Midfielder.

Chapter 482

Chapter 482

The first to get tickets to the semi-finals, perhaps the confrontation between Chelsea and Benfica was ignored by many fans at the earliest. There is no way, the game that knows the result early is really not attractive.

Chelsea can only make Koeman more sad. Anyway, losing one game is a loss, and it is not surprising to lose two games. Koeman probably has become used to it by the end of the game.

And Benfica will not fire the Dutch coach. In the last two seasons, they have been able to beat Porto, thanks to Koeman's command, but compared with Mourinho, he still looks a little tender.

At least at the club level, the difference between Benfica and Chelsea is not only the level of coaching.

From the whole to the individual, their lack of ability has already doomed this confrontation to lose.

It's just that the disadvantage on the scene was not expected to be so great. I thought they could still gain some face at the Stadium of Light. If there was no unexpected goal, maybe they would really be kicked in disgrace.

But the face that can be saved by that goal is also very limited. At least in the eyes of many Benfica fans, this is a complete defeat. If you want to close the distance with Chelsea, it seems to be close to the Portuguese Super League Like the gap between the Premier League, at least in the short term, it is basically unrealistic.

The Benfica team should also feel relieved. You must know that even Barcelona was defeated in the game played at Stamford Bridge. Compared with the Spanish giants, their loss was not too bad.

Koeman also said to reporters after the game, "The gap is all-round, and it is normal to lose the game."

Maybe the Benfica players still have a bit of regret, but it's not regret that they failed to advance to the semi-finals, but that they failed to get more capital to show off from Chelsea, and they lost both games very simply.

However, compared to Chelsea's ease, the remaining three confrontations were not easy, especially the deadly clash between Arsenal and Juventus. The old lady who put down the ring in Turin, tried her best to kill the opponent.

The [-]-[-] win in the first round put Capello under a lot of pressure. If he can't knock down his opponent at home, it is estimated that the golden sign of the Italian coach will not be so easy.

Looking at Juventus' lineup, we can know how urgent Capello's idea of ​​killing Arsenal at home is, otherwise he would not have piled up Ibramovich and Trezeguet as two centers on the forward line.

And behind them are the Czech iron men Nedved and Del Piero, Emerson and Gianni Keida guarding the center respectively, and the back line is even more composed of Zambrotta, Cannavaro, Kovac and Kiev. Jelini is included in the starting list, the goalkeeper is still the steady Buffon, and the Juventus team has done its best.

Sarajeta and Mutu on the bench are also ready to go, and Capello is also going all out this time.

But Wenger holds two goal difference, and in the deadlock with Manchester United, he also rotated several main players, which is enough to ensure that he can use all his main players in the game.

Diaby and Gilberto's double defensive midfielders, together with Fabregas and Ljungberg's confusion in the middle, Pires' left flank may be the only midfielder Wenger asked to go up, and the forward line is even more important. Only one Henry was left to fight back. Wenger made it clear this time that he would fight the opponent to defend and counterattack.

Although such a move was ridiculed by many Italian media as outrageous, when the game started, those Italian reporters discovered that the French old man was not just playing tricks in front of experts.

He really knows how to play such an away game against Juventus. Eboue, Toure, Senderos and Gallas stared at the two big men on the forward line of the Juventus team. .

And without Camoranesi's instigation on the wing, it is difficult to send a threatening assist to his forward line with a simple pass from the wing. Wenger made up his mind to lock the opponent's offensive in the midfield .

Adding Lehmann as a lunatic goalkeeper, the shot of him rushing out of the goal and grabbing the pass over Trezeguet's head has already made Capello frown on the sidelines. This kind of three-dimensional defense is very difficult to break.

Capello led AC Milan to win more than [-] unbeaten games, relying on this strong defensive skills, but now it's just a bit of a turnaround, and Wenger also started to defend under his nose.

Although Henry cruises alone in the frontcourt and only occasionally gets a pass from Pires, it is enough to have such a person in Juventus' defense line, at least he can make the opponent not dare to press forward easily.

Moreover, Cesc Fabregas counterattacked after several steals in the frontcourt, which also made the opponent break out in a cold sweat.

Wenger is very used to letting Fabregas in the back row recently. I don’t know how Vieira, who is sitting in the stands at this time, will feel when he sees this scene. Maybe he will recall the days of Arsenal.

Although Juventus has a lot of offensive players, Nedved's long-range shots from the outside are also a must, and Del Piero has repeatedly threatened the gate guarded by Lehmann in his exclusive area, but no matter what Juventus No matter how violent the bombardment was, the iron barrel array Wenger set up for them has never been cracked.

After stiffening the opponent's violent attack for nearly 10 minutes, Henry's sneak attack almost made Buffon face embarrassment again, but such an unexpected sneak attack extinguished Juventus' offensive.

