NOVEL NEXT Football: The butcher in the midfield at the start, the magic bird stunned
Chapter 409 Fighting against the old club again, the ultimate goal of the club's grand slam
3 to 4, the score on the big screen was frozen, and the seven-goal match was also the final of an English domestic cup match with the largest score recently.
Lonely and unwilling, Arteta walked into the field, pulled up the sad disciples from the lawn, encouraged them, and then lined up with them, climbed up the steps from the stands, and received the silver medal symbolizing the runner-up.
On the other side, Ten Hag is celebrating with Manchester United players on the field.
To be honest, he conceded 3 goals in the opening 2 minutes, and he himself felt that he might repeat the tragedy of being beaten 7-0 by Liverpool tonight.
Fortunately, the team in front of us is no longer the team from last season. The players have a backbone and a metronome. Once the situation gets out of control, Chen Xiaoliang will immediately stand up and lead the players to make adjustments.
This can save Ten Hag a lot of trouble, allowing him to observe more changes in his opponents, and work hard on personnel arrangements and tactical adjustments in a timely manner.
The worst situation for a head coach on the sidelines is to be "obsessed with authority" and "impulsive".
Whether it's the type who sits on the sidelines for the entire game, or the type who keeps yelling at remote players on the sidelines, it will actually affect the performance of the players.
After all, the personalities of the players are not consistent. Some players are crazy. The more the head coach pays attention to him, the more energetic he is, while some players like to focus on their own world, and feel nervous and unable to concentrate when they are disturbed by the outside world.
At this moment, Ten Hag finally realized what Sir Alex Ferguson once told him, what it was like to have a "field commander" like Roy Keane.
The Arsenal players walked down from the royal box stands amid the applause of encouragement from the audience, which meant that it was the turn of the Manchester United team to play.
Behind Chen Xiaoliang are B Fee, Casemiro, and De Gea who is injured and wearing civilian clothes. Behind him are the former captain Maguire, Benzema, Rashford, Luke Shaw, Varane waited for the players with high status in the dressing room, and then the other players.
They walked up Wembley's famous 107 steps. Although there were security guards along the way, fans in the stands on both sides still came up excitedly and extended their hands, wanting to shake hands with these world-famous players.
Chen Xiaoliang shook almost every outstretched hand.
Came to the royal box stand, all the players lined up on both sides, Chen Xiaoliang took over the League Cup trophy from the Thai Sathien Setthasit (Sathien Setthasit), the chairman of Carabao Company, but in the process He froze for a moment because he saw that the base of the trophy was separated from the trophy.
B Fei on the side immediately showed the appearance of an old player: "This trophy is like this. When it is lifted, the base and the body of the cup are not connected together."
Chen Xiaoliang turned around and smiled: "It seems that you were shocked last year too, right? Haha."
B Fei: "Made, you discovered all of this."
The trophy of the League Cup is not big, but it is different from other trophies in that it has three handles on the cup. Chen Xiaoliang stands in the middle and holds the inner one, and B Fei and Casemiro on the left and right hold each side.
The two were also stunned for a moment, they didn't expect Chen Xiaoliang to invite them to toast together.
Chen Xiaoliang: "This is the first trophy we won together, let us hold him up together!"
Under the preparatory sound of "Oh..." from all the players, the three first lowered the trophy, and then lifted it vigorously together. The audience immediately shouted "Yeah" together.
After toasting, Chen Xiaoliang immediately handed over the trophy to teammates on both sides, so that everyone can enjoy the exciting moment of toasting.
For him, the moment the trophy is lifted, the journey of this championship is over.
Then according to the procedures, the trophy went around and returned to Chen Xiaoliang's hands. He led the team down the 107 steps again, returned to the podium that had been set up on the field, toasted and took a group photo again, and went around the field to thank the fans .
When everyone returned to the player tunnel, Arsenal's players had already left, while owner Jassim, Sir Alex Ferguson, David Gill and other directors of the Manchester United club greeted and paid tribute to the players who had returned from victory.
When shaking hands with Chen Xiaoliang, the 83-year-old Sir Alex Ferguson did not spare any words of praise, and the boss Jasim also laughed heartily.
