mtl008 Chapter 454 Don't You Believe Me?
Chapter 454 Don't You Believe Me?
Chapter 454 Don't You Believe Me?
April [-], San Siro Stadium in Milan.
In the second round of the knockout round of the Champions League quarter-finals, Barcelona challenged AC Milan away.
Amidst the cheers of nearly [-] red and black fans at the scene, AC Milan launched a fierce attack on Barcelona from the very beginning.
This is somewhat beyond Barcelona's expectations.
According to Rijkaard's pre-match deployment, he hopes to use technical advantages to control the ball, slow down the rhythm, ensure his own advantage in the situation, and then slowly organize an attack on AC Milan.
But Ancelotti obviously does not want to see such a situation, he prefers the team to speed up the attack, especially Kaka.
The Brazilian players advance very quickly with the ball. Coupled with the double forwards Inzaghi and Shevchenko, this makes AC Milan's transition from defense to offense very efficient. Coupled with Barcelona's typical strong offense and weak defense, he believes that as long as AC Milan advances quickly, Barcelona's defense will be difficult to parry.
At the beginning of the game, Kaka won a corner kick for AC Milan with a breakthrough with the ball.
After only 1 minute, Shevchenko broke through with the ball in the frontcourt, created Puyol's foul, and won a free kick for AC Milan. Pirlo's free kick created Stam's close-range header.
Unlike the fast-paced offense, AC Milan's defense has very strict restrictions on Barcelona's front trident, and constantly uses foul tactics to stop Barcelona's offense and interrupt Barcelona's rhythm.
Su Dong, Ronaldinho and Messi all encountered fouls from each other, but their movements were relatively clean, all for defensive purposes, which also made Barcelona helpless.
After entering the 10th minute, AC Milan played a wave of climax and created two very threatening shooting opportunities. Although they failed to score, it was enough to make Barcelona break into a cold sweat.
On the contrary, Barcelona, when the opening tactical deployment was disrupted by the opponent, took the initiative to adopt a cautious strategy, and tried to slow down the tempo and control the ball, so that in the first 10 minutes of the game, they even failed to form a threatening shot.
The first time Sudong made a threat in the game was in the No.206 minute. After receiving a pass from Iniesta in the backcourt, he got rid of Karadze and broke through with the ball. Karadze chased after him. Under the last resort, he fouled with a tackle from behind and got a yellow card, giving Barcelona a free kick in a good position in the frontcourt.
But unfortunately, Ronaldinho's free kick hit the wall directly.
After 25 minutes, AC Milan's offense began to slow down, Barcelona's technical advantages gradually emerged, and possession of the ball began to increase, but facing AC Milan's defense, Barcelona still failed to create a threatening offense.
This makes the game look a bit stalemate.
After Ancelotti's opening attack failed, he began to adopt a tactic of defending and counterattacking.
Barcelona's most threatening attack in the first half occurred in No. 307 minutes. Su Dong and Ronaldinho made a two-for-one cooperation in a narrow range at the top of the penalty area and sent the ball to the right. However, Messi's subsequent shot made Dida break out in a cold sweat, but failed to score.
In the first half, it ended with a [-]-[-] handshake.
……
"It wasn't a great first half!"
The famous Spanish football commentator De La Morena summarized the performance of the two teams after the first half.
"The ball possession rate of the two sides is 51 to 49, which can be said to be between the two sides, and Barcelona is even slightly inferior. It is not difficult to see that Rijkaard's starting tactics have not worked. He originally hoped to use Messi on the right to launch an attack, so that Ronaldinho and Sudong will show their sharpness."
"But the result was a bit surprising. Maltinho froze Messi, coupled with AC Milan's opening attack tactics, which made Barcelona's rhythm a bit chaotic, and they didn't even control the ball. This is indeed a pity."
"Of course, we have always said that what Barcelona have done better this season than last season is the defense. Marcos Senna is as stable as ever in the midfielder position, so that Kaka's performance is not as good as before."
"Inzaghi and Andriy Shevchenko are the two spikes of AC Milan, but unfortunately, they failed to assassinate Barcelona. This has a certain relationship with AC Milan's diamond-shaped midfield. Kaka was restrained by Marcos Senna. Pirlo was dragged to the end, but was frequently interfered by Su Dong, which made AC Milan's midfield run very poorly."
"Barcelona's situation is not much better. Neither Messi nor Iniesta have played their due strength. This is also related to the restrictions of AC Milan. I believe that if Barcelona's midfielder Harvey is present at this moment, the situation will be better. Unfortunately, Harvey is still recovering from his injuries."
"Now, we can only hope that Barcelona's performance in the second half will improve."
"Especially Su Dong, he hasn't drawn his sharp knife out of its sheath for a long time!"
……
"Possession of the ball, or possession of the ball!"
In the dressing room, Rijkaard kept emphasizing Barca's core priorities.
He always firmly believes that as long as he holds the ball, Barcelona will have a chance.
The stalemate in the first half was because the rhythm was disrupted by AC Milan and the possession of the ball was also lost to the opponent.