Especially after Nedved was shown a second yellow card by the referee for a tackle from behind and asked to come off the field, the breath that Juventus was holding in his chest suddenly dissipated, and he was no longer able to resist.

The zero-to-zero result is enough for Arsenal to advance to the semi-finals of the Champions League. For Wenger, who just lost the peak match against Manchester United, it is nothing less than a life-saving victory, at least a few days ago. The sound of getting out of class is gone, replaced by the cheers of Arsenal fans.

The semi-finals of the Champions League, for Arsenal, even in that undefeated season of winning the championship, they have never experienced such a refreshing feeling. Some people are even saying that this is a strategy designed by Wenger.

Instead of battling Chelsea to the end in the league, he has spare energy to seek a breakthrough in the Champions League. After all, Arsenal has already won the league title, but the Champions League has always been a magic obstacle that Wenger has no way to break through.

And for a player like Henry who has won the European Cup, the World Cup, and the Premier League title, perhaps only the Champions League is the trophy he wants to conquer the most. The condition for him to stay in the team is also to compete for the Champions League.

Regardless of whether this is a strategy devised by Wenger, Arsenal are now in the semi-finals anyway.

Of the four semi-final seats, the Premier League won two. It is estimated that no one can say that the Premier League is an upstart. The champion of last season and the semi-finals of this season, the dominance of the Premier League is gradually increasing.

Even if Serie A wants to prove that it can still maintain the title of the world's number one league, under this background, it can only accept the fact that the Premier League has overshadowed its limelight. In the end, none of the Serie A teams could reap any benefits. From AC Milan to Juventus now, they all fell under the feet of Premier League opponents. This kind of direct dialogue is very telling.

I don't know what Capello thinks about his opponent using his best tactics to kill him. Anyway, this feeling will not be very happy, at least now he has to face the embarrassing situation of being eliminated from the Champions League.

It was hard to get Vieira and Emerson from Arsenal to form a pair of iron waists, but they were eliminated by his old club in a blink of an eye. This effect is really black and humorous.

Spending money, adding benefits to the opponent, and then watching the opponent step on him to successfully advance to the semi-finals of the Champions League, this feeling is really very subtle, at least in Vieira's eyes, it really feels like this.

And many English media mentioned this in articles after the game, "Vieira's departure has earned enough transfer fees for Arsenal, and his successor is obviously better than him to adapt to the team."

This is not a blatant slap in the face, but at least this kind of statement makes Vieira's departure insignificant. Arsenal fans who still miss the old captain a little bit, this time they will not continue to be so nostalgic.

Those who clamored that Vieira shouldn't leave before have also shut up. At least in these two games, Vieira has begun to gradually decline, while Fabregas is in a terrifying rise.

He is less than 20 years old this year, and the days to come are still long. God knows how far he can grow, the next Vieira?Or better than that old captain?Maybe, everything is possible.

Who dares to predict what the Spanish kid will grow up to in a year?Maybe he will become the new core of Arsenal, even more important than Henry, maybe the choice of youth is not so bad.

Anyway, there are not many people criticizing Wenger's choice of tactics and personnel allocation. Football games are like this, and it's fine to win. As for the process, only the paranoid will pay attention.

Regarding Arsenal's break into the Champions League semi-finals, even Ferguson curled his lips during the interview. Although he didn't say anything, it can be seen that Sir Alex is still a little jealous of Wenger's ability to win such a result.

However, after the remaining two games on the second day, Wenger did not feel so relaxed, because Arsenal's opponent in the semi-finals was AC Milan, also from Serie A, and this game was definitely not easy to play.

Although the French club defended their home court, they were unable to cross the high wall of AC Milan after all. They were blocked from the semi-finals of the Champions League for three consecutive seasons. With three goals in the whole game, they advanced smoothly with a total score of [-] to [-].

Although in the first half of the game, the Lyon team was able to equalize the score less than 10 minutes after Inzaghi opened the scoring, and at one point even held his ticket to the semi-finals, but faced with Shevchenko and Inzaghi. Zaghi's double ghost hit the goal, and they still fell into collapse in the last 10 minutes.

Inzaghi scored twice in the whole game, and Wenger frowned in front of the TV once with a performance on the crossbar. It is estimated that no one has forgotten that in the decisive battle last season, this thin man was just a little bit short of being able to save The team, if it weren't for Lin Yi's outbreak, maybe Milan would have lifted the trophy.

If you want to defend this ghost-like guy with the current Arsenal's defense, it is really difficult. After all, Arsenal's defense is not as airtight as Chelsea's.

Can Arsenal completely suppress a guy who can't even guard against Chelsea?It is estimated that Wenger is also considering such a problem now. Arsenal met AC Milan, which made Wenger feel sad, and it is a difficult difficulty to overcome. Whether Arsenal can go further in the Champions League may only depend on Wenger .

Mourinho is looking forward to this confrontation. Whether it is Arsenal, which has become a bit utilitarian recently, or AC Milan, which has always been excellent in offense and defense, they may become Chelsea's next opponent.

