King of the Zone

In the anticipation of countless media and fans around the world, the Champions League final has finally arrived.

2012年5月19日晚上20:45，随着主裁判的一声哨响，德甲多特蒙德VS西甲巴塞罗那的2011/2012赛季欧洲冠军联赛最终决赛在可以容纳7万多名球迷的德国慕尼黑安联球场正式开始。

It was the pinnacle of the 2011/2012 UEFA season and the most high-profile club final in the world.

It is also a duel between the world's number one striker Cheng Hai and Lionel Messi, who has won the Ballon d'Or three consecutive times.

This battle is destined to be recorded in history.

Both sides have sent their strongest lineup, Dortmund here is a 4132 formation, goalkeeper Weidenfeller, defenders Piszczek, Hummels, Subotic, Schmelzer, midfielder Sebastian Kell, winger Shinji Kagawa, Mario Gotze, midfielder Gundogan, center Lewandowski, and shadow forward Cheng Hai.

Barcelona is a 4312 formation. The starting lineup is goalkeeper Valdes, defenders Alves, Puyol, Pique, Butzquez, midfielder Xavi, Mascherano, Iniesta, midfielder Cesc Fabregas, double forward Messi, Sanchez.

It can be seen from the formation that Guardiola's Barcelona is quite careful and resorted to a formation of three midfielders for defense.

Harvey and Iniesta's defensive capabilities are slightly weaker, so Javier Mascherano will make up for it.

While strengthening the defense, the offensive ability is not weak.

The offensive power of Fabregas, Messi, and Sanchez combined with the organized offense of Xavi and Iniesta in the midfield can be described as both offensive and defensive.

Most importantly, Barcelona has a tactic that can deal with Dortmund, and that is possession defense.

Barcelona's football philosophy is: You can't shoot when the ball is at my feet.

Therefore, their style of play is that unless there is a very good opportunity to attack, they would rather keep the ball at their feet than lose the ball easily.

Because the ball is at your feet, the opponent cannot shoot.

At the same time, if the ball is lost, they will fight back on the spot.The Dutch total defense philosophy passed down by Cruyff allowed Barcelona to learn the essence.As long as the ball is lost, a counter-grab must be carried out immediately, and the opponent will not be given too many opportunities to organize attacks.

Moreover, their counterattack is not a swarm of mad dogs to grab the ball, but to press the opponent through a tacit and reasonable position, so that the opponent can't find the way to get the ball, so they can only play the ball in a hurry, and then make a mistake and lose the ball.

After the ball returns to the Barcelona players, they will start their passing football again.

Relying on such a football philosophy and a group of talented players such as Harvey, Iniesta and Messi, Barcelona has achieved the prestige of the Cosmos team.

If Real Madrid hadn't met Mourinho this year, Barcelona would still be the most dominant team in La Liga.

Despite failing to win La Liga, it doesn't mean that Barcelona's football has failed, they are still the top club team on the planet.

Even if Dortmund led by Cheng Hai faced Barcelona, ​​it would be quite a headache.

The game was kicked off by Barcelona first, and Barcelona won the right to kick off.

Then, as soon as the ball was kicked off, Barcelona passed the ball back and started a backcourt.

Although Cheng Hai, Lewandowski, Gundogan and others immediately stepped forward and pressed the opponent's backcourt, but the opponent cooperated with tacit pass and control, and there were too many places where the ball could be played.

Even with Cheng Hai's defensive position and speed, he couldn't press Barcelona's pass control too threateningly.

Barcelona players are so familiar with this set of tactics, sometimes they can send the ball to the teammate he wants to send without even looking at the person.

In Barcelona's backcourt, there are two masters of ball control, Harvey and Iniesta.

No matter how fast Cheng Hai ran, it couldn't compare to the speed at which the two of them passed the ball to control the situation.

Therefore, Cheng Hai felt the feeling of being walked by a monkey for the first time.He felt that he was the monkey being walked, being walked around by the Barcelona players passing the ball, but he couldn't grab the ball.

But he couldn't help but grab it.

Otherwise, he believes that Barcelona must be happy to drag the game into a penalty shootout.In the penalty shootout, Cheng Hai's decisive offensive ability will only be converted into a goal.

And many of Barcelona's stars may beat Dortmund in a penalty shootout.

Therefore, even if he was being walked by a monkey, Cheng Hai had to work with Lewandowski to press down on Barcelona's backcourt.

Of course, Cheng Hai's physical fitness is better, and Cheng Hai mainly grabs the ball.

However, it has been 10 minutes since the start of the game, and Cheng Hai has not even grabbed the ball, let alone made an effective attack.

It's not that the ball is always at Barcelona's feet, but because if Cheng Hai, Lewandowski, Gundogan and others are in a hurry, Barcelona will pass the ball forward.

In the frontcourt, Fabregas and Messi's ability to control the ball is also first-class. Kyle, Hummels and others are also difficult to steal the ball.

Even if the ball is occasionally stolen, Barcelona will immediately counterattack. Before the ball reaches Cheng Hai's feet, it will be snatched back by the Barcelona people, and then continue to pass and control.

Moreover, Barcelona will never attack easily. Most of the time, the ball is in a safe area for seemingly meaningless kicks.

This is the characteristic of Barcelona football.

But you can't let your guard down yet.

Because once you think that Barcelona's football is meaningless and paralyzed, they will suddenly speed up, and maybe a straight kick can penetrate your defense.

Even if you can't directly penetrate the line of defense with a through plug, Messi's breakthrough ability can make your defense line jittery and dangerous.

Fortunately, Klopp has also carried out a long period of targeted training some time ago until the characteristics of Barcelona's passing and controlling football. He is psychologically prepared for Barcelona's passing and controlling.

After 10 minutes of the game, Barcelona's possession rate has reached 70%, and Dortmund's possession rate is only 30%. Barcelona's possession rate is more than twice that of Dortmund.

However, both sides have yet to have a threatening shot.

This made some neutral fans start to be disappointed.

There was a match between Cheng Hai and Messi, it was like this, it was not the match they wanted to watch.

As a result, just when everyone was slightly bored, Butzkes passed the ball to Harvey.

Gundogan, who was rushing towards Butzkes, sighed, and could only turn around and rush towards Harvey.

Gundogan felt tired of grabbing the ball. As a result, Harvey didn't wait for him to approach, and suddenly made a long pass and sent the ball to the left side of the front of Dortmund's penalty area.

Messi appeared there like a ghost and got the ball passed by Harvey.

Cesc Fabregas, Sanchez, and Iniesta suddenly accelerated, rushing towards Dortmund's penalty area from all directions.

Countless people were refreshed: Barcelona's attack is coming.

After getting the ball, Messi did not take the ball slowly, but immediately dribbled the ball towards Dortmund's penalty area.

Because the ball itself was suddenly passed by Harvey after seeing the loopholes in Dortmund's defense, because Messi got the ball at this time and only Schmelzer was in front of him.

As long as Messi breaks through Schmelzer, he may penetrate Dortmund's defense.

Whether Dortmund's back line is to intercept Messi, or continue to mark Sanchez, Fabregas and others, there will always be someone in the gap, and Barcelona may form a shot.

Of course, the premise of all this is that Messi can break through Schmelzer's defense.

Most people think Messi is fine.

Messi's ability to combine man and ball may be the best in the world except Cheng Hai.In a one-on-one attack, Messi's breakthrough success rate is also terribly high.

As everyone expected, there was a hole in Dortmund's defense that should have at least two people defending Messi together.

Facing Schmelzer's defense, Messi swung Schmelzer away with a simple Matthews feint and entered the penalty area.

However, when Messi broke through Schmelzer, Subotic had already assisted in the defense.Moreover, goalkeeper Weidenfeller also moved two steps to the side where Messi broke through, ready to save.