You know, AC Milan is also a team that is very good at possession of the ball.
Of course, in terms of technical advantages, Barcelona is ahead of AC Milan.
This is why Rijkaard dared to ask the team to hold the ball.
"We don't fight fast-paced opponents, first slow down the tempo, and slowly consume the opponent's physical strength, we will have a chance." Ten Carter also firmly believes that Barcelona's strength is more dominant than AC Milan.
Everyone in the locker room also expressed their opinions one after another, giving their own judgments based on the situation they encountered in the first half of the game.
"I think that if the score remains zero-to-zero, AC Milan will definitely come out to play. They consume more energy than us and are older than us. In this regard, we have an advantage. Ancelotti will not want to drag the game into overtime."
Su Dong's idea was also recognized by his teammates. They all felt that AC Milan would not want overtime.
In overtime, AC Milan's advantage will be smaller, and Barcelona's may be even greater.
"We should make good use of their thinking, when they press out, take the initiative to retreat, and then hit them behind." Rijkaard said with a smile.
As the head coach, he is quite depressed.
Every time he meets Ancelotti's old teammate, he is deflated.
Last season's Champions League final was kicked out in the first half, and in the two games this season, the same was true in the first half. The tactics were completely suppressed, which made Rijkaard very depressed.
"Then if they really press on, which point should we look for when we counterattack?" Marcos asked suddenly.
There was a sudden silence in the locker room.
Everyone looked at each other, and many people looked at Su Dong, and then at Ronaldinho and Messi.
Under normal circumstances, it must be Su Dong, there is no second sentence, but recently, Su Dong's scoring luck is indeed not very good, and his feet are not going well.
Messi didn't perform well tonight, he must have no chance, Ronaldinho is very excited tonight...
Rijkaard saw everyone's reactions in his eyes, and he was also hesitating about this question.
Looking for Su Dong?Or looking for Ronaldinho?
Su Dong also noticed the reactions of his teammates and the coaching staff. He also knew what everyone was hesitating about, but he still took a deep breath, stood up, looked around everyone, and said loudly: "Pass it to me!"
Everyone in the locker room was taken aback.
"Su, are you sure?" Rijkaard asked with concern.
Su Dong smiled confidently, "Don't you believe me?"
Everyone was stunned.
If it was in the past, I would definitely believe it, but now... I am somewhat shaken.
"I believe it!" Messi stood up.
"I believe it too!" Iniesta also stood up, "No one is more eager to win than Su. If he says yes, he will do it!"
"That's right, I support you, Sue!" Marcos Senna also responded.
At the critical moment, Su Dong's buddies finally spoke out.
Some people supported it, and Su Dong was the number one star in the team, so the others naturally followed suit.
"Su, I didn't doubt what you mean, I just..." Rijkaard walked to Su Dong's side and explained softly.
"I understand." Su Dong nodded.
It's only human because Rijkaard wants to win.
The Dutch black swan has never been a person who has the courage to make decisions. On the contrary, he has always been concerned about gains and losses.
This is also an old problem of his on-the-spot command.
…………
…………
The second half of the game restarted.
Barcelona tried hard to keep the ball from the start.
Their skills are more delicate, the ability to control the ball, the coordination of passing and cutting, especially the ability to play the ball with one kick, is much higher than that of AC Milan, which makes it difficult for AC Milan to stop them when they try their best to control the ball.
A passer always consumes less than a grabber.
So Barcelona played very patiently, not in a hurry, took the ball slowly, slowed down the rhythm, and let AC Milan grab it.
In view of AC Milan's lack of long-range shots, once Barcelona lost the ball, they quickly retreated to the penalty area, strengthened the defense in the middle, and boldly contracted. This made AC Milan's several counterattacks in the second half fail to play a threat.
Kaka's threat is also greatly reduced.
Gradually, as time goes by, it can be clearly seen that AC Milan is gradually pressing forward, grabbing more and more forward.
Barcelona continued to adopt shrinkage, firmly controlled the ball, and launched long passes whenever they had the opportunity.
AC Milan had already taken precautions against this. Barcelona's two long passes after 10 and [-] minutes failed to create a threat.
This made Su Dong, who was at the front, shake his head and wave to his teammates behind him.
Such a long pass is not good, lacks pertinence, is not precise enough, and is not threatening.
Messi immediately gestured towards his teammates, indicating that he would retreat to respond, and Iniesta also said that he could receive the ball.
Ancelotti's tactical sense is also very keen, aware of Barcelona's long pass intention.
Therefore, he immediately asked Stam and Nesta to pay attention to Su Dong, and to keep an eye on him no matter what.
But Ancelotti did not give instructions on the pressure on the frontcourt.
The reason is simple, he really needs to score!
With the average age of AC Milan and the consumption of the game, the odds of winning will be even lower if they enter overtime.
Barcelona is a well-known conspiracy.
Ancelotti can only gamble.
See whether the Rossoneri scored first or Barcelona's counterattack worked earlier.
(End of this chapter)