a crisis and save the team from danger; just relying on his passes and assists, Real Madrid managed to overturn scores at least 3 times, with such stats, any team would have him as a starter without question.

At the end of the reporters' inquiries, Schuster possibly got a bit agitated, especially as the reporters began to criticize his personnel choices, questioning why he kept starting Raul and Van Nistelrooy as the main center forward, or why Cannavaro got hardly any rest on the backline.

Thus, Schuster dropped a piece of non-secret news.

He said: "Negredo's performance in this match was very impressive. I'm certain that he will be part of our team next season."

This piece of news effectively confirmed Negredo's transfer, leaving Emery, who was preparing for an interview, with a darkened face.

Emery: I haven't offended any of you.

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