Compared with Wenger's melancholy, the opponents left for Chelsea in the semi-finals are not so fierce, but they can successfully complete the leap from Inter Milan, and Villarreal is definitely a difficult opponent to deal with.

It is estimated that before the final whistle of this game, no one would think that Inter Milan would stumble on such a team that has just emerged from La Liga in the past two seasons, but the fact is so cruel. Inter Milan is not only stumbled , and the price paid was also very heavy. They were expecting to break into the Champions League semi-finals and create the club's recent success, but it turned out that this was very difficult.

The [-]-[-] win in the first round may have given Inter Milan a certain bargaining chip. Mancini also said before the start of the game that he should make full use of his advantage of winning the first game in the away game, but he is obviously nothing A master tactician, his excessive pursuit of stability and victory caused Inter Milan to lose the rhythm of the game.

And Mancini's tactical thinking is obviously a bit confused, a game that should have been a defensive counterattack.

But this guy actually arranged for Adriano's side to be a skilled partner like Recoba.

He didn't use a fast horse like Martins, and he didn't think of replacing Recoba with Martins until he really realized that he should attack, but at that time there were less than 10 minutes left in the game.

Love Song Stadium, a beautiful name, but just like real lovers are always a little dangerous, this stadium also let the Inter Milan team know what is called a hidden threat.

Although it was Villarreal's main attack, under the management of Riquelme, the yellow submarine was not in a hurry to press up, but was looking for opportunities in passing the ball again and again until nearly 10 minutes into the second half They were not impatient and found a one-hit chance in this slow-cooked meat, Riquelme's free-kick assist, allowing Forlan's diving header from the front point to pass through Serbia. Thrall's hands, and before that, it seemed that the deadly threat had never appeared.

It wasn't until the ball rolled into the net that Inter understood what had happened, but it was too late.

The time left for them is less than half an hour, and the midfielder of the Villarreal team has Riquelme, a master figure in rhythm control, who has always firmly controlled the situation on the field. Inter Milan sometimes In order to steal the ball, they can only use foul tactics, and let the game time pass by a little bit.

Clever tactical arrangements, super execution ability, the birth of a dark horse is not only due to luck.

Villarreal finally made the whole of Spain cheer for them, and beating Inter Milan finally saved a trace of blood for La Liga in the Champions League, but they will meet Chelsea in the end.

Although the Villarreal team has said from top to bottom that they have done their best, and they will not insist on the result of the semi-finals, but this kind of argument is a signal in Mourinho's view.

"After the UEFA Champions League enters the knockout rounds, it's all about strength. Being able to break into the semi-finals is definitely not something that can be done by luck. The more relaxed the opponent's attitude, the more difficult these guys are."

If he could choose, Mourinho would rather fight Inter Milan to the death than to meet a dark polo team with high morale. He himself has become the biggest dark horse in the Champions League. What kind of team can replicate Porto's championship experience, especially when they are about to meet them, "Stadio, Yellow Submarine, Riquelme, Forlan, Pellegrini."

Mourinho silently chanted these things that only he could hear. The pressure that a dark horse can bring is not less than that of a rich team. There is no weak team that can reach the semi-finals.

As for Mancini's failure, in Mourinho's view, it was nothing more than an inevitability. As a center forward of Adriano's level, he had to play ball control in the away game instead of resolutely counterattacking.

There were only two shots in the entire first half, and Inter Milan was not wronged by being eliminated in such a state.

It's just that Mancini's failure made Mourinho start to pay attention to Villarreal's slow offensive rhythm. It may be a bit counter-trend, but this kind of precise delivery is indeed very lethal.

"As you wish, you can finally meet that Argentine midfield genius." Watching the video of Villarreal, Brito said to Lin Yi, but in the eyes of the assistant coach of Chelsea, Once this kind of dark polo team enters the state, their explosive power in the game must be amazing.

"The semi-finals will definitely be very interesting." As for who the opponent is, Lin Yi has never been so picky. He is the kind of person who will be satisfied when he has a match. To him, it makes no difference who he can meet.

It's just that it's a little exciting to meet such a traditional midfield organizer. When slow and fast meets lightning, I don't know what kind of dazzling sparks this collision will burst out.

However, when Argentina's midfield genius meets Chelsea's absolute core, perhaps such a collision will make the confrontation in the semi-finals a little more colorful, and the midfield fight will be an absolute highlight.

At least from the outside world's point of view, although the strength of this game is not obvious, it is definitely regarded as Chelsea's advantage. However, no one can tell how much energy a dark horse has.

Mourinho is also a dark horse, is he ready to lose?The existence of Villarreal is a potential threat, but compared with Mourinho's frowning, Lin Yi is more looking forward to it.

Dark horse?Lin Yi smiled. . .Lao Tzu also came from the dark horse era. . .

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(End of this chapter)