Ferguson: "Steven (Gerrard) didn't come today, he knew you would definitely win the championship, and he couldn't come to celebrate Manchester United's championship, but I believe he must be watching TV and must be hating me for dragging you last summer Here we are."
Chen Xiaoliang: "Haha, I won't mention the past, but I can guarantee that this trophy is just the beginning."
However, unlike the atmosphere of celebration, the reporters still wanted to find some news other than the championship. They asked Chen Xiaoliang why he greeted Arsenal's players and coaches after the game, but did not greet Rice. Chen Xiaoliang's answer yes:
"As a player who is watched by countless people every moment on the court, there are three things I will not do."
"First, flagrant fouls ruin someone's career."
"Second, diving to cheat a penalty kick."
"Third, acting to cheat fouls."
"What we did was not just for a while, not just for one game. Even if we won the game in a dirty way, the memory of the Internet, the media, and the fans will always remember what you did."
Reporter: "Are you referring to Rice's fall?"
Chen Xiaoliang smiled and did not respond positively: "I only know that no matter which team's fans they are, they all hope that the team they support can rely on strength and hard work to win the opponent openly."
After speaking, he walked away.
In the early morning of the next day, Chen Xiaoliang routinely turned on the system in bed.
Last night's champion, two goals and one assist won the best of the game, and won 14 skill points (58→72)
The card draw of [Aristocratic Mission] is to draw Bergkamp's back card.
However, the content of this card made Chen Xiaoliang almost burst out laughing:
[Effect: When holding the ball with your back, dribbling and dribbling +2]
[Restriction: Cannot be used in the next game after taking the plane]
Older fans know that Arsenal star Bergkamp has a severe fear of flying, and flying will make him feel strongly uncomfortable, so he will either drive himself or take a train for away games.
For away games in Europe, he would take the Channel Tunnel between England and France, and he would not even take a plane by boat. For this reason, he gave up many long-distance away games, and even bid farewell to the country at the age of 2000 after the European Cup in 31 One of the reasons is that the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan cannot avoid shuttling between cities in the two countries...it is almost unrealistic not to fly.
After taking the rewards, the next step is the achievements.
[The achievement of reversing after falling behind by two goals in the final has been achieved]
[Achievement Reward: Passive Skill Big Heart +1]
[Passive skill LV2: Big heart, when the team falls behind by 2 goals, two random attributes will increase by 2 points]
Although it is better than LV1, it still depends on luck. If you are unlucky, there will still be embarrassing things like adding it to a corner kick...
Then back to the main interface, Chen Xiaoliang found that there was a dark golden light shining on the [Ball King Battle], which was the same as the usual pattern unlocked with achievements, but the color was not golden, but dark golden.
Those who have played the game basically know that dark gold is usually higher than gold.
He clicked in and saw that a series of achievements in the Ball King system had been unlocked. The first step:
[Ultimate dominance of a single wealthy club]
【英格兰联赛杯1/1，英超联赛0/1、英格兰足总杯0/1，社区盾杯0/1、欧冠联赛0/1、欧洲超级杯0/1、新世俱杯0/1】
Then when this achievement is completed, you can get a big achievement [Club Grand Slam], and the even bigger achievement above [Club Grand Slam] is those two extremely sacred words-[Ball King].
The problem is [Club Grand Slam] is only one of several achievements to unlock the ball king...
Unlocked at the same time, there is also [Personal Honor Ultimate Control]
【金球奖1/5、世界足球先生1/5，?????? 0/1，??????×/√】
In addition to these two series of achievements, just like the "???" seen in [Personal Honor Ultimate Domination], below these two achievements, there is a [???] series of achievements.
Chen Xiaoliang rubbed his eyes to confirm that he read it correctly. It was indeed a series of question marks that replaced the undisplayed content.
Only when all these three achievements are completed, the progress of the ball king will reach 100%.
Chen Xiaoliang was in a daze for a while, he knew what the requirements for achievement were, and he also knew that he was on the way to accomplish these achievements, but it still needed time, a lot of time.
After recovering, he turned off the system, washed up, and set off to return to Manchester with the team.
After returning to Manchester City, the team did not have a holiday arrangement, but assembled directly on the afternoon of March 3 and flew to Rome, the capital of Italy.
On the night when Chen Xiaoliang led Manchester United to win the League Cup, Gerrard's Roma was repelled by Inter Milan 2-1 away and is still ranked third in the league.
Two days later, Chen Xiaoliang revisited his hometown and played against Rome in the second round of the UEFA Champions League round of 16 at the Stadio Olimpico.
Although the official press conference has not yet been held, the media has already exploded.
Facing his former club and former mentor, Chen Xiaoliang still has many players in the Roma team who are inextricably linked to Manchester United. This script is enough for reporters to make up many jokes.
But the feelings of the fans are real. At the Fiumicino Airport in Rome, thousands of fans greeted Chen Xiaoliang at the pick-up gate. Many of them held posters of Kwa and Sesco, thank you The never-forgotten glory these three brought to the city of Rome.
In order to avoid affecting the preparations of both sides, the Italian Football Association directly let Manchester United use the Olympic Stadium for preparation training, and the 15-minute media public training session also attracted hundreds of reporters to come and shoot.
Ten Hag was also very savvy. He promised at the press conference the day before the game that Chen Xiaoliang, Sesco and Kwa would start together, because "the three of them, especially Chen, have immeasurable importance in the hearts of the fans in this city." importance".
He did what he said, and Manchester United even sent Joe Hart as a starter to allow the veteran to complete his Champions League debut after loan.
Gerrard told the media that fans' love for Chen Xiaoliang will not affect their support for Roma, and they prefer to see the team perform at a high level at home in front of Chen Xiaoliang.
The gap of 2 goals does not mean that there is no suspense in this round of knockout rounds, and his players are preparing to create miracles.
An hour before the game, the starting lineup was announced, Manchester United:
Goalkeeper Joe Hart;
Back four Dalot, Varane, Lindelof, Luke Shaw;
Double defensive midfielder B Fei, Tim Bell, central midfielder Chen Xiaoliang;
The three forwards are Kwa, Sesco and Anthony.
Here in Rome:
goalkeeper Patricio;
Three central defenders Mancini, Tuanzebe, Ito Hiroki;
Wingbacks Zalewski, Spinazzola;
Double defensive midfielders Kokcu and Wijnaldum;
Double midfielder Van der Beek, Pellegrini;
Forward Vitor Roque.
Although both sides have deployed the strongest lineup within the range of rotation, anyone with a discerning eye can see that there is still a clear gap between the two teams' lineups. This makes Gerrard still use three central defenders and two wings even if he is fighting at home. A seven-man defensive configuration with Wei and double defensive midfielders.
In the first half, the visiting team Manchester United kicked off first, and soon formed a suppression of Roma.
Roma fans are not bothered by the extremely low ball possession rate under defensive counterattacks, because they won the Triple Crown last season by giving up the ball and resolute counterattacks.
Roma fans will only be delighted if Gerrard can design a bus at the level of Mourinho.
But the problem is that the designer has it, but the driver is gone.
No matter whether it is Kokku, Pellegrini or Roque, no one can replace Chen Xiaoliang's role.
In modern football, if the midfield is suppressed, it means that the scene is completely suppressed.
In the 7th minute, Chen Xiaoliang took a long shot 37 meters away from the goal, which was blocked by Roma goalkeeper Patricio.
De Rossi in the live broadcast room said that this ball is like Chen Xiaoliang testing whether his old teammate Patricio is still familiar with his long-range shooting habits.
In the 19th minute, Manchester United took a corner kick, B Fei took it from the left, Varane fought for the top in the middle, and the ball was slightly higher.
In the 23rd minute, Van der Beek dribbled the ball in the frontcourt and prepared to attack. Chen Xiaoliang, who was withdrawn, caught up from behind and stretched out his legs to tackle the ball.
After Van der Beek's ball was broken, he tripped over Chen Xiaoliang's right leg, lost his balance and fell forward. He wanted to talk to Chen Xiaoliang when he got up, and then an interesting scene happened. Before Roma's teammates went up to try to persuade him to fight, he saw that the situation was not good. The wonderful Timber and Lima ran over first.
One of them has been teammates with Van der Beek for a year, and the other came to the Ajax Youth Academy at the age of 13. When Ten Hag was promoted to the first team training in 2019, they were both produced by the Ajax Youth Academy. Van der Beek was the main attacking midfielder of the team at that time.
Timber pulled Van der Beek and said, "Brother, don't be like this, calm down."
Van der Beek: "Your elbow is out..." In the middle of speaking, Van der Beek also realized that something was wrong, and now the two are opponents, "He will hurt me if he shovels like this."
Lima, who has a direct personality, is not as gentle as Timber. He said directly to Van der Beek: "If he really wants you to be injured, you have left the field now."
Pellegrini ran over and pushed Chen Xiaoliang away gently. It seemed that he was standing up for Van der Beek, but in fact he was telling Chen Xiaoliang not to get into trouble.
Teammates and opponents both ran to protect the same person in a verbal conflict, which is really rare in football games.
Ten Hag on the sidelines laughed secretly, while Gerrard shook his head.
The episode passed in a flash, and the game continued to be controlled by Manchester United.
The most eye-catching performance tonight was Kwa. Facing his familiar old teammates Zalewski and Mancini, he kept changing direction, bottoming, cutting inside, and getting rid of it like going around a column.
Roma’s most dangerous attack in the first half was Pellegrini’s direct free kick in the frontcourt in the 33rd minute. Hart blocked the baseline.
In the 41st minute, the balance of the score was broken. Chen Xiaoliang was pressed by Kokku in the middle, and he directly retreated to his own half to ask for the ball.
Lindelof saw the boss coming and immediately sent the ball.
Chen Xiaoliang turned around after receiving the ball, only looked up for a moment, and immediately raised his foot to kick the ball.
Just when everyone inside and outside the field was wondering what Chen Xiaoliang was going to do, the ball had already flown over half of the field and arrived at the top of the arc in front of the penalty area in Rome, where a figure had turned offside from the left and circled to The defender's back is ready to catch the ball!
Neither Mancini nor Tuanzebe saw Kwa coming in from the side, but Patricio, who realized that the situation was not good, had already attacked from the goal line and was ready to try his best to intercept.
Kwa wanted to catch the ball and attack again, but from the corner of his eye, he caught Patricio's attack, leaped lightly at the top of the arc, headed it, and hoisted the ball towards Rome's goal!
Lou Yichen: "Pretty!"
"An assist that spanned half the court!"
"Totally exceeded the expectations of the entire Roma defense."
Liu Yue: "After the last League Cup match, Lineker's words were reposted by media all over the world, and this moment once again proves that his words are right."
"In fact, everyone has seen many times that when Xiaoliang penetrates forward into the penalty area, he can form a great impact on the goal, but like now, he retreats to the position of the midfielder, and he can directly use his super power to attack the goal. Strong passing ability, helping teammates score goals."
"Such players are almost impossible to defend in actual combat. At least judging from the current situation, the major teams have not found a good way to defend Chen Xiaoliang. Perhaps the most effective way is to use offense and use like Arsenal and Manchester City. Control the ball, push Manchester United's formation back as a whole, try to keep Chen Xiaoliang away from his own half, and then once the offense and defense switch, rely on the ability of the midfielders to jointly prevent Chen Xiaoliang from approaching the penalty area."
Lou Yichen: "Old Liu hits the nail on the head, which is why Manchester United is no longer interested in Barcelona's Frankie de Jong after he has him, but instead buys a more defensive and confrontational player. Linkovich."
"Now there are rumors that Manchester United will send away the veteran Eriksson in the summer and buy a young defensive midfielder as a rotation for Casemiro."
Liu Yue: "Based on Manchester United's current performance and the transfer budget that they don't have to worry about after Jassim takes over, and the fact that the Financial Fair Play Act can be further avoided after the revenue has increased significantly, it will not be a problem for them to buy anyone."
"Judging from the current situation, whether it is outside expectations or the odds of bookmakers, Manchester United can already compete with Pep Guardiola's Manchester City in the Champions League and Premier League.
"The biggest suspense in the league is the result of the second derby between the two teams, while the Champions League depends on which opponents each side will draw in the draw from the quarterfinals to the final."
I am back, but I have to go to work for 12 consecutive days, which is miserable
Lonely and unwilling, Arteta walked into the field, pulled up the sad disciples from the lawn, encouraged them, and then lined up with them, climbed up the steps from the stands, and received the silver medal symbolizing the runner-up.
On the other side, Ten Hag is celebrating with Manchester United players on the field.
To be honest, he conceded 3 goals in the opening 2 minutes, and he himself felt that he might repeat the tragedy of being beaten 7-0 by Liverpool tonight.
Fortunately, the team in front of us is no longer the team from last season. The players have a backbone and a metronome. Once the situation gets out of control, Chen Xiaoliang will immediately stand up and lead the players to make adjustments.
This can save Ten Hag a lot of trouble, allowing him to observe more changes in his opponents, and work hard on personnel arrangements and tactical adjustments in a timely manner.
The worst situation for a head coach on the sidelines is to be "obsessed with authority" and "impulsive".
Whether it's the type who sits on the sidelines for the entire game, or the type who keeps yelling at remote players on the sidelines, it will actually affect the performance of the players.
After all, the personalities of the players are not consistent. Some players are crazy. The more the head coach pays attention to him, the more energetic he is, while some players like to focus on their own world, and feel nervous and unable to concentrate when they are disturbed by the outside world.
At this moment, Ten Hag finally realized what Sir Alex Ferguson once told him, what it was like to have a "field commander" like Roy Keane.
The Arsenal players walked down from the royal box stands amid the applause of encouragement from the audience, which meant that it was the turn of the Manchester United team to play.
Behind Chen Xiaoliang are B Fee, Casemiro, and De Gea who is injured and wearing civilian clothes. Behind him are the former captain Maguire, Benzema, Rashford, Luke Shaw, Varane waited for the players with high status in the dressing room, and then the other players.
They walked up Wembley's famous 107 steps. Although there were security guards along the way, fans in the stands on both sides still came up excitedly and extended their hands, wanting to shake hands with these world-famous players.
Chen Xiaoliang shook almost every outstretched hand.
Came to the royal box stand, all the players lined up on both sides, Chen Xiaoliang took over the League Cup trophy from the Thai Sathien Setthasit (Sathien Setthasit), the chairman of Carabao Company, but in the process He froze for a moment because he saw that the base of the trophy was separated from the trophy.
B Fei on the side immediately showed the appearance of an old player: "This trophy is like this. When it is lifted, the base and the body of the cup are not connected together."
Chen Xiaoliang turned around and smiled: "It seems that you were shocked last year too, right? Haha."
B Fei: "Made, you discovered all of this."
The trophy of the League Cup is not big, but it is different from other trophies in that it has three handles on the cup. Chen Xiaoliang stands in the middle and holds the inner one, and B Fei and Casemiro on the left and right hold each side.
The two were also stunned for a moment, they didn't expect Chen Xiaoliang to invite them to toast together.
Chen Xiaoliang: "This is the first trophy we won together, let us hold him up together!"
Under the preparatory sound of "Oh..." from all the players, the three first lowered the trophy, and then lifted it vigorously together. The audience immediately shouted "Yeah" together.
After toasting, Chen Xiaoliang immediately handed over the trophy to teammates on both sides, so that everyone can enjoy the exciting moment of toasting.
For him, the moment the trophy is lifted, the journey of this championship is over.
Then according to the procedures, the trophy went around and returned to Chen Xiaoliang's hands. He led the team down the 107 steps again, returned to the podium that had been set up on the field, toasted and took a group photo again, and went around the field to thank the fans .
When everyone returned to the player tunnel, Arsenal's players had already left, while owner Jassim, Sir Alex Ferguson, David Gill and other directors of the Manchester United club greeted and paid tribute to the players who had returned from victory.
When shaking hands with Chen Xiaoliang, the 83-year-old Sir Alex Ferguson did not spare any words of praise, and the boss Jasim also laughed heartily.
Ferguson: "Steven (Gerrard) didn't come today, he knew you would definitely win the championship, and he couldn't come to celebrate Manchester United's championship, but I believe he must be watching TV and must be hating me for dragging you last summer Here we are."
Chen Xiaoliang: "Haha, I won't mention the past, but I can guarantee that this trophy is just the beginning."
However, unlike the atmosphere of celebration, the reporters still wanted to find some news other than the championship. They asked Chen Xiaoliang why he greeted Arsenal's players and coaches after the game, but did not greet Rice. Chen Xiaoliang's answer yes:
"As a player who is watched by countless people every moment on the court, there are three things I will not do."
"First, flagrant fouls ruin someone's career."
"Second, diving to cheat a penalty kick."
"Third, acting to cheat fouls."
"What we did was not just for a while, not just for one game. Even if we won the game in a dirty way, the memory of the Internet, the media, and the fans will always remember what you did."
Reporter: "Are you referring to Rice's fall?"
Chen Xiaoliang smiled and did not respond positively: "I only know that no matter which team's fans they are, they all hope that the team they support can rely on strength and hard work to win the opponent openly."
After speaking, he walked away.
In the early morning of the next day, Chen Xiaoliang routinely turned on the system in bed.
Last night's champion, two goals and one assist won the best of the game, and won 14 skill points (58→72)
The card draw of [Aristocratic Mission] is to draw Bergkamp's back card.
However, the content of this card made Chen Xiaoliang almost burst out laughing:
[Effect: When holding the ball with your back, dribbling and dribbling +2]
[Restriction: Cannot be used in the next game after taking the plane]
Older fans know that Arsenal star Bergkamp has a severe fear of flying, and flying will make him feel strongly uncomfortable, so he will either drive himself or take a train for away games.
For away games in Europe, he would take the Channel Tunnel between England and France, and he would not even take a plane by boat. For this reason, he gave up many long-distance away games, and even bid farewell to the country at the age of 2000 after the European Cup in 31 One of the reasons is that the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan cannot avoid shuttling between cities in the two countries...it is almost unrealistic not to fly.
After taking the rewards, the next step is the achievements.
[The achievement of reversing after falling behind by two goals in the final has been achieved]
[Achievement Reward: Passive Skill Big Heart +1]
[Passive skill LV2: Big heart, when the team falls behind by 2 goals, two random attributes will increase by 2 points]
Although it is better than LV1, it still depends on luck. If you are unlucky, there will still be embarrassing things like adding it to a corner kick...
Then back to the main interface, Chen Xiaoliang found that there was a dark golden light shining on the [Ball King Battle], which was the same as the usual pattern unlocked with achievements, but the color was not golden, but dark golden.
Those who have played the game basically know that dark gold is usually higher than gold.
He clicked in and saw that a series of achievements in the Ball King system had been unlocked. The first step:
[Ultimate dominance of a single wealthy club]
【英格兰联赛杯1/1，英超联赛0/1、英格兰足总杯0/1，社区盾杯0/1、欧冠联赛0/1、欧洲超级杯0/1、新世俱杯0/1】
Then when this achievement is completed, you can get a big achievement [Club Grand Slam], and the even bigger achievement above [Club Grand Slam] is those two extremely sacred words-[Ball King].
The problem is [Club Grand Slam] is only one of several achievements to unlock the ball king...
Unlocked at the same time, there is also [Personal Honor Ultimate Control]
【金球奖1/5、世界足球先生1/5，?????? 0/1，??????×/√】
In addition to these two series of achievements, just like the "???" seen in [Personal Honor Ultimate Domination], below these two achievements, there is a [???] series of achievements.
Chen Xiaoliang rubbed his eyes to confirm that he read it correctly. It was indeed a series of question marks that replaced the undisplayed content.
Only when all these three achievements are completed, the progress of the ball king will reach 100%.
Chen Xiaoliang was in a daze for a while, he knew what the requirements for achievement were, and he also knew that he was on the way to accomplish these achievements, but it still needed time, a lot of time.
After recovering, he turned off the system, washed up, and set off to return to Manchester with the team.
After returning to Manchester City, the team did not have a holiday arrangement, but assembled directly on the afternoon of March 3 and flew to Rome, the capital of Italy.
On the night when Chen Xiaoliang led Manchester United to win the League Cup, Gerrard's Roma was repelled by Inter Milan 2-1 away and is still ranked third in the league.
Two days later, Chen Xiaoliang revisited his hometown and played against Rome in the second round of the UEFA Champions League round of 16 at the Stadio Olimpico.
Although the official press conference has not yet been held, the media has already exploded.
Facing his former club and former mentor, Chen Xiaoliang still has many players in the Roma team who are inextricably linked to Manchester United. This script is enough for reporters to make up many jokes.
But the feelings of the fans are real. At the Fiumicino Airport in Rome, thousands of fans greeted Chen Xiaoliang at the pick-up gate. Many of them held posters of Kwa and Sesco, thank you The never-forgotten glory these three brought to the city of Rome.
In order to avoid affecting the preparations of both sides, the Italian Football Association directly let Manchester United use the Olympic Stadium for preparation training, and the 15-minute media public training session also attracted hundreds of reporters to come and shoot.
Ten Hag was also very savvy. He promised at the press conference the day before the game that Chen Xiaoliang, Sesco and Kwa would start together, because "the three of them, especially Chen, have immeasurable importance in the hearts of the fans in this city." importance".
He did what he said, and Manchester United even sent Joe Hart as a starter to allow the veteran to complete his Champions League debut after loan.
Gerrard told the media that fans' love for Chen Xiaoliang will not affect their support for Roma, and they prefer to see the team perform at a high level at home in front of Chen Xiaoliang.
The gap of 2 goals does not mean that there is no suspense in this round of knockout rounds, and his players are preparing to create miracles.
An hour before the game, the starting lineup was announced, Manchester United:
Goalkeeper Joe Hart;
Back four Dalot, Varane, Lindelof, Luke Shaw;
Double defensive midfielder B Fei, Tim Bell, central midfielder Chen Xiaoliang;
The three forwards are Kwa, Sesco and Anthony.
Here in Rome:
goalkeeper Patricio;
Three central defenders Mancini, Tuanzebe, Ito Hiroki;
Wingbacks Zalewski, Spinazzola;
Double defensive midfielders Kokcu and Wijnaldum;
Double midfielder Van der Beek, Pellegrini;
Forward Vitor Roque.
Although both sides have deployed the strongest lineup within the range of rotation, anyone with a discerning eye can see that there is still a clear gap between the two teams' lineups. This makes Gerrard still use three central defenders and two wings even if he is fighting at home. A seven-man defensive configuration with Wei and double defensive midfielders.
In the first half, the visiting team Manchester United kicked off first, and soon formed a suppression of Roma.
Roma fans are not bothered by the extremely low ball possession rate under defensive counterattacks, because they won the Triple Crown last season by giving up the ball and resolute counterattacks.
Roma fans will only be delighted if Gerrard can design a bus at the level of Mourinho.
But the problem is that the designer has it, but the driver is gone.
No matter whether it is Kokku, Pellegrini or Roque, no one can replace Chen Xiaoliang's role.
In modern football, if the midfield is suppressed, it means that the scene is completely suppressed.
In the 7th minute, Chen Xiaoliang took a long shot 37 meters away from the goal, which was blocked by Roma goalkeeper Patricio.
De Rossi in the live broadcast room said that this ball is like Chen Xiaoliang testing whether his old teammate Patricio is still familiar with his long-range shooting habits.
In the 19th minute, Manchester United took a corner kick, B Fei took it from the left, Varane fought for the top in the middle, and the ball was slightly higher.
In the 23rd minute, Van der Beek dribbled the ball in the frontcourt and prepared to attack. Chen Xiaoliang, who was withdrawn, caught up from behind and stretched out his legs to tackle the ball.
After Van der Beek's ball was broken, he tripped over Chen Xiaoliang's right leg, lost his balance and fell forward. He wanted to talk to Chen Xiaoliang when he got up, and then an interesting scene happened. Before Roma's teammates went up to try to persuade him to fight, he saw that the situation was not good. The wonderful Timber and Lima ran over first.
One of them has been teammates with Van der Beek for a year, and the other came to the Ajax Youth Academy at the age of 13. When Ten Hag was promoted to the first team training in 2019, they were both produced by the Ajax Youth Academy. Van der Beek was the main attacking midfielder of the team at that time.
Timber pulled Van der Beek and said, "Brother, don't be like this, calm down."
Van der Beek: "Your elbow is out..." In the middle of speaking, Van der Beek also realized that something was wrong, and now the two are opponents, "He will hurt me if he shovels like this."
Lima, who has a direct personality, is not as gentle as Timber. He said directly to Van der Beek: "If he really wants you to be injured, you have left the field now."
Pellegrini ran over and pushed Chen Xiaoliang away gently. It seemed that he was standing up for Van der Beek, but in fact he was telling Chen Xiaoliang not to get into trouble.
Teammates and opponents both ran to protect the same person in a verbal conflict, which is really rare in football games.
Ten Hag on the sidelines laughed secretly, while Gerrard shook his head.
The episode passed in a flash, and the game continued to be controlled by Manchester United.
The most eye-catching performance tonight was Kwa. Facing his familiar old teammates Zalewski and Mancini, he kept changing direction, bottoming, cutting inside, and getting rid of it like going around a column.
Roma’s most dangerous attack in the first half was Pellegrini’s direct free kick in the frontcourt in the 33rd minute. Hart blocked the baseline.
In the 41st minute, the balance of the score was broken. Chen Xiaoliang was pressed by Kokku in the middle, and he directly retreated to his own half to ask for the ball.
Lindelof saw the boss coming and immediately sent the ball.
Chen Xiaoliang turned around after receiving the ball, only looked up for a moment, and immediately raised his foot to kick the ball.
Just when everyone inside and outside the field was wondering what Chen Xiaoliang was going to do, the ball had already flown over half of the field and arrived at the top of the arc in front of the penalty area in Rome, where a figure had turned offside from the left and circled to The defender's back is ready to catch the ball!
Neither Mancini nor Tuanzebe saw Kwa coming in from the side, but Patricio, who realized that the situation was not good, had already attacked from the goal line and was ready to try his best to intercept.
Kwa wanted to catch the ball and attack again, but from the corner of his eye, he caught Patricio's attack, leaped lightly at the top of the arc, headed it, and hoisted the ball towards Rome's goal!
Lou Yichen: "Pretty!"
"An assist that spanned half the court!"
"Totally exceeded the expectations of the entire Roma defense."
Liu Yue: "After the last League Cup match, Lineker's words were reposted by media all over the world, and this moment once again proves that his words are right."
"In fact, everyone has seen many times that when Xiaoliang penetrates forward into the penalty area, he can form a great impact on the goal, but like now, he retreats to the position of the midfielder, and he can directly use his super power to attack the goal. Strong passing ability, helping teammates score goals."
"Such players are almost impossible to defend in actual combat. At least judging from the current situation, the major teams have not found a good way to defend Chen Xiaoliang. Perhaps the most effective way is to use offense and use like Arsenal and Manchester City. Control the ball, push Manchester United's formation back as a whole, try to keep Chen Xiaoliang away from his own half, and then once the offense and defense switch, rely on the ability of the midfielders to jointly prevent Chen Xiaoliang from approaching the penalty area."
Lou Yichen: "Old Liu hits the nail on the head, which is why Manchester United is no longer interested in Barcelona's Frankie de Jong after he has him, but instead buys a more defensive and confrontational player. Linkovich."
"Now there are rumors that Manchester United will send away the veteran Eriksson in the summer and buy a young defensive midfielder as a rotation for Casemiro."
Liu Yue: "Based on Manchester United's current performance and the transfer budget that they don't have to worry about after Jassim takes over, and the fact that the Financial Fair Play Act can be further avoided after the revenue has increased significantly, it will not be a problem for them to buy anyone."
"Judging from the current situation, whether it is outside expectations or the odds of bookmakers, Manchester United can already compete with Pep Guardiola's Manchester City in the Champions League and Premier League.
"The biggest suspense in the league is the result of the second derby between the two teams, while the Champions League depends on which opponents each side will draw in the draw from the quarterfinals to the final."
I am back, but I have to go to work for 12 consecutive days, which is miserable
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