Schmelzer, who had just been shaken away behind him, was also desperately returning to defense, and it was entirely possible to poke the ball away from Messi's feet from the side.

Messi's offensive opportunities here are not great.

But Subotic made up the defense, and naturally someone in the middle was in the gap.

Therefore, Messi did not hesitate to cross the ball near the penalty spot in the middle.

Sure enough, Iniesta, who was inserted in the back row, got the ball without any defense. Before Piszczek destroyed the ball, he volleyed the ball towards Dortmund's goal.

In the stands and in front of the TV, countless Barcelona fans stretched their necks, ready to celebrate the goal.

Unexpectedly, Iniesta shot with strength and speed, and it hit the goal frame. The only downside is that the angle is not tricky.

The ball was saved by Weidenfeller's timely return.

Then, a scene that caught Barcelona players and fans even more off guard happened.

The ball saved by Weidenfeller did not go out of bounds and fell into the penalty area, but Hummels was the first to grab the ball.

Hummels didn't dare to stop the ball, and kicked off with a half-turned big foot.

His original intention was to kick the ball out of the penalty area to prevent Barcelona from grabbing the second spot and continuing to attack.

Unexpectedly, his big kick was quite solid, and his luck was also quite good. The ball went soaring into the sky and flew directly towards Barcelona's half.

And it landed near Cheng Hai.

Because of this sudden attack, most of Barcelona's players have already penetrated into the frontcourt. The midfielder Iniesta has already penetrated into the penalty area to shoot. It can be seen that Barcelona's sudden attack has made their players advance forward.

Seeing the ball flying towards him, Cheng Hai couldn't be more polite. He quickly rushed over to occupy the landing point, turned his back to the attacking direction and blocked Mascherano, who was rushing to fight for the top, and then faced the falling ball with a direct pick, turned around and broke through Mascherano's defense.

Mascherano thought that Cheng Hai would stop the ball, but he didn't know that Cheng Hai would pick the ball directly over the two people's heads, and picked it just right. After Cheng Hai turned around and bypassed Mascherano, he immediately received the ball he picked.

Cheng Hai, who picked the ball and broke through Mascherano, faced Pique who was defending from the middle, suddenly poked the ball into Pique's crotch, and walked around Pique himself.

"Pierce the crotch" played its power.

Pique was also caught off guard by Cheng Hai's sudden pass through the crotch. When he realized that Cheng Hai was going to pass the ball from his crotch and closed his legs to stop it, it was too late.

The ball had already slipped through his crotch, and Cheng Hai also bypassed it and caught the ball that he passed through his crotch behind him.

Originally, Barcelona's offense caused most of their players to rush to the frontcourt. Hummels' sudden big-foot clearance made most of Barcelona's players have no time to return to the defense.

Therefore, after breaking through the defenses of Mascherano and Pique in a row, Cheng Hai has already formed a single-handedly.

Although Puyol in the middle dropped Lewandowski and rushed over obliquely, there was still no time?

Cheng Hai's running speed with the ball is much faster than that of Puyol.

Soon, Cheng Hai took the ball directly outside the penalty area of ​​Barcelona. The Dortmund fans in the stands and in front of the TV had already stood up, while the Barcelona fans booed frantically, trying to interfere with Cheng Hai.

Behind Cheng Hai, there were Puyol, Pique, and Mascherano who were chasing wildly home, but Puyol, who was closest to Cheng Hai, was two or three meters away.

Unless Cheng Hai doesn't shoot on the field, but thinks about life, Puyol can't even block Cheng Hai's shot with a foul.

In the desperate eyes of all Barcelona people, Cheng Hai, who dribbled the ball to the penalty area, faced Barcelona goalkeeper Valdez who attacked into the penalty area. Without hesitation, he kicked the ball to the far corner without hesitation.

After acquiring the "arc" skill and filling it up, Cheng Hai has greater confidence when shooting outside the penalty area.

Because he can shoot in an arc and around a wider angle, making it more difficult for the goalkeeper to pounce.

It was the same this time, even though Valdés jumped out immediately after Cheng Hai shot, Cheng Hai's arc shot made the ball circle an outer circle, just past his fingers, and then drew an arc in the air, circled into the goal frame, and slid into the goal against the far post.

In the 14th minute, Barcelona's sudden offensive shot failed, but by mistake, it gave Dortmund an excellent counterattack opportunity. Hummels assisted Cheng Hai to score a goal, and Dortmund took a 1-0 lead.

On the stage of the Champions League final, any goal is precious.

Therefore, even with Cheng Hai's experience of scoring goals in various competitions, this goal made his head bloodshot instantly, screaming with a distorted face while pinching Shuangquan, crazily rushed to the sidelines, rushed to the stand where his parents were, and threw himself into the arms of Cheng Songquan and Xi Yulin who were equally excited.

Then, the fans and family members of the players in the stands rushed over like a tide, and kept patting Cheng Hai's head and body to express everyone's excitement.

The Dortmund fans elsewhere in the stands also erupted instantly, cheering and screaming at the top of their voices, celebrating Cheng Hai's goal and Dortmund's 1-0 lead.

The Huaguo CCTV CCTV-5 commentator in the commentary booth also had some blood in his head, and shouted with his loudest voice:
"The ball went in!!!"

"The ball went in!!!"

"The ball is in, it's in, it's in, it's in..."

"Cheng Hai scored a goal!"

"Cheng Hai scored the first goal on the stage of the Champions League final, helping Dortmund take a 1-0 lead!"

"This is the first goal of a Chinese player in the Champions League final, and it is also Cheng Hai's goal to help Dortmund take the lead."

"Dortmund took the lead in the game. Barcelona's rash attack failed to score a goal. Instead, Dortmund counterattacked by mistake, and Cheng Hai blasted Barcelona's door open."

"From these two shots with completely different results, it can be seen that the shooting skills of Iniesta and Cheng Hai are not at the same level at all."

"If Iniesta's shot had been taken by Cheng Hai, it would have definitely scored."

"But Cheng Hai's shot was shot by Iniesta, so it may not be possible to score."

"Cheng Hai's superb shooting skills are the biggest reliance on his scoring rate."

"Dortmund has already scored a goal and took the lead, and the champion is waving to Cheng Hai again. It's very exciting to think about it!"

"Cheng Hai may become the first Chinese player, or even an Asian player, to win the Champions League and achieve the Triple Crown."

"Let's continue to cheer for Cheng Hai!"

Cheng Hai's counterattack goal put Barcelona into a passive position.

Originally, when the score between the two sides was 0-0, they could continue to play possession and defense according to their own rhythm. Even if they couldn't score the ball, they would not lose the ball.

Unexpectedly, Harvey thought this attack would be an opportunity for his side. Messi did break through Schmelzer, sent the ball into the gap, and Iniesta completed the shot.

Unexpectedly, Iniesta's shot was not only saved by the opponent's goalkeeper, but also contributed to Hummels' unlucky big-footed long pass assist, which directly found Cheng Hai, and Cheng Hai evened the two to form a single-handed goal.

This series of coincidences put Barcelona in a predicament of falling behind.

In the next game, they will no longer be able to leisurely pass and defend, they must attack.

Otherwise, the final will end with a score of 1-0, and they will lose.

And once they start attacking, the pace of the game picks up, and once the ball changes hands, Dortmund will fight back.

With Cheng Hai's offensive ability, whether Barcelona can withstand it is really a big question.

Just when many Barcelona players found it difficult to make a choice, Guardiola, the head coach on the sidelines, gave key instructions, asking everyone to stabilize the formation, not to rush to attack, first to ensure possession of the ball, not to give the ball to Dortmund, and not to lose the ball easily.

As long as the ball is still at their feet, Barcelona has the ability to control the ball and then look for opportunities to score.

And once the ball is lost again, the game will be really difficult to play.

Therefore, Guardiola's request is to stabilize the situation first, and not to lose the ball, is